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Old 01-21-2010, 09:42 AM
 
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How much tread is left on the tires? Both inside and out?

After 3/32, the wear bars will contact the road and you hear a "whomp whomp whomp" sound as they contact the road, and its frequency is dictated by speed. Its the audible warning that you need new tires.
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Old 01-21-2010, 01:03 PM
 
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The rears are brand new, and the fronts still have quite a bit of tread left. The tire guys estimate another 10K miles to go.

Strangely, the noise has diminished in the past week or so...very odd.
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Old 01-21-2010, 11:00 PM
 
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I went to the tire shop. The tire tech said that the fronts are worn unevenly, hence the noise. However, there's still plenty of tread left. I'll be driving these for up to a year more.

Already, the noise is reduced over the last two weeks. I expect the noise will go away completely as they wear more evenly, now that the tires have been balanced and aligned.
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Old 01-21-2010, 11:13 PM
 
Location: Chicago
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In the meantime, you might want to pursue why they wore unevenly, because uneven wear is usually a symptom of a bigger problem.
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Old 01-21-2010, 11:32 PM
 
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Most likely because I never balanced, rotated or aligned them. Ever.

Just got a proper alignment along with balance and rotation and now things are very good.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Drover View Post
In the meantime, you might want to pursue why they wore unevenly, because uneven wear is usually a symptom of a bigger problem.
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Old 01-21-2010, 11:36 PM
 
Location: Chicago
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So you don't find it odd that the front tires wore evenly while the back ones didn't, even without having ever balanced, rotated or aligned them? Just sayin'.

I'd rotate them a little sooner this time to see if the rear tires are still cupping. If they are, you'll know it wasn't just an alignment/rotation issue the last time. That's what I'd do anyway. Of course you can do what you want.
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Old 01-22-2010, 06:26 PM
 
Location: Eastern Washington
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If your rear toe setting is wrong, if you drive mostly on crowned roads, what happens is the passenger's side tire has enough more weight on it that the car runs with that tire pointing straight ahead and the driver's side rear toeing in or out. These are small angles, so it's not necessarily noticable, but it will cause cupping wear on that one tire.

Most rear axles do not have an adjustment as such, but better alignment shops can put shims in them to correct small errors.

Of course the shims are not factory-authorized, and can't compensate for an outright bent axle, and if over-done they do compromise the strength of the bolted joint between the stub axle and the axle carrier. All that said I have had good luck with them.
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Old 01-22-2010, 06:28 PM
 
Location: Eastern Washington
17,106 posts, read 56,712,890 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sunsprit View Post
Possibly an internal tire failure in the making.

With the tire now in the front, the sound is closer to you ... and if the car is a FWD, then the tire is now being subjected to more loads than when it was in the back.

Definitely head back to your tire shop and let them check it out. This type of problem can lead to a catastrophic tire blow-out on the road, or very poor handling (like driving a car on a flat tire even when it's not yet flat).
Sunsprit, you know your cars, so I don't doubt you are right here - how would you describe the sound of a tire that's failing internally as compared to lightly cupped tread like the OP apparently has? Or does it have a distinctive sound?

Offhand I would think a tire that's having internal problems would be warm(er) to the touch, heat from friction is frequently a good clue to "what's wrong" in things like wheel bearings, U-joints, etc.
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Old 01-22-2010, 07:22 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by M3 Mitch View Post
Sunsprit, you know your cars, so I don't doubt you are right here - how would you describe the sound of a tire that's failing internally as compared to lightly cupped tread like the OP apparently has? Or does it have a distinctive sound?

Offhand I would think a tire that's having internal problems would be warm(er) to the touch, heat from friction is frequently a good clue to "what's wrong" in things like wheel bearings, U-joints, etc.
I can't say that there is a difference in the sound of these two different scenarios.

I'd first be doing a visual inspection of the tires, looking for the "cupping", abnormal tire wear patters, or visable bulges.

Another way to isolate the noise the OP was having would have been to swap the tires back to their original positions and road test to see if the noise went away or changed location. Sometimes you can isolate tire noises or problems by swapping the tires from side to side ... this can be very revealing about tire internal failure or external wear problems when chasing alignment/handling issues. We've had cars that simply couldn't be aligned within normal specs and found that we could change the direction of a "pull" just by swapping the front tires ... which lead us to find a failed tire on closer inspection.
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