MOD: Please let me have until Sunday 02/17/08 before you move me to the "Brakes, Suspension, Wheels & Tires" forum...I need immediate answer so I can take care of my problem ASAP....PLEASE< Thank you.


I just got 4 brand new Toyo Proxes T1Rs installed on my 2005 G35C on 11/20/07, and had an alignment done that day too. Before that alignment, I found out that my front 2 tires were wearing on the inside, right at the inside edges of the tires. I had an alignment done and it was the first alignment. That was oh @ around 13/14k miles.

Well, about 2 weeks ago, I started lifting my car up to change out my lights. about 3 weeks ago, lifted the driver front up with my OEM jack and took the wheel off to access the light housing. I did that twice, once and then a second time because the first time I busted the bulb, and they were 1 day apart. Now, last Tuesday (02/05/08) I lifted the passenger front so I can do my passenger side light, and I only lifted it and removed the wheel once.

Here's where the problem started. Sometimes between last weekend and beginning of this week, whenever I made a turn in my car, left or right, I felt my steering wheel pulling pretty "easily", so much that I would have to grab on to my steering wheel and pull it back otherwise the steering wheel won't pull back to the straight position by itself. Once I started steering, about half way, it started continuing to turn further more....

Well, tonight, as I was coming back from dinner with a friend, the tires sounded loud. At first, we thought it was because of the rain or the road, nope and nope...I pulled the car over cuz I thought maybe I didn't put the passenger wheel back on properly a week and a half ago, but they weren't wobbling. I had my buddy drive drive around the parking lot just to make sure they weren't on loose. So started feeling the tires, and they were BALD. The front 2 tires were bald from the center of the tires all the way to the OUTSIDE of the tires. The inside of both tires were perfect. It seemed as if they wheels were butterflying IN, and the road was eating the outside of both front tires. Now, when I replaced my bulbs and removed my wheels, I made sure I looked at my tires to make sure I didn't have abnormal wear, and the tires were both PERFECT last Tuesday. Now a week and a half later, both tires are bald.

Did I put the wheels back incorrectly? Is there a certain way you're supposed to remount the wheels? like, were certain lug holes supposed to go to certain location? I've changed and rotated wheels (on OTHER cars) many times and I think I'm pretty experienced at doing so. So I don't think it was I put it on loose, so the only thing I could think that I did wrong was not remounting the wheel to the right slots. But is there such a thing?

The problem is this, BOTH front tires are worn the same exact way, and aren't they independent of each other? I'm trying to figure out what they share that would cause them both to have such a camber problem AT THE SAME TIME. Unless if when the guy who did the alignment did it wrong. But, it was one of the technicians at the TOYOTA Dealership I work at. Is there a certain spec the G35C is supposed to be aligned to that makes is totally different from a standard car? Was the guy suppose to do something that he didn't do? Or maybe, did I hit a pot hole to cause this? But I do not remember hitting a drop off that could affect both my front wheels at the same time. Now, I have to buy 2 new tires and get another alignment.

Please help me...thank you!!!

 

flip the tires and check your toe

 

man...I don't even know what a toe is...I didn't do the alignment...and I can't really flip the tires, they are bald from the middle of the tires all the way to the outside...pretty much half of the tires is bald, half good...

 

Do you still have the OEM wheels on? Is it possible you didn't install
wheels and not align the alignment bolt on the front wheels? Take the wheels
off and remove that bolt that's next to the lugs.....won't hurt anything. Then
reinstall the wheels using a torq wrench set at 85 LBS. This might be your
problem, kinda hard to tell from here! If someone follows you the way your
wheels are installed now they should see major wobble.

 

I don't know your level of knowledge of cars, but did you jack up the car correctly?...and not on vital parts such as tie rods or anything of that nature?

Check to see if all your wheel lugs are all tight and secure.

 

post pictures of the tires. how many miles do you have on them, unless i missed it, all you stated was that you had 13/14k on the car when you put the new tires on.
-GP-

 

if you had an alignment, shouldn't you have an alignment sheet?

 

tires probably have 5-6k miles on them...I need to find my alignment sheet...I dunno where it's at...is there a certain spec your alignment suppose to be?

 

^ factory alignment specs are here:
https://g35driver.com/forums/wheels-tires/203207-factory-alignment-specifications-specs.html

 

I have the OEM 19s on the car...there is a bolt that's sticking out when I took the wheel off, but when I put the wheels back on, I looked at the back of the wheels and there's not really a place where I thought that bolt is supposed to go...from reading the manual, it says that the bolt is to prevent you from accidentally mounting your rear wheels in the front....

 

you dont have to have that bolt...its to keep people from putting the back wheels on the front

 

Sorry to say that we won't be able to help you unless we have some photos and your alignment sheet from the shop. We can then compare with the OEM spec and see if there was some chicanery at the Toyota dealership. Otherwise, the photos should help determine how the premature wear was occurring and what may be wrong.

Outside of that the T1Rs are considered summer performance tires and should not be run in weather that is close to or below 45 degrees. Is Houston hot during the winter? If so, you will have premature wear from the soft compound turning brittle in cold weather.

Good Luck!

 

Your saying your tires went bald in a week and a half?????

Sounds like something Deez said that maybe you were jacking on tie rods & bent something.

 

oki...I just had my tires replaced today and realigned...the alignment was off, REALLY off...any how, I was gonna go out and buy another pair of T1R from my local wholesaler, which would have costed me $202 +tax for each tire...then I found a sale posting from http://houston-imports.com and called the dude up...he had a pair of 225/40/19 OEM Bridgestone for sale...he said there was at least 70% left and he wanted $250....I was contemplating between brand new vs take offs and made an offer...we agreed on $150 for the pair and he brought them to my work...they looked very new, the stubbles are still there...so now I have 2 different pairs for front and rear...but egh, I saved $287.33...I thought that was worth it...egh....

and oh, here are pictures of one of the tires from my car...the other side was almost as bad as this one...I'll post my alignment sheet tomorrow...oh yeah, the left side looks like it's over glared, but it's not...it's REALLY that worn:

 

Holy crap! That's messed up!!!