Today i was swapping my summer tires/wheels with my winter set.

I noticed that one of the rear tires has uneven wear on the inside of the tread. It looks and feels like it has "bumps" on it. The tread is not smooth and it has edges. Some spots are worn a lot more than others. Again, This is only on the inside portion of the tire. The outer side of the tire looks fine.

Can i get alignment for the rear axle? I though that this not possible on our cars.

If it is not possible - why is my tire wearing like this? This tire has always been on the rear, same side. It is directional and since my rear tires are wider than the front ones, i can never rotate them. Tire has about 35k miles on it. 75% rubber left on it, except the bad inside i found today. The way it looks, i may need new rear tires in a few months.

The question is....why it wears like this? Can i fix this and if yes, how do i fix it?

I have stock OEM springs and Tokico Illuminas set at 3. After i replaced the shocks a year ago - i got alignment. All 3 other tires look great.

Thank you!

 

Yes, as far as I know, our cars require a four wheel alignment. Most FWD vehicles do. It's not a seperate deal. When you get your car aligned, they will do all four. Look at your data sheet from your last alignment. It should show your reading for all four tires.

 

Are you the second owner of the car? Perhaps it my have taken a hit on the side from a curb? 4-5/5.5gen Maximas only require a 2 wheel alignment as we have a solid non adjustible rear axle. There is nothing to adjust back there, no shims or tie rods. That said a maxima without a bent rear beem doesnt need a four wheel alignment, however in your case to make sure it is indeed the rear beam I would have the specs check to be on the safe side. The only fix as far as I know is a new rear beam.

 

There are a select few who can bend the beam to adjust some aspects of the alignment, but they are few and far between, to say the least. They cater to the Sentra crowd...B14, IIRC (then again, I don't know my Sentras very well).

Here we go:
http://forums.maxima.org/autocrossin...-not-miss.html
http://forums.maxima.org/upper-midwe...incinnati.html

 

As Pulsar said.. no alignment on the rear...

 

You have been getting ripped off by your alignment shop.

 

normally when something is out in the rear on and independent suspension car. If it hasnt been lowered and has negative camber, usually this means something has been bent.

 

Do you feel any vibrations on the highway.....this sounds like bad tire balance or bad suspension part to me. If it was alignment, it would be uniform wear as you go around the tire. Not bumps.

Another possibility would be that the rim could have a couple small bends. The rim is more likely to bend on the inside of the rim because the spokes (support) is on the outer side.

 

I agree, I've seen this happen a few times with blown struts in the back. Wheel balancing is also important to a uniform tire wear.

This usually produces a lot of tire noise too.

 

Any way to post a pic of the wear? If so, I might be able to help diagnose the issue.

 

I also have been getting uneven heavy wear on the inside of both rear tires on my 2000 maxima. I strongly suspect the rear struts are the issue. I can bounce the rear up and down effortlessly. Not sure how that affects the alignment, but perhaps the blown struts allow the suspension to settle more than it should and the resulting angle of the trailing arms causes it to increase toe or camber....Does lowering a maxima cause this same issue?

I am definately going to put some struts on this and time will tell. Hard to believe that a bent beam could be to blame on mine. No visble damage anywhere and the wear is the same on both sides, though the right side may be a little more cupped.

 

The rear hubs are bolted to the beam with no adjustment possible. Lowering the car just decreases the height from the body to the beam, it doesn't change the suspension angle at all.

If the tires are cupping, it could indeed be the struts, or a balance issue, or just an alignment issue. Have you had the alignment checked, with a printout? Many tire stores will check the alignment for free.

 

A long shot -- but COULD be the TIRE itself, as well.

No mention of what brand / model you're running .... but tires have been known to come out of the mold defective.

Now try PROVING that to the manufacturer and getting a warranty claim -- THERE's a challenge!!

btw: have you been rotating regularly / properly?!?

gr

 

OP stated staggered fitment in original post. No rotating.

 

Er... Why would you put wider tires on the rear axle of a front-wheel-drive car?

