Xbinmil

I recently had new snow tires put on my xB. When I arrived home, I checked the wear on the tires. On one of the tires I saw irregular wear, when I sweep my hand over the threads, it is kind of choppy, not smooth.

The struts and shocks are original. Apart from feeling the bumps on the road fully, I can’t tell if the struts are worn out. When I do the push test, it is hard to push down, when it goes down, it comes up and stops, it doesn’t bounce. I don’t hear clunking sounds while driving except when I brake fast I hear sound similar to metal springs compressing and decompressing, not necessarily the coil springs.

Is feeling the bumps fully while driving normal? I thought it was for the xB.

What could cause uneven wear (choppy feeling surface) on the tire?

If struts need replacing, I don’t think softer new KYBs or Monroes will be as good as my original struts. Maybe I am wrong?


Any suggestions, guidance please?

RichBinAZ

We see odd wear on the rear tires of the xB, as you say above but with all season tires. The only cure is do tire rotations. On the front, the tires wear smoothly.

The xB is not a Rolls Royce, so you will feel bumps. If the shocks are not bouncing, then they are probably good.

You can try changing the tire pressure up and down and see what happens. Just stay short of the max pressure shown on the sidewall.

2stroked

How many miles on the vehicle?

Xbinmil

228,000 miles on the xB. Struts,springs everything is original.

I compare the ride quality of the xB to a 1994 Corolla with similar mileage and the older car is more comfortable. It does not make you feel every little uneven road conditions that exists. My xB does. Like an earthquake in roads with imperfections.

2stroked

With that kind of mileage on original front struts and rear shocks, they are well past their useful life. What that means is that they are no longer dampening the motions of your suspension / wheels and they are kind of just flailing up and down. This of course will cause accelerated tire wear. Time to replace them! And as for your tire wear, remember that the wear pattern that has already started is not going to change any. The rate of tire wear should decrease though.

BTW, I have the KYB shocks in the rear of my xB and my son just installed the KYB struts in the front of his xB. They significantly improve both the ride and handling.