juicy

Although my fronts are wearing more on the inside edge (as expected),
the driver side front is showing more wear on the inside than the passenger side.

As a result, I am going to have an alignment check done, and adjusted if necessary.

However, I have read conflicting reports of whether this should be done on worn tyres.
I read one posting (from an ex Honda technician) on these boards that it is fine to do it when worn, but handling may be slightly off as a consequence of the uneven tyre wear PRIOR to having the alignment corrected.
I wont mind this situation, providing that when I eventually do put on new boots , the car will be right.

Others seem adamant that alignment should not be done on worn tyres under any circumstance.

Although my tyres are part worn, they're not so worn that they need to be changed, so if I can avoid prematurely changing all 4 tyres just for the alignment check I will.

Can anyone advise on this, and whether it is indeed okay to have alignment done on part worn tyres .?
(I think Ive got a least a few more thousand miles in the current set)

ade73

yeah there is no (major) probs with doing the alignment on part worn tyres.
you can get uneven were but nothing major from the speeds you take different corners(some ppl go faster on a right or a left than the other)

Bassoctopus

I would disagree with Ade here.

My tyres were worn on the insides and a geo was done. The results were very car skipped to the left on every catseye.

Got it done again on a new set and the results are

juicy

Neil_s2k,
But was the bad handling as a result of the tyres being worn to the previous alignment, then having the correct alignment put on the car.

The slightly off handling is something I can live with for a few thousand miles until the tyres do need changing, but what I dont want to do is have to fork out for alignment check, have new tyres in a few months, then have the alignment check done again.!!

As I said, Ive read as many posts as I can find (as well as the technical FAQ), but nothing really clarifies this subject completely.

Bassoctopus

My car was handling very badly having had the geo done on the worn tyres by the previous owner. I changed the tyres for a complete new set of F1s, drove it for a week with very little improvement, then got the revised geo done. The handling improvement was massive.

Just my 2p, but I intend to get my alignment done whenever I get new boots on!

juicy

Thanks Neil,
Any other owners out there had this issue ?

juicy

btw.
the motor is booked in for tomorrow,
hence my anxiety to get the answers..!
(ie. to align or not align)

Spanners

Alignment is done by measuring at the wheel rims, not the tyres and so should be immune to almost any tyre wear. The only exception would be where one tyre was so worn the car was not sitting evenly - one suspension system less compressed than the other - but this would need one bald and one new tyre. I find it hard to believe that one uneven tyre would make any difference.

I had my alignment done recently. One of the claims of my aligner was he has an expensive scissor ramp to lift the car - most people use a ramp with four screw jacks, one at each corner. These can result in the platform the car is on being up to 6mm from flat - i.e. twisted - the jacks are not all at the same level - and this can upset the alignment readings.

However, once you have been realigned then the unevenly worn tyre may well have a dramatic effect on handling. What effect will depend on the extent of the unevenness.

juicy

Thanks Xby2K
The extent of my tyre wear isnt that bad ,
Im just worried that one inner edge is more worn than the other implying that it may only be slightly out.
Southern Counties Honda, when I mentioned it to them said that alignment CAN be done on worn tyres, but this conflicted with what a lot of other people have said on this board, hence, my confusion...
Hopefully my mind can rest now, and I will proceed to get the alignment checked out.

rahula

I would suggest swapping the tyres around. Get them mounted so the outer edges are on the inside and mounted in the opposite positions. This way your tread should be about the same for both and if you feel inclined you could get them aligned.

I on the other hand would swap them around now to maximise the use of the tyres and get the alignment done when you get new tyres. I say this because you do not mention any issues with the handling and the only concern is excessive wear on the inner edges.