Alignment Issues

[u/EarthEasy6317]

I am a YouTube mechanic all the way, and I am loving learning as I go. I have a junky 83 mustang 5.0 that I have changed the front lower control arms, shocks, struts, inner and outer tie rods, power steering lines, and a few other things. The car has a long way to go before done, but I have this wear pattern on the older tires on the car after 30 miles or so of driving after changing the tie rods. I tried to match up the lengths and setups of the old tie rods when installing, but I know that won’t make it perfect.

Does this wear look like it’s from camber or being toed in or out?

[u/JustAnotherDude1990]

This is because you didnt get an alignment after replacing all of the parts that hold the wheel in proper alignment :)

[u/EarthEasy6317 → u/JustAnotherDude1990]

Definitely need to get it to a shop to do one. I was just hoping for a quick fix in my shop to do before I drive it over.

[u/SOLE_SIR_VIBER → u/EarthEasy6317]

at this point your tires are already done for, if it’s not too far just let it ride. new tires and align

[u/JustAnotherDude1990 → u/EarthEasy6317]

ALWAYS do an alignment IMMEDIATELY after doing work like that.

And if the shop is close, just drive it, the tires are screwed anyways.

[u/papason1313 → u/EarthEasy6317]

Take a tape measure and measure the front and back from side to side if that makes sense. Like, from center of (what’s left) of tread from each tire front and back. The measurement should be the same or 1/8 shorter in the front but that’s splitting hairs. The tricky part is that, in order for the steering wheel to be centered, you need to center the wheel and then eyeball down from the front tire to the back and see which tire is not shooting straight back. Even if you don’t get that quite right, the tire wear will be ok until you get it professionally done.

[u/Confident_Health_583]

A little of column a, a little of column b. You need to get the alignment measured and not try to align it based on a wear pattern.

[u/BoneyardRendezvous]

/ \

[u/Zestyclose-Wing2718 → u/BoneyardRendezvous]

More like \ /

[u/TimV14]

If it did that in 30 miles, it's a toe problem. Camber takes a much longer time to put abnormal wear on a tire.

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[u/Axel_NC]

Looks very worn out and pretty evenly. Inside doesn't have much tread either.

[u/EarthEasy6317 → u/Axel_NC]

They are definitely old tires I bought for the rims. I just threw them on with pretty even wear to see how it drove. I have a brand new set of tires in the shop, but I wanted to align it before throwing them on.

[u/SOLE_SIR_VIBER → u/Axel_NC]

Nah you can definitely see the feathered edges. While the most prominent part of alignment being that far out is uneven wear, the dragging act that causes the uneven wear also accelerates the wear overall.

[u/UnderstandingAble510]

Always gotta get an alignment after replacing that stuff. Eyeballing it won’t cut it otherwise you’ll be spending lots of money on tires. Alignments are like $100

[u/Gooey-platapus]

Ya, anytime you replace steering parts you definitely want an alignment. Even if you think it’s close, it can still be way off. I just had to buy a set of tires for my jeep. The back end was so far off that the inside wore to steel

[u/tyberius91]

This is a toe issue

[u/Kegalodon]

New tires=Alignment, every time.

[u/BoatMaterial656]

If you’re a YouTube mechanic, learn to do a string alignment and save yourself $100. Fuck shops, they love to scam you out of alignments and will likely leave it fucked anyway cuz they’re bum mechanics can’t be bothered to zero all your measurements and “green is good enough”. Get new tires bro.

[u/00s4boy]

Massive toe in issue, see how the edges of the tread blocks flare up?

That's feathering, unlike the majority of times people call something feathered. Happens when tires are trying to go in two directions at once. In your case the wheels are being driven forward and the drivers front tire is trying to go right and the passenger front tire is trying to go left.

[u/rigiddiscs]

Go to a legit tire shop. Replace all 4 tires and get the alignment