Power Steering Fault?

[Guest exemplum]

Hi all

 

I recently suffered from a blow-out on my nearside front tyre which had blown out from a weakened inside edge wall. I took the car down to Kwik Fit in Aylesbury (service was excellent and comes highly recommended) whereupon they inspected all 4 tyres. It was noted that the offside front tyre was also very badly worn on the inside edge wall and was in danger of blowing as well. The tyres are 14 months old and had covered about 12k miles.

 

The technician suggested that this might have been caused by a power steering fault. The tyre condition on inspection showed that there was at least 2mm tread across the whole width of the tyre apart from the inside edge, and only literally on the edge where it was worn down to the radials. He suggested that it wouldn't have been tracking as the wear was so localised and 95% of the tyre surface was well within legal limits and not gradually worn from the inside edge outwards as would normally happen with tracking faults.

 

Has anyone else suffered with this kind of localised wear?

 

Any help greatly appreciated!

 

The car is a 2.3 Ghia X, 1998 on an 'R' plate

 

As a footnote, I had all 4 tyres replaced and managed to screw the guy down for

[seatkid]

Did you run them under inflated?

What brand and size tyres were they?

Were they reinforced (suffix R)?

What mileage is the car?

 

Can't see how it could be power steering related, sounds like a serious suspension geometry fault. Either the camber setting is all to cock or maybe you have extremely worn tie rod ends or may be somthings bent (anti roll bar maybe)

[Ivor_E_Tower]

With both front tyres worn on the inside edges, sounds like the tracking is way out. Very much doubt that it has anything to do with the PAS.

[Guest exemplum]

Thanks guys for your replies.

 

In answer to some of the questions,

 

>>Did you run them under inflated?

The nearside tyre did have a very slow puncture which required me in inflate it back up every 5 or 6 days, at the time it blew, the pressure was low (this explains why it blew) the offside tyre was perfect and maintained good pressure.

 

>>What brand and size tyres were they?

Dunlop SP 215/55/16 rating 'H'

 

>>Were they reinforced (suffix R)?

yes, but the rating is 'H'

 

>>What mileage is the car?

75,500

 

In terms of it being tracking, wouldn't you notice a drift in steering? the car holds a nice steady straight line, even when braking. also, the damage to both tyres is so localised, it only covers a width of less then 15mm on the very edge / corner of each tyre.

 

Many thanks for any further information / advice you could give.

 

Kind regards,

 

Robert.

[seatkid]

Tracking errors don't make cars drift to left or right - common misconception. It makes cars oversteer (toe out) or understeer (toe in) and causes heavy tyre wear (but not like yours..)

 

:) Standard ghia tyres are 215/60 R15 95 H - anyone else confirm this? But I don't think this is the reason either......Are Dunlop SP tyres directional? i.e. were they fitted the wrong way round?

 

Have you recently acquired the car? i.e. what is the history....I suggest maybe your car has been in a major shunt and its not been rebuilt correctly and the Camber setting is all wrong.

 

With the car on a level road and wheels lined up straight, take a look from the front - about 15 yards in front - Are the wheels sitting vertical or are they leaning in/out?

[Guest exemplum]

Hi Seatkid

 

Many thanks for spending time responding to my posts. Very much apreciated.

 

 

>>Standard ghia tyres are 215/60 R15 95 H - anyone else confirm this? But I >>don't think this is the reason either......Are Dunlop SP tyres directional? i.e. >>were they fitted the wrong way round?

 

Have just checked, the tyre sizes are 215/55/R16 95H, perhaps a special for the Ghia X? Not sure if they are directional though.

 

>>Have you recently acquired the car? i.e. what is the history....I suggest maybe >>your car has been in a major shunt and its not been rebuilt correctly and the >>Camber setting is all wrong.

 

No, I have had the car since May 2001, but it's only on the last set of tyres that this has happened, previous lot were fine.

 

>>With the car on a level road and wheels lined up straight, take a look from the >>front - about 15 yards in front - Are the wheels sitting vertical or are they >>leaning in/out?

 

Having had a quick look, the wheels do look as though they are leaning inwards, but very slightly, it's so marginal, I had to look several times to be sure!

 

Many thanks!

 

Robert

[seatkid]

If they're leaning in then that would explain the wear. Check the top end of the strut for any movement, its common for the top end bush to wear.

 

What pressures do you use? I use 36-38psi at front.

 

You can tell if a tyre is a directional design by looking at the sidewall, look for a large arrow indicating the correct direction of rotation, also look for the words inner or outer, assymetric designs require to be mounted the right way round.

 

Of course, you might have just have had a bad set of tyres......