GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

2005 base vibe, about 118,000 miles .
bf goodrich touring t/a,s with about 20,000 miles on them.
always rotated and balanced on time.

drivers side, rear tire has bald spots intermittantly around the inside edge.

in other words a rear tire has bald spots occasionally around the inside shoulder of the tire .

is the usual problem to do with rear struts?
what else could cause this?

as always, thank you guys for any advice.
jamesmetairie


.

Bad shock/strut. Guaranteed. Classic wear pattern for a tire on a corner with bad damping.

Yep, sounds like it's time for new rear shocks (do both), and at least one tire.

thanks to oldschooljay and seattle j

See this post for more info: viewtopic.php?f=26&p=520411&sid=7dbf3a7 ... aa#p520411

The rear does not have struts. The rear are just shocks with coil springs or coil over shocks. There is no alignment to the tire with shocks.

I,ll flip the tire on the wheel and see what develops.

It will ride rough, develop cupping on the other side, and continue to hammer the bushings. Replace the shock.

Please replace the struts. Struts are a key safety component of the suspension. As Jay said, switching the tire will just destroy the other tire, and give you a harsh ride.
New ones can be purchased for as little as $26 each (plus shipping). The book time to install rear struts is one hour each, but if you can change the oil, you can change the rear struts on this car. It's two bolts, and a plastic cover in the hatch area.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/emailpa ... ar%2520fwd

solution= ain,t no way to align the rear.

My honest , very experienced ,shady tree mechanic begs to differ. he took the wheel apart and install some kind of spacer that helped to align the wheel and tire. I,ve put many miles on the car since then and it drives perfect. And the tires are not wearing irregularly.

Did you replace the shocks?

No Seattle.
About 40,000 later and I still have not replaced the rear shocks or struts.


The tires wear evenly. No driving problems noticed. It has always been rough on these bumpy streets.
I am considering replacing them. Thanks to all you guys for the advice.

jamesmetairie, you did read my reply in the link I posted above? The last part of my reply tells you what was installed, a tapered shim:

"The rear axle is a one piece unit on the standard Vibe as seen here: http://madstyle1972.com/Repair/27/20ixc/conponen.pdf
If the toe is out of spec and all parts are in good condition, then the rear axle is bent. Either through being hit, damaged, rust through that has weakened the axle metal, metal flexing because of light weight design, etc... can cause the axle to shift and become mis-aligned over time. There are some tapped shim kits that can be used to correct some alignment. The shims go between the axle and the rear wheel bearing hub. The axle can also be bent back into alignment by pulling or welding. There is no easy adjustments that can be done. It requires someone that is knowledgeable about suspensions and is going to cost money to correct. When you see a price for a wheel alignment, think alignment check. It is going to cost a lot more to correct the problem that caused the alignment to be bad.

Alignment shims can be found:
http://www.spcalignment.com/component/s ... m&to=USATo
or
http://www.moog-suspension-parts.com/ca ... gnment-kit
or others, just Google."

Shocks are not going to fix an alignment problem. The funny thing about that reply in my link above is that it was to SeattleJeremy.

Thank you jolt

If I read it , it just passed thru my old brain.

I always appreciate everyone,s advice. I,m thankful for any help I can get.


jamesmetairie