OEM shocks going out?

[brazy]

Looking for some guidance before I go to the dealership with this issue:

I replaced the stock Primacys with some Bridgestone Potenza 980 A-S (on the stock wheels) at about 40,000mi on the odometer.

I've gotten to almost 50,000mi now and the front tires both have cupping on the inner half of the tread. The passenger side is more noticeable than the driver side, but both have the issue.

I'm wondering if this is an indicator that the OEM shocks are about finished. The ride has gotten slightly more noisy and jarring in the egregious road conditions of Northern Virginia over the past 2-3 months. I had plans to lower the car this summer anyways, so in a way I'm hoping that the factory shocks ARE the problem. Just want to know if anyone has had this experience or has any insight into the problem.

My plan is to, first, have Subaru inspect the suspension components. Then, if they don't find anything I will get an alignment. I have already confirmed that tire pressure is good, and the mounting and balancing was done correctly.

Anything else I should look for, check myself, etc. before this plan of action? Any input is appreciated.

[Teseo]

2L;DR
Get alignment

[Mr.ac]

This should help.

http://http://perfectcircletire.com/images/tirewear.png

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Mr.ac

This should help.

http://http://perfectcircletire.com/images/tirewear.png

You have been awful helpful here lately ........ are you low on used civics ....??


humfrz

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by brazy

Looking for some guidance before I go to the dealership with this issue:

I replaced the stock Primacys with some Bridgestone Potenza 980 A-S (on the stock wheels) at about 40,000mi on the odometer.

I've gotten to almost 50,000mi now and the front tires both have cupping on the inner half of the tread. The passenger side is more noticeable than the driver side, but both have the issue.

I'm wondering if this is an indicator that the OEM shocks are about finished. The ride has gotten slightly more noisy and jarring in the egregious road conditions of Northern Virginia over the past 2-3 months. I had plans to lower the car this summer anyways, so in a way I'm hoping that the factory shocks ARE the problem. Just want to know if anyone has had this experience or has any insight into the problem.

My plan is to, first, have Subaru inspect the suspension components. Then, if they don't find anything I will get an alignment. I have already confirmed that tire pressure is good, and the mounting and balancing was done correctly.

Anything else I should look for, check myself, etc. before this plan of action? Any input is appreciated.

Sounds like a good plan......


humfrz

[Mr.ac]

Originally Posted by humfrz

You have been awful helpful here lately ........ are you low on used civics ....??


humfrz

Aww you know...I'm just trying to be nice. Cause heaven forbid I tell these kids my honest dislike for tow straps and I cause bloody physical and emotional harm to them because of words they read.

But civic sales are good, had a friend of mine trade in his frs for a new Turbo accord. He lives in up in Seattle so I can't really get to joy ride with him. But he says it's a little beast on the freeway.

And now as to not totally de-rail the thread,

In my experience i seen with center cupping is over inflated tires. For the longest time my moms car would eat tires like crazy. The problem was she bought those cheap stick type tire pressure gauge. The gauge was off by 15psi and her alignment was off. Lol.

[ermax]

When you say inner I assume you mean inner edge of the tire. If so, front toe is off. Bad toe can eat a set of tires extremely fast.

[guybo]

Toe wont cause cupping. That'd be a feathered even wear pattern. It's not camber either because that'd cause even wear on the shoulder of the tire. Cupping is common on trucks, but not cars. It could be several emergency braking lock ups- but that's a stretch too.

There's some damage or it could be simple tire imbalance (but if it was that bad, you'd feel it). It could be a blown damper, but there's other things it could be too. Get it up on a rack and check out the front suspension.

[ermax]

I assume he is describing something like this which is definitely toe.

[brazy]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Sounds like a good plan......


humfrz

Originally Posted by Mr.ac

In my experience i seen with center cupping is over inflated tires. For the longest time my moms car would eat tires like crazy. The problem was she bought those cheap stick type tire pressure gauge. The gauge was off by 15psi and her alignment was off. Lol.

Mine are not center cupping... its happening on the inner half - starting from the inner shoulder and goes about 2 inches towards the center. The Primacys that were replaced had no abnormal wear so my first thought was improper balancing or wrong pressure. But I've double and tripled checked everything with the tires.

Originally Posted by guybo

Toe wont cause cupping. That'd be a feathered even wear pattern. It's not camber either because that'd cause even wear on the shoulder of the tire. Cupping is common on trucks, but not cars. It could be several emergency braking lock ups- but that's a stretch too.

There's some damage or it could be simple tire imbalance (but if it was that bad, you'd feel it). It could be a blown damper, but there's other things it could be too. Get it up on a rack and check out the front suspension.

Yeah, I have no reason to believe I'm out of alignment. Previous tires wore normally and the car isn't lowered. Not saying it's impossible that I need an alignment, I just think it's more likely that I have an issue with the damper or some other suspension component. Just wasn't really sure exactly what to look for.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by brazy

Yeah, I have no reason to believe I'm out of alignment. Previous tires wore normally and the car isn't lowered. Not saying it's impossible that I need an alignment, I just think it's more likely that I have an issue with the damper or some other suspension component. Just wasn't really sure exactly what to look for.

Still need to rule out alignment since it is the number one issue that can destroy tires. Just because the last tires wore fine does not mean the alignment has changed. I would at least have it checked before trying to chase down suspension issues that may not exist.

[strat61caster]

A good alignment check will inspect all the joints in the suspension for wear or damage (bushings, ball joints, arms/links for straightness, subframe, all the important nuts and bolts etc.) which would be the quickest way to narrow in on a problem. If a full suspension inspection returns nothing and the tires aren't out of round or unbalanced then I'd be thinking dampers, but usually you'll feel dampers go to shit before you see it on the tire wear, dampers can be spectacularly bad before impacting tire wear.

Had a buddy with some weird ride characteristics he was fully blaming on the transmission, turns out the rear subframe bushings were prematurely worn and that was found on the alignment rack. It didn't solve the issue but it certainly helped.

[brazy]

front right camber was out of factory spec. Don't have an exact figure yet as I'm still at work, but service advisor said it was just barely too negative. Will order camber bolts for front.. Hopefully that corrects the issue. I'll provide an update if it doesn't lol


Thanks to all for helpful input

EDIT: Correction now that I have the alignment figures from Subaru - Front Right toe was out of spec. Started 0.22 toe in, corrected to 0.04 but apparently that ever-so-slightly moved the camber out of spec. But assuming that alignment was the issue, toe-in was the cause. Cheers @ermax

[ermax]

As guybo pointed out, camber actually doesn't impact wear that much. Toe will though and .22 is a fair bit off.

TBH, when you said cupping I thought you meant concave on the inner edge which screams toe. But after reading guybo's post about balance I googled the term "cupping" and realized it was a term used for flat spots. That's when I posted that picture to show what my original interpretation of your report was. But you never confirmed if your tires looked like that. Anyways, glad you got it sorted.