Front suspension problems

[DECOCW]

Did any one who owns an NV notice a saw tooth wear on the front tires ? Mine have a noticeable sawtooth wear at 5,000 miles .

I have a 1500 SV owned for about 6 months and i use it to deliver custom cabinets ,very light loads .

I saw another NV on the road today and inspected their front tires .They where worse than mine .Asked the driver if he noticed anything unusual while driving and said no .

Did not take it to the Dealer yet but took it for alignment .It was within specifications .

If any one has any information on this problem please let me know .

 

Bobby .

 

Update :

I took it to the dealer .After 10 days i got it back without any diagnosis .Dealer said they cant find anything wrong suspension components are good and alignment is within specs .

Edited May 18, 2012 by DECOCW

[Blaine]

Did any one who owns an NV notice a saw tooth wear on the front tires ? Mine have a noticeable sawtooth wear at 5,000 miles .

I have a 1500 SV owned for about 6 months and i use it to deliver custom cabinets ,very light loads .

I saw another NV on the road today and inspected their front tires .They where worse than mine .Asked the driver if he noticed anything unusual while driving and said no .

Did not take it to the Dealer yet but took it for alignment .It was within specifications .

If any one has any information on this problem please let me know .

 

Bobby .

 

Update :

I took it to the dealer .After 10 days i got it back without any diagnosis .Dealer said they cant find anything wrong suspension components are good and alignment is within specs .

My first reaction is "10 days?!?!?!"... you've got to be kidding me! I would have been all over them like a cheap suit! Nissan is supposed to give priority service to their Commercial Vehicle owners.

 

I'm sure you've checked the obvious, but if you haven't, make sure the tire pressures are set correctly. When I received mine from the dealer, they had the fronts set at 80psi... spec is 50, at least on the 2500.

 

This won't sound ideal, but it's what I'd do if I were in your shoes. Depending on which side is feathering, you can always stray away from the alignment specs. If it's feathering on the outside, one way or another you're running too much toe-in. Likewise, if it's on the inside, too much toe-out. If adjusting toe doesn't fix the issue, there's likely too much play in some component of the front suspension... wheel bearings (you'd hear them), steering ball joints (you should feel it), suspension ball joints, bushings, etc. Given than you've only got 5K miles on the vehicle, I highly doubt something's worn out. If the issue was camber related, it wouldn't be feathering... you'd just accelerate wear on the inside or outside of the tire.

 

If you're mechanically inclined, adjusting toe is very simple to do. As long as you do the identical adjustment on both sides (in or out), your alignment will stay true. A 1/8th turn on each tie rod won't be anything dramatic in terms of handling, but could yield a cure. Make sure you mark the original tie rod position with touch-up paint or a bright crayon and index off of that. Your steering wheel position will be the true indicator if you didn't do both sides identically, so know where it sits in terms of straight line driving before you change anything.

 

If you're not mechanically inclined, just take it to an alignment shop and ask them to stray from spec on the toe using the above advice.

[Redshirt]

Update :

Dealer said ... alignment is within specs .

Did they give you a printout of the alignment measurements? If I was to guess I bet your sawtooth wear is on the outside edges since the spec for these vehicles calls for a lot of toe-in (2.5 times of the Titans for some reason). And the tolerance to be "in specs" is pretty wide. If you can't get the dealer to readjust it to the portion of the tolerance of less toe-in based on the obvious tire wear, then I would follow Blaine's advice of having another alignment shop adjust it for less toe-in along with rotating the tires so that you can keep an eye on them to confirm the problem is resolved. Running the sawtooth tires on the back will also tend to smooth out the wear pattern that has started.

Edited May 19, 2012 by Redshirt

[DECOCW]

Thanks for you replies Guys .The front preusure was 80 psi on mine to, but i have corrected that early .I am suspecting to much front toe in also .Dealer wont touch the alignment because is within specs .I have a printout from an indepented shop that i whent befeore i go to the dealer .It specifies for 0.22 to 0.28 ,the actual is 0.26 left and 0.27 right .Do you thing is to exesive ? Yes 10 days, but that is because i didnt need it for a few days .I thought they would do a better job that way .I have rotated the tires already .

 

Bobby .

[Blaine]

I have a printout from an indepented shop that i whent befeore i go to the dealer .It specifies for 0.22 to 0.28 ,the actual is 0.26 left and 0.27 right .Do you thing is to exesive ?

First off, I thought I had email notifications on for followed posts, but just found out I didn't (should be the default). So I'm only now seeing your reply.

 

As Redshirt suggested, I'd go to the bare minimum if the problem is still there. Nothing magical about toe... if everything else checks out and you still have the problem, I'd take it to even less. I actually run zero to slight toe out on performance vehicles despite what the alignment specs say... it helps turn in immensely.

 

I didn't ask before... are you by any chance doing any hard cornering? If you're understeering, it'll cause the same effect. I haven't really pushed mine yet, but I have little (really zero) doubt that it'll start to understeer through the turns with little provocation.

[DECOCW]

Okay thanks Blaine, i will take it for alignment and get them to do 0.20 or may be 0.15 see if this does anything.

No, i don't do any hard cornering.

 

Bobby