Bottom ball joint - tyre wear

[Red Studio]

When I had the car MOTd in April the garage said that a ball joint needed replacing so I agreed for them to do it, then they said a drop link to the roll bar also had to be replaced. I don't look under the car perhaps as often as I should but working on the exhaust at the weekend I see they replaced the whole lower arm on the front right.

I should have picked it up sooner but the tyre on that side is now worn badly on the inside edge. It wasn't worn at MOT time but has happened in the month and a bit since - probably on a return trip to South Wales from the Midlands as I always check pressures and tyre condition carefully before one of its few long runs.

Does this sound like the camber is out after the repair? The nearside tyre looks fine.

(Car is a pre-facelift diesel estate with 130,000 miles on the clock.)

Edited 10 June, 2013 by Red Studio

[adurer]

I had on my car a -2.5 deg. camber from a worn front bush of track control arm. That might give you an idea on the order of magnitude worn bushes have on camber angle. I would go back to that repair shop (I imagine you have a guarantee) and demand an explanation, a free repair, and eventually a replacement tyre. From your description, something was bent, not tighten, not replaced or installed wrong.

Edited 10 June, 2013 by adurer

[Red Studio]

Thanks. That's what I was thinking. I'm getting it checked by my usual garage as the other was just one I use for MOT. I'm not confident in the test centre's ability to set it correctly whereas I've never had any doubts with my regular garage.

At the time I thought it was easier to get it repaired at the test centre than to take it away to get it fixed and then organise a retest. I suspect the rear mount of the lower arm as going by the clean patch on the floor of the car, this has been moved quite a distance sideways compared to the original.

[djaychela]

I'd be surprised if you got -2.5 degrees from a worn bush...

Anyway, far more likely cause of wear is that the toe in/out is off, causing the wear. Roll bar link wouldn't make any difference to it, FTR.

I'd also be surprised if the rear mounting itself had moved significantly - it's been a while, but IIRC the wishbone mount's design wouldn't leave room for significant movement of the component, but either way it certainly needs to be checked after anything has been replaced. And given that they've replaced the entire arm it's unlikely that it would be dimensionally identical to the original. Poor form on their part for not having alerted you to this, though.

Whenever you get any front component replaced (wishbone, bushes, joint, etc), then it's worth getting the tracking checked for this reason.

[adurer]

I'd be surprised if you got -2.5 degrees from a worn bush.

You didn't see how worn it was... I felt it most when going in reverse with steering wheel all the way to the left or right. It was like a shopping cart with a floppy wheel. Changing the bush got my camber angle back to 0, proven by the computerized laser alignment tool before/after.

A toe-in/out problem generates a feathering pattern wear on tyres. Red Studio described either an uniform inner wear or a cupping wear. Not to mention a toe in/out problem capable to wear that tyre to suck extent would had been felt in steering wheel and heard as rubbing on asphalt. See http://www.procarcar...adtirewear.html

@Red Studio

The track arm rear bush mount has a centering hole provided just to avoid slipping when bolts are torqued to specs. You need to insert a 6 mm centering drift into the ex-rivet hole, tighten M12 bolts to 70 Nm then remove centering drift from the hole.

Edited 11 June, 2013 by adurer

[KenONeill]

It makes me think more of camber than toe.

From what Adurer says, I suspect that it's possible to mis-set the camber on a Felly when changing wishbones or their bushes.

[Red Studio]

It's booked in for a check on Tuesday. I'll update when I know more. Hope it's just adjustment and not new parts.

[djaychela]

I've never had a significant camber deviation on a Felicia with new wishbones - I've fitted plenty, as you can imagine - the biggest deviation was about 0.25 degree, which didn't make a significant difference and without adjustable top mounts there's not much you can do with it anyway. Toe, however, has varied a fair bit.

FTR I've seen plenty of wear from toe issues, and you don't always see the textbook feathering of tyres at the edges. I had one car that was miles off, the tyres were feathered, but plenty of cars I've bought and sold have had similar issues without any feathering. Girlfriend's car has exactly that right now, and the camber is spot on. The toe isn't.

[Red Studio]

Lower arm wasn't properly aligned and tracking hadn't been re-set anyway - no sign of recent disturbance of the track rod ends.

The garage used the alignment holes (I assume to be those that Adurer mentioned in his post) to re-position the lower arm and then re-set the tracking.

I think I'm too late to go back to the MOT centre to claim any of this back. I should have checked it more closely at the time. Next time I'll take it away to get it worked on rather than go for the easy option.

[djaychela]

Yeah, as you say,the problem is proving it more than anything, if you've taken it elsewhere then you don't have much chance. Still, lesson learned, and at least it'll behave itself now!