tyre wear

[froggy]

Hi, my S1 Xantia, Iam getting tyre wear on the front near side tyre, outside edge. The wheels have been aligned balanced three times this year, new front tyres only three months ago. front bushes look ok. should I be looking to change the bushes ? or could it be something else. I t is costing me a fortune in front tyres at the moment. Monthly mileage = 2000. thanks in advance Terry.

[CitroJim]

Do you have a lot of roundabouts in your locality Froggy?

Those of us lucky enough to live near Milton Keynes and unlucky enough to have to drive through it regularly find all the roundabouts cause uneven tyre wear..

Otherwise, another cause can be down to worn wishbone bushes, both the rearward 'P' and the frontal bush, which allow the wishbone to move around excessively. These are not always spotted on an MOT test.

[froggy]

yes alot of roundabouts !

[Peter.N.]

If the tracking was out you would also have excessive wear on the outside edge of the o/s tyre, just check the tread depth as the n/s normally wears fastest. If the o/s tyre is wearing unevenly the wheels are towing in to much.

Peter

[Mandrake]

Xantia's should toe out, not in.

0 - 3mm toe out is the spec. When I did the wheel alignment on my last V6 myself using a home made laser alignment system I set it to 1.5mm toe out and the feel of the steering was spot on and there was no unusual tyre wear, even though that car had badly worn lower arm bushes...

Have the steering track rod joints been checked for play ? It's no use trying to set the wheel alignment if there is play in the joints because the tracking will then be wrong under cornering loads as the slack in the joints is taken up in each direction.

Lower swivel joint is also a possibility although I'm thinking that would also cause obvious clunks over some types of bumps.