I have a 2003 which has recently developed a lot of wear on the outside edge of the passenger side front tire. It has been a while (15K miles) since I rotated the tires, so I did a rotation. While doing the rotation I notice I could wiggle the same tire side-to-side a few mm. I checked the driver side tire and it does not wiggle. I am not sure if this is a bearing issue or some other component. Any guesses as to what the issue is and/or what I should be doing to diagnose the issue? Thanks!
Outside Edge Wear on Passenger Side Front Tire / Side to Side Wiggle
- Thread starter sadsak
- Start date
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Generally speaking, side to side play is relating to tie rods or steering component. Suppose it could also be ball joint or something control arm related but idk......
Do you have experience to fix the problem? If not, just take it to Toyota or a tire / suspension shop for a diagnosis and quote to fix.
Good catch noticing the weird wear pattern on the tire. That could just be an alignment issue but since you have some wiggle you are up against something else.
Do you have experience to fix the problem? If not, just take it to Toyota or a tire / suspension shop for a diagnosis and quote to fix.
Good catch noticing the weird wear pattern on the tire. That could just be an alignment issue but since you have some wiggle you are up against something else.
- Thread starter
- #3
I have done quit a bit of my own maintenance on my vehicles (time belts, shocks/struts, brakes, etc), but I have not worked on steering. I am not adverse to have it done by a shop, but depending on how complex it is, I may give it a try.
You could dig into the bearing theory. If you do the pull test around the clock on your wheel and it has the same play no matter where you are pulling, then maybe that is loose bearings. To confirm you could get into here and do more pulling and you'll see right away if the whole hub assembly is loose and moving around the spindle. You'll need some tools, and do some research on here about how to get this deep into it. And then if it is loose you tighten it up by adjusting the two large 6 sided nuts in this picture. There's whole procedure and write ups with pictures on here how to do it properly.
Before you do that, I'd try to set up a phone to capture a video (or have a friend help you) of the tie rod end, then pull on the wheel back and forth at 3 and 9 oclock and check video to see if you find movement where the outer tie rod connects as seen here:
Before you do that, I'd try to set up a phone to capture a video (or have a friend help you) of the tie rod end, then pull on the wheel back and forth at 3 and 9 oclock and check video to see if you find movement where the outer tie rod connects as seen here:
Pick one possible failure point, investigate it thoroughly, ask questions here and either confirm that's the problem, or move on to the next possible failure point.
- Alignment might be off
- Bearings might be loose.
- Outer tie rod end might be shot/loose
- Lug nuts were loose
- Upper ball joint shot
- Lower ball joint shot
- If you don't find it, keep adding to the list, or ask here and people can offer more items to look at
