The clown who wrote that answer is apparently unaware that RWD cars used to come with solid rear axles. Tell them to try again. The only way that camber can be incorrect on a solid rear axle car is if the axle housing is bent. If that were the case, you'd see that wear for the full 360 degrees of the tire. This looks more like an out of round tire or a manufacturing defect. They're just trying to screw you.

 

But....it could be the tire was moved from the front (with the camber alignment all wrong) and placed on the rear in order to align the front end (with a proper wearing tire/s) or via a misguided attempt to get more mileage out of the tire. or both.

 

I wrote back to him and said, Rusty, this was rear tire on a 1961 Impala. You can not adjust camber/caster. It’s a live axle. And he then replied: "Something is out of whack, as you can see, the tire is riding on that tread shoulder- you can see the extreme wear all around the shoulder" I don't see how he can say the tire is riding on the tread shoulder/extreme wear all around the shoulder. There is a light rub when I hit extreme bumps, but I don't see how taht would cause this damage.

 

Well, frankly, he's not wrong. This is shoulder wear and is not normal. Either caused by gross underinflation or severe camber misalignment. I'm having a hard time seeing how this wear is a tire defect.

 

Hi Joe, do you think a tire rub could cause this? When I say rub, it is only when the car bottoms out. It is not constant

 

If you were getting that kind of tire rub, you'd certainly hear it and see the rubber transfer on the inner fender.

 

Do a quick test. Put the car in neutral (not running) and push it across the garage floor. It should push rather easy but if there is a bent housing you will hear a tire chirp and the car will be hard to push.

 

put a 2 foot level on each rear wheel and see if they are near zero camber.
I have been shortening alot of housings lately and most of the ones out of old cars are bent on at least one side, some quite a bit, like my fixture shows them off 1/4 inch at the bearing

 

Tire was not concentric (internally) across the whole tread pattern
Or a belt has split on the affected edge
Either one will cause a condition like that
Its a tire defect

 

Unless that failure is all the way around that side of the tire it isn’t an alignment problem. In a localized area from what I can see this is a failure that is or was bulging the tread outward resulting in excess wear on the most outside edge of the bulge.

If this goes all the way around consistently you're looking at a miss alignment of the rear axle. The housing could be bending or bent but I rather think that wear in the attachment points of the axle locating arms to chassis, could be bushings or something more serious with the frame.

Something’s going on if not the tire then in those elements that align and maintain the rear axle tracking.

Bogie

 

I work at a local mom and pop tire shop and unfortunately even if it’s a tire defect, it’s probably not under warranty and even if it is, it would get rejected by the supplier. It has to be within 2/32 of the original tread and within one year to be considered defect warranty… I work on a lot of mis alligned cars and that is what it appears regardless
I do tons of classic and collector cars too. but yeah pretty much can’t send that in

 

Looks like a bent axle to me. Toe outward. Could be worn bearings too.

 

If it were from a bent axle housing, I would ask what the rt. rr. tire looks like and expect some symmetrical issue...with just a bent axle (it would have to be a whopper) you would see it if you jacked up the car and ran it in gear.

 

Bent axle tube, not the axle shaft.
I should have clarified.

 

How about just a plain and simple tread separation? Been there, done that! Happened at 75 MPH with no warning.

 

Just out of curiosity what is the date on the tire?

 

Less than 6 months old.

 

Ya, they were old. Right at 10 years. Never had low pressure, always garaged, looked at every year prior to the season beginning and balanced every two years. They had about 25K on them. Did the repair work myself, still totaled $1685, new tires were just $675! Fix worked out well. Attention to dates is very important!

 

Contacted the tire company where I bought the tires and here is their answer: " On the affected tie, you can see its camber/caster adjustment was way out of whack, causing severe premature wear to the inside tread shoulder of this tire. This tire had too much positive camber, which will eat down to the cords in short order, and ultimately cause failure like you have experienced here."

That guy is an idiot.

If the wear/separation is all the way around the entire circumference of the tire, it might be from a misalignment. The most likely cause (by far) is toe out, although the internet is full of "experts" who will blame it on excessive negative camber.

Even though a solid axle is "not adjustable," they can get bent and damaged and when that happens, you can get this kind of damage.

HOWEVER,

On your tire, the wear/separation appears to be on only about a third of the circumference of the tire. If the tire is nearly new (age especially, moreso than miles), you could probably get it replaced. If it's over 2 years old, you're going to be out of luck with most tire manufacturers. The issue is that if you leave the car sitting on underinflated tires for several months, it can develop a condition like that which is not an actual manufacturing defect. And the worst thing you can do is park it for an extended time immediately after a long drive at highway speeds (when the tire is up to operating temperature and pressure is 4 to 6 psi over the cold pressure).

The best way to prevent that kind of damage is to air the tires up to the maximum cold pressure on the sidewall a day or so after parking it for an extended storage stay. Be sure you let the tires back down to "normal" cold pressure before driving it again.

And if you live on a rural 2 lane road with a 55mph speed limit, if possible, move the car around every 15 o 20 minutes or so after getting home, to move the tires some and prevent them from settling with a flat spot in a single place. Repeat several times until the tires are at a normal "cold" pressure. Even better, if you can is to wash/rinse the tires with cold water to get them down to their normal cold pressure after you get home, moving the car to rotate the wheels so you can rinse/cool the section that was on the ground as well.

 

if the tire was failing internally, or defective, it would have been vibrating like crazy. the tread blocks are worn off, this wasn't a sudden failure

 

Edit: I looked at the picture wrong so everything I wrote is wrong.

 

He stated the tire was causing a vibration. It had started to separate but was not a catastrophic failure like mine was. When mine failed there was three thumps on the steering wheel before all heck broke loose. The fact that the tread wear is local and not the entire circumference shows it had started to come apart. By the way, how old was that tire (date code on the side wall)?

 

How much rubber did he burn with the tire?
Abuse has to be considered

 

I didn't notice that the tread wear was on only about 1/4 of the tire, I thought it was all the way around. Still if it were a bent axle, bad enough to cause that kind of damage, it would have been vibrating like all hell even when the tire was new.