 

So I finally got around to putting some new tires on the wife's max. I had been running the nexxon 215/55/16's but opted for the Hankook Optima 724 and I had the check the alignment while they were on it. Turns out that the RR has an additional 1* of camber and is toed out as well. All the other corners are in spec. So it must be that this thing took a hit at some point. Alos, I hadnot been doing a good job of rotating the tires. The 724's are non directional so I plan on moving them around regularly. BTW the RR strut was completely blown o with the new tires and the new rear struts it does ride a LOT nicer and very quiet in comparison.

If the stub bolts to the beam couldn't some custom shims be placed in between to adjust the angle a little? Maybe a thin sheet of aluminum or steel stategically placed could correct this? Thanks for the feedback.

 

YOu're better off replacing the bent parts / axle / beam.

And you should really consider buying better tires -- Nexxon and Hankook are among the Cheapest Brands.
And with Tires: you Get what you Pay for.

gr

 

Sounds like what you described in the OP is what is commonly called "cupping" and is usually the result of a blown shock.

I disagree with the above statement about tires: I've had good and bad experiences with both expensive and cheap tires. Some of the ones I paid the most money for were the nosiest tires I've ever ridden on. I now go for cheap, sometimes I buy from a used car tire place.

On my wife's Camry, I have the original Michelins on the back after 55,000 miles they still have good tread left. But the fronts wear out much quicker regardless of how well-aligned the front end is, so I keep cheap Korean ties up there...

 

My wife's Maxima has Hankooks on it. They are the best wearing tires I've seen in the 20+ years I've been buying tires. They are also very quiet and handle great in the rain. OTOH, we both have a set of Hankook snow tires which are horrible in the snow. I've bought very expensive Michelins that I hated, and much cheaper Yokohamas that lasted the same and handled better with less noise than the Michelins. I wouldn't say that "you get what you pay for" is universally right when it comes to tires anymore. I'd say that you pay a lot for marketing on certain tire brands though.

 

I agree, check the wheel. It can be bent, but not visible to the eye. Have a good tire shop do what is called a rim runout. That checks the wheel for irregularities, and it can be out of round. Same thing with tires as well, they can be out of round too. This can be checked by doing what is called roadforce. However, since the inside of the tire is aleady cupped up, doing a roadforce check won't matter. Start by checking the rim runout first on your wheel. If that is good, then definitely check that beam axle out and see what's up with that. It's possible the car had been wrecked.

It's done for looks, that's all really. That trend has been going on in Europe for quite a few years now. Alot of times you'll see really wide wheels on the back with mega stretched tires. From a safety and handling standpoint, I would not want wider tires on the rear of any front drive car. It would cause it to severely understeer, unless you had a crazy stiff rear swaybar to pick up the inside tire during cornering, a.k.a. "dog-pissing." I've seen alot of VW's do this at track events. The downside to lifting the inside rear tire during cornering is that when it sets back down on the pavement, it creates flat spots on the tires. However it does look cool watching the tire lift off the ground and then touch back down on the pavement with a puff of smoke

 

I'm just bumping this thread from a search. Do blown rear struts cause cupping because it's no longer supporting the weight of the car properly, hence the irregular tire wear?

 

^ Yes that's a possible sign as well. Any leaks from the rear shock on that side?

 

I would imagine it could. I wonder if blown (fluid leaked out) trailing arm bushings could also be a factor.

 

No leaks, but I wanted to share with the group that I spoke with my Nissan dealer mechanic friend, and he pointed out to me that when we run non-factory spec wheels (as I do w my Z wheels), the offset is different, which then changes the scrub radius of the wheels when they are rolling, so that could cause some degrees of cupping. Makes sense.

 

this thread being bumped is a godsend..had bad shaking at 58+mph from the rear on my 01 i30, mechanic says the rear tires (which are pretty old and going to be replacing) have bumps and are worn unevenly, he didnt say anything about the shocks..however, the previous owner seemed to make it their god damn goal to hit every f*cking curb in the world with the wheels..theyre all scuffed up, every single one of them (hoping they arent bent..REALLY can not afford new wheels working at Papa Johns right now.) Once i get the new tires mounted and balanced, i plan on an alignment so ill have them check the rear to see if something is bent.