Strange tire wear...what could be causing it??

[trialsmaster2]

Hello all,
I searched the Delica.ca forums for the last few days, but haven't found an answer that describes the strange tire wear that our 1993 L300 is experiencing.

We got these BF Goodrich All Terrain's (235 75R15 LT) installed in late 2008 when we got the van...that was 70,000km ago.
Had the shocks replaced, alignment done and a bunch of other preventative maintenance done at the same time.

Tires were wearing decently up until a year or so ago. I can hear some occasional clunks from the front end when I drive over something like broken pavement...it's quiet the rest of the time. I haven't found the van to be pulling to one side or anything.

On the front driver's side, the tire is wearing on the outside only
On the front passenger side, the tire is wearing on the inside only
The wear doesn't appear to be from something as obvious as over-inflation or under-inflation.

Obviously I'll require new tires and an alignment. But, I'd like to get the underlying problem fixed so I don't have this kind of wear on the new tires.





Front driver's side tire wear



Front passenger side tire wear


Rear tire, for comparison. A little bit of wear consistant with being overinflated, but I think not too bad for 70,000km

Thanks,
Aaron

[thedjjack]

do you rotate tires front and back?? This is important.

My guess is the bushings in the control arms have worn out and this causes the chamber to change.

Bottom control arm bushings can be changed....top control arms need to be changed

[nxski]

I had wear like this and it was the control arm bushings (the made clunking sounds as well). Luckily it was just the lower control arm bushings.

[trialsmaster2]

Thanks for the replies. I'll keep on top of rotating tires with my next set of tires...I didn't with these ones.

I'll look into the control arm bushings. Besides the funky tire wear, is there some kind of test that can be done to confirm whether it's the lower or upper and lower control arm bushings that are worn?

Thanks,
Aaron

[konadog]

Rotate tires every 10,000 clicks - every second oil change. If you have a good spare that's the same as the other four tires, rotate that one into the mix too. I just got new tires (BFG AT's) a couple of months ago after 100,000 kms. All wear was nice and even.

[strada-caster]

if you are hearing a clunk upon impacts, look into your ball joints, I had the same type of wear on one tire...did my ball joints all around as they all needed to be changed out. not too hard to do, get teh press tool from CT for free (full refund upon tool return). saves you about 500 bucks doing it yourself, but will take atleast 1/2 day depending on your skills.

[nxski]

You can easily tell of the lower ones are worn, I peeled mine right off with my finger.

[dr_airtime]

Second that. I bought a used L300 with BFG AT's and the previous owner did not rotate tires and it had the exact same wear on the outside of BOTH FRONT tires, like the wear on the outside of your front right tire only. The wear on the outside is from turning and not rotating your front tires to the back.

As to the wear on the inside of your front left tire, that is definitely some sort of alingment/control arm issue.

I mostly drive my car on the sea to sky and baker highweays where you are constantly turning so I'm noticing the beginning of wear on the snow tires I have put on for this winter - it is their first time on the Deli.

There is lots of wear on the front becuase these are heavy vans. Definitely rotate the next set AT LEAST every 10,000 kms if you drive turny roads like the sea to sky a lot. I would say, not such a rush if you are on boring traffic filled roads like #1 in the Lower Mainland

[trialsmaster2]

After my brother stopped by last night to help with the diagnosis, we figure the following has play and should be replaced:

LH upper ball joint
RH upper ball joint
LH inner tie rod end

Next step...find someone who has these parts in stock! I can find genuine Mitsubishi parts locally in the Okanagan, but at about $80 more, total for the three items. Unfortunately, CVI seems to be out of upper ball joints at the moment.

[Growlerbearnz]

You know, as long as so many of the joints have failed, you might as well replace them all- the not-yet-failed joints can't be far off.

[mararmeisto]

X2

If you're changing three, you might as well change the fourth, that way they'll all wear evenly together. After you get an alignment.