passenger side tire worn down on the inner part only

1995 Tacoma, 2.4L

I noticed today that the front right side tire has been worn down pretty good on the inside part. The steering does pull to the right when I drive so I think it might have something to do with that.

Here's the problem though, when I asked my mechanic to do an alignment he said that it was too risky because <I forget what exactly> would get bent. I assume it's something to do with a rod down there...perhaps too old/rusty for an alignment to be done.

It's my DD, has 250k miles on it but I've taken pretty good care of it and have recently put some money into it so I'm reluctant to part ways with it right now. I also don't want to have to keep switching tires out or buying a new one.

Anyway around this bending something as a risk of when doing an alignment?

 

Wow. That's pretty bad. If you don't want to sell the truck and your mechanic is being reasonable, you might just have to start replacing some parts down there.

 

you shouldnt have to bend anything on the front end of a Tacoma to get her to align... something is worn and I would seek a second opinion.

 

Take it to another shop or mechanic ask him to inspect front end.My guess are tie rod(s) are bad.

 

Ball joints and tie rods are probably bad.

 

A couple hundred bucks in tie rods and ball joints, and you'll be good for another 100K (after an alignment, lol)

Also...

You JUST noticed that?

 

I had the lower ball joints replaced a month ago. The mechanic said that the upper ball joints had some play in it but I opted to hold off on that. Could that be the cause? Or could it have been the lower ball joints which I did replace?

I will look into the tie rods. Would bad tie rods make getting an alignment job difficult?

 

That type of tire wear is called feather edge. Caused by at least one worn tie rod end. Should be easily to find by shaking each wheel with your hands at 3 and 9 oclock positions. Not sure about any bending of anything or any reason it could not be aligned after worn parts are replaced.

 

for starters, get a new mechanic. he's probably a hack.

second, if it's been pulling to the right that should have been a flag to get it looked at.

third, as others have stated you will probably need some new parts to correct the issue, including a new front tire as that thing is almost on the belts and would cause problems under normal driving even after fixing everything

 

a good alignment place will tell you whats needed to get a good alignment done. No mechanic should say bending metal, unless it was in a wreck. First thing to check is upper and lower ball joints and tie rods. that wear on the tire is typical of something worn(unless its been wrecked of course). and should be able to be fixed easily by any reputable alignment place.

 

Bad anything can make an alignment difficult, or impossible. New parts always make things easier.

As @frizzman said, I'd think about finding a new mechanic. Anyone who says they won't do an alignment because "it's too risky" just doesn't actually want to do the work. I'm just not sure how you'd "bend stuff".

If you want to go whole hog on your front suspension, get bushings, inner/outter tie rods, ball joints, and even steering rack bushings. It'll drive like it was new!

For a DIYer, having the proper tools (rented from an autoparts store) will make it a LOT easier. I went the shade-tree mechanic route the first time I did my upper BJs, and it was a royal PITA. Then, this last time around I got the proper tool when I installed my uniball UCAs, and installing the collar for the uniball mount (same method as reinstalling a ball joint in the spindle) went much smoother. Go figure...

For a day's worth of swearing and sweat, it was still worth it to do it myself and save the several hundred a shop would have charged.

 

So I inquired with my mechanic (more like the front desk guy) more about what the issue is with him refusing to do an alignment.

He said that something is bent that is preventing the mechanic from properly doing the alignment. He doesn't know what....he said it could be suspension. He recommended I take it to a more specialized shop like NTB.

I replaced the lower ball joints in June. The mechanic did say the upper ball joints had some play in it but I opted to not replace it.

The tie rods sounds like a possible culprit.

This is what lead to me replacing the lower ball joints in June:





The tire fell off as I pulled into the driveway.

And now that I'm looking at the pictures....the inside part of the tire is fine....so the wearing out part happened after I did the lower ball joint replacement around 4 months ago.

It looks like something could have gotten bent as that part of my truck dragged on the pavement

 

that changes things but a reputable collision place should be able to fix that if its bent.

 

^ yep. it's not hard to replace anything in the front suspension with a few common tools and socket sizes.

sounds like they just didn't want to mess with or have to deal with it if something else was still wrong.

 

I found a mechanic that will take a look at it.

It turns out not many repair shops are inclined to want to deal with frame issues.

Here's my thinking though...if the frame is out of alignment wouldn't that cause more than one tire to be wearing down unevenly? Only my front right tire is being worn down unevenly. That leads me to think (hope) that the bending or whatever off kilter part is localized to that one area and not the entire body frame.

What are some symptoms of a frame that has been bent out of shape?

 

I doubt your frame is bent, unless it’s from prior collisions. The suspension is weaker than the frame, so in those types of events, you’re more likely to bend suspension components, not the frame.

The couple hundred for tie rods and ball joints I think is well worth it, because I’m sure they could use replacement *anyway*. If that doesn’t fix the problem, then you might look are your control arms, those may have gotten bent, too. Those are also a pretty easy DIY replacement.

 

Symptoms of a tweaked frame would be visual tire wear and a pull but sometimes frame damage isn't obvious. The best way to inspect for this would be to check the alignment on a rack and try to get everything within specification as best as possible. If you cannot get both sides relatively close to each other that is a very good sign that the frame or another component is damaged. I've seen quite a few times before where a truck has had the LCA shoved back slightly causing caster/camber/toe to go out on one side and you can usually only get 1 or 2 measurements back into spec - and you have tire wear later on.

Judging by the second photo you shared of your ball joint failure I would suspect a bent lower control arm before I would a suspect damaged frame.. If that front right lca is tweaked the technician may not be able to move the cams for caster and camber. The ears on the frame that carry the control arm could also be moved. It also looks like that tie rod is pretty rotted so some one should inspect that for play.

I think a good cause of your tire wear are the bad upper balljoints. There should be zero play in the upper balljoints in these trucks where as 0.5mm is allowed for the lowers. You need to know that when you're driving down the road, that wheel is moving slightly back and fourth all the time due to the play - basically your alignment is always out on this side. Have another tech look at it, ask him what is "bent" whether it be a tie rod or what and take care of the upper ball joints.

 

You needed to get an alignment after you replaced the ball joint 4 months ago. Any suspension works requires alignment. And at 250k I'm sure all the other components r getting worn. It's just needs some ball joints and maybe tie rods for good measure and the alignment set I doubt anything is bent.

 

Either the upper. Lower. Or spindle is bent...did you not get an alignmenet after the tire fell off? Lol

 

Wow.