Strange Front Right tire wear
 

I've been having some wear issues with my front right tire. I've had the car aligned several times by a very reputable shop. The lower ball joint is good the shocks are less than a year (bilstein sports). Is there a worn bushing or something along those lines that could be causing this? Or is the offset on my wheels just to high to "off-set" with an alignment since the car is lowered? If memory serves me correct they are ET37's, original E420 wheels. I've been kicking around the idea of getting some wheels that fit a little more inside the wheel well and not so much flush with the fender. Anyhow, I would like your sugestions or comments as usual. Thanks in advance.

Could you please describe the odd wear pattern on your tire? It would help in solving the mystery...

OOps, Thanks Duck.

Its wearing on the inside corner.

"Inside CORNER"??? My tires are round, they have no corners, that's probably what your alignment problem is! Go buy some ROUND tires and your problems will be solved!!!

Just kidding man, I'm sure you mean the INSIDE EDGE, and that's probably the UPPER balljoint/Control arm, allowing an agressive cant outward.

They are pretty cheap and pretty easy to replace.

Then again, I could be completely wrong!

If its pretty drastic wear, it could be a belt separation. Happened to one of the tire's on the '91 once - the inside edge of the tire wore completely bald while the outside still had about 1/2 treadlife left.

The steering linkage in this car does not have perfect bilateral symmetry - the Pitman arm on the left is much more rigidly attached than the idler on the right. This could accentuate flex in the idler arm bushes, if your wheel offset is higher than normal, causing toe changes on the right under load. Or, the bushings could be worn, which would be typical at this point if they haven't yet been replaced.

Steve

There is no upper balljoint on this model.

My understanding is:

Wider tires have more rolling resistance, particularly significant at higher speeds. The CA bushings give more under the higher load. This leads to a toe out situation with standard alignment parameters.

The offset would increase the 'leverage' of the rolling resistance.

You may need to set the toe in a bit more to get even wear with wider tires.

This assumes there are no component level issues, of course...

Csnow,

Thanks for affirming my standpoint. I've been looking for a reason to purchase new wheels .

Not sure if there is much space on the inside (between the wheel and the strut). The offset may be needed.

There appears to be a good amount of room there. A friend is running a similar set-up on his 300E with 16" monoblocks and he has no problems so I think I'm gonna try that. Thanks