Hello newb here, My car would ride the ruts in the highway pretty bad and in reverse only it would seem as if to slide sideways like something was loose. It turned out the belts were broke in my left front tire. New tires it is now fine. I too thought it was the rack. I love ls1tech

 

I think I've tracked down the problem. The outside appearance of the tires look a little angled out so I'm assuming the alignment is way out. I also checked the very inner put of the tire and its worn down almost bold. I've been going to Firestone for 3 years for their lifetime alignment (don't ever recommended unless its stock). Pay the fee once and it's done but I always accepted the fact that since I'm lowered, my alignment would never be right. I even took it to another just straight alignment shop locally in TX and I'm assuming they slightly angled the tires out to compensate for the inner side being worn down. Even my rear tires wear really bad. I've had 4 sets of tires in a 3-4 year period due to the fact that they wear down so easily. The only place that managed to get my alignment right was Hauk's in Louisiana but it would still pull (on uneven road only) and brake bias to the right because the right front tire is worn alot more. Long story short, Im yet again, getting new tires and a different alignment shop. Any recommendations for the Fort Hood/Killen/Temple Texas area?

On a different note, what would cause the tires (besides alignment) to wear so quickly? I would go to the track maybe 2-3 times a year. Other than that, I do alot of city driving between 25-50mph and some less than 10 minute highway trips around 50-70mph. I do alot of spirited driving but mostly straight line and not pushing the tires. I'm on Strano springs and Koni SA shocks for about 3 years now. I did have poly/poly lca's and panhard bar (different setup now) but I don't think it would affect tire wear. Front shocks set to 3 from firm and rears are full soft.

I've tried all these MATCHING sets of tires 275/40/17 frotn and 315/35/17 rear: Sumitomo HR, Nitto Extreme DR (street), and now Kumho XS (335/35.17) and they are just over a year old and worn bad enough to almost replace. The rears always wear equally and I know the fronts wear because of the bad alignments.

Any help?

 

I replaced all the ball joints and bushings in the front end with Moog parts last weeknight and got my alignment into specs minus the -1.1 camber even after the offset bushings. I still have the popping in the front end. The springs and shocks looked good, even the mounts. Could the shocks actually be bad? They were installed 3 years ago... Koni's.

 

there has to be something else. What you describe should have nothing to do with the ball joints or type of tire especially if you only have to turn it a tiny bit to get it to "skip." Do you have aftermarket brakes? A friend of mine had the stock lower a-arm digging into the back of his rotors because he didnt read instructions. Caused a very similar issue. You really need to jack the entire front end and turn the wheels from one extreme to the other and rotate them in both directions. Put baby powder or something similar in the wheel wells and duplicate your problem. If any of it is rubbed off the tire or there are obvious scuffs from the tire in the wheel well look there first. Chances are since your meats are getting abused on the insides of the tire its makeing contact....or your alignment is off bigtime. keep in mind with the front end up it may not contact since the springs/struts are extending the tires away from the wheel well.

 

I had the car on ramps last night with the sway bar connected and disconnected and couldn't duplicate the problem or see anything rubbing. I have stock brake setup. The steering knuckle does come close to hitting the rim but doesn't rub or contact it. Could the steering column have something bad in it?

 

Here is my alignment specs and the picture of the knuckle. This is with the car on ramps and the wheel all the way turned.

 

That looks really close and any play in the suspension may cause it to contact. In fact Ive marked on your first picture which seems to have a shiny bevel on one part (white) and a nice edge on the rest (green). I would look at that and definitely start looking for jacked wheel bearings. Are you able to push it backwards in neutral? Try marking the knuckle with grease or something you would notice if it transferred to the rim. Whats the offset on those anyway?

 

The bearings/hubs are new along with the suspension and the car rolls when in neutral. They are the 52mm or 56mm offset and they've been on for over 3 years.

 

Mine does it too and pretty sure with both skinny/taller winter tires and wider/lower summer tires. I really doubt it's the tires since it's happening to a bunch of us.

 

Weird, I actually just started having this problem recently. But Im 99% sure its from my alignment because Im getting a lot more wear on the outside of the front tires. Ive never had this problem until now and Ive owned the car for about 5 years, so this certainly is not "normal".
Ill report back when I get a new alignment.

 

What's the chance of having an issue with the steering column? I hear popping directly from that area.

 

The column will not cause your front tires to skip. My guess is something called TOOT. Toe-out on turns. If, for example, the inside wheel is turned 20* and the outside is only at say, 18* it would cause the car to "skip" like a wheel is being dragged. As force on the tires increases during a turn pressure would build up on one tire more than the other. Try to find a highly recommended alignment shop. May sound funny but, a local Miata club would know a good shop most likely. Those people may drive "cute" cars but a lot of them are very interested in how their go-carts handle.

 

You may want to move this to the suspension and handling section of the forum.

 

If I let the roll roll backwards and not touch anything, I hear a faint grind sound coming from the steering column and then a pop. Stop, let it roll another 10 feet and the sound will continue. Even in parking lots while moving slowly and turning it will pop tremendously.

 

Did you tighten your sway bar on a jack or planted firmly on the ground...they'll bind up if you do it on a jack. I also had a similiar problem and it ended up that my caster bushings where bad and the shop couldn't do an alignment correctly.

 

Did you tighten your sway bar with your vehicle on a jack or planted firmly on the ground...they'll bind up, when lowered back down, if you do it on a jack. I also had a similiar problem and it ended up that my caster bushings where bad and the shop couldn't do an alignment correctly.

 

I actually thought the sway bar was the problem so I took it off and put it back on. The car was on ramps with normal ride height wihen it was tightened down. I'm pretty confident it's the wheel hubs even though I just replaced them literally a few weeks prior. When the car is just sitting, I can push and pull the top of the tire in and out about 1/8" and I hear it pop, clunk, etc.. This is while it's on the ground. Once it's in the air, I can't do anything with the wheel... it's all tight and of course all the other suspension parts don't move. It just "wiggles" while on the ground and it likes to stay in a turn again which was the problem with the last ones when they went out. The car would turn but would continue wanting to turn and would dart whichever way it wanted on the highway bumps.

 

Ball joints maybe? I'm to lazy to go through the entire thread to see if you've replaced them...

 

I re-replace the ball joints, tie rods ends, front and rear sway bar endlinks, upper and lower control arm bushings, and the tires. It doesn't skip anymore. The upper control arm bushings are offset and all the other parts are moog. I got my alignment into specs and managed to get my camber at 0. Feels like a completely different car.

 

Wow its hard to understand what the complaint is, maybe im just retarded, but why can you not locate where the noise is coming from if your capable of producing at will?