dangerous front tire wear

[subaruleg]

Hello all,

 

 

So we have had a vibration that is showing up in an 08 legacy and this pretty much starts at 80mph. We had thought this a tire balancing issue so we took it in for a balance yesterday.

We got a call with them saying its not the balancing thats an issue. The showed us the drivers tire and the dang thing had the inner edge wore down to the belt, passenger tire was fine.

 

They put the car up on the rack and said an almost 4000$ quoted bill would be the result of the front control arm bushing starting to crack, the flat hockey puck one, and the steering rack was leaking.

 

I'm not an expert here but the bushings were dropped all the way from the suspension hanging so there were some little cracks noticeable but it didnt seem terrible. The steering rack was leaking into the tie rod boot, its not enough to drip yet, but it was wet and I could only trace it up to the top of the steering rack. I assume its the little connector thats leaking.

 

Also I saw the driver side lower ball joint boot had a tad bit of grease coming out of it, but I dont know if this is an excess purge thing or a very small tear? I did not see this on the passenger ball joint.

 

 

Needless to say we arent having them fixing this and I have to bushings to push out from the controls arms, then the plan is to get new tires and an alignment right away.

 

 

My question is am I overlooking anything else that could allow this terrible tire wear?

I pressed and pulled on everything as best I could while i was underneath the car, we pried the bushing with a pry bar to see flex, they do move.

 

 

 

Thank you for any help you can give!!!!!!

[aero901]

Sounds like some kind of alignment issue given the tire wear. Inner edge tire wear can be an indication of too much toe-out. Is the tire wear also feathered (tread blocks feel grippy when running hand in one direction laterally across tread but not the other)? I'd check the drivers side tie rod end and lower ball joint for play first.

[Max Capacity]

Was that from the dealership ? that's a lot of money.

 

I've had my trusted mechanic replace both LCA, ball joints, steering rack for less than that.

 

You can buy replacement LCA and $30 ball joint. How much rust is in there ? The Ball joint can be a PITA. If you crack the Knuckle, a replacement comes with ball joint.

[subaruleg]

Sounds like some kind of alignment issue given the tire wear. Inner edge tire wear can be an indication of too much toe-out. Is the tire wear also feathered (tread blocks feel grippy when running hand in one direction laterally across tread but not the other)? I'd check the drivers side tie rod end and lower ball joint for play first.

 

The tire doesnt seem to feel grippy as you say, its actually quite smooth except where the portion of tire that got to the belt is. It looks like the inner wheel might be bent a little, same spot that this patch is. Ide post a picture if this has free imaging hosting.

 

A question about the tie rods, how much play can there be. They weren't flopping around, but you could move them by hand and they felt like they wanted to return to the previous position a little. Is it acceptable to be able to move them by hand or should they take some force?

[aero901]

The connection between the wheel spindle and the tie rod end should be solid (no movement). Same thing for the lower ball joint. Sounds like you were moving the steering rack.

[subaruleg]

I do mean the tie rod end where the castle nut attaches. I can move the tie rod joint by hand when its removed from the knuckle. Its not sloppy by any means, but I cant move the end back/forth without to much effort.