OBESE Driver - Cause Driver Side TIRE WEAR?

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Being a 300lb person, I find this hard to believe. However, I cross rotate my tires on my Neon. I do not know how the shop rotates the tires on my Impala.

I have never experienced unusual tire wear. In fact, the tires on my Neon were heading for more than 80k miles of use until I turned them in on a sidewall cracking warranty. On a previous work car, Prius, I never experienced unusual wear and that car was serviced solely by a Toyota dealer. Also got 80k miles out of the second set of tires on that car.

It's not the weight, it's something else.
 
Originally Posted By: jacky
i gave a guy a ride who was over 300 lbs and it bent the seat rails on my beretta


Sounds like a poorly designed seat rail if it really happened from that small of a load.
 
Bullying obese people is not acceptable, and this thread is an example of such bullying. So many Americans want to be the light of the world, and then do stuff like this.

I just do not think it's cool.

I do not see you guys slamming football players or other guys who weigh a lot.
 
Originally Posted By: Cristobal
Bullying obese people is not acceptable, and this thread is an example of such bullying. So many Americans want to be the light of the world, and then do stuff like this.

I just do not think it's cool.

I do not see you guys slamming football players or other guys who weigh a lot.


Don't single out the obese, bullying anyone is unacceptable. Thing is, this thread reads more like a discussion of load affecting suspension geometry affecting tyre wear.
 
Originally Posted By: Cristobal
Bullying obese people is not acceptable, and this thread is an example of such bullying. So many Americans want to be the light of the world, and then do stuff like this.

I just do not think it's cool.

I do not see you guys slamming football players or other guys who weigh a lot.


I fit the demographic being discussed, and do not see a problem here. But then again, I am not one of the professionally offended.
 
I wonder if spring rates are different between V6 and 4 cyl camrys, and if a V6 spring could be used only on the left side. Or maybe just a half inch spacer. Or maybe it's time to rotate the struts, if the driver's side has taken a sag.

Or, maybe if the battery is on the driver's side under the hood it could be relocated to the passenger floorboard.

As mentioned earlier, suspension travel does increase negative camber when compressed. This way when you go into a right corner the tire leans into the curve but then flexes and stays planted to the pavement. It's just that this car is preparing its tires for a right corner that's never happening.
 
Originally Posted By: Jim_Truett
Originally Posted By: Cristobal
Bullying obese people is not acceptable, and this thread is an example of such bullying. So many Americans want to be the light of the world, and then do stuff like this.

I just do not think it's cool.

I do not see you guys slamming football players or other guys who weigh a lot.


I fit the demographic being discussed, and do not see a problem here. But then again, I am not one of the professionally offended.


Excellent response sir.
 
Originally Posted By: Jim_Truett
Originally Posted By: Cristobal
Bullying obese people is not acceptable, and this thread is an example of such bullying. So many Americans want to be the light of the world, and then do stuff like this.

I just do not think it's cool.

I do not see you guys slamming football players or other guys who weigh a lot.


I fit the demographic being discussed, and do not see a problem here. But then again, I am not one of the professionally offended.


x2

Where are people bullying fluffy people?
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
I wonder if spring rates are different between V6 and 4 cyl camrys, and if a V6 spring could be used only on the left side. Or maybe just a half inch spacer. Or maybe it's time to rotate the struts, if the driver's side has taken a sag.

Or, maybe if the battery is on the driver's side under the hood it could be relocated to the passenger floorboard.

As mentioned earlier, suspension travel does increase negative camber when compressed. This way when you go into a right corner the tire leans into the curve but then flexes and stays planted to the pavement. It's just that this car is preparing its tires for a right corner that's never happening.

would the 2-4 #'s of extra pressure on the left/driver side tires and stiffer side-wall tires help?
 
Originally Posted By: pandus13

would the 2-4 #'s of extra pressure on the left/driver side tires and stiffer side-wall tires help?


If the tires aren't on the road squarely, getting the alignment right matters more. Air pressure would help "only a little" and they'd still wear funny, though closer to the middle.
 
Originally Posted By: AdRock
The guy being 300lbs isn't causing the problem. There's something else wrong.


I agree, it's the same as having a 150lb driver and a 150lb passenger in the backseat.
 
If you were to pick two points on the rocker panels to balance a camry fore-to-aft it would be under the driver's (and front passengers) seat cushion.

Presumably the spring rates are set up for this, though the rear would take more of an overload because of having more variation in loading.
 
Originally Posted By: SumpChump
Originally Posted By: berniedd
Ask the alignment to be checked with him in the driver's seat and with half a tankful of gas. That should settle the issue.


A. he cant do it due to his bad hips
B. The "liability" fairy says nobody beyond the yellow line in the shop for safety.


Take this anecdote for what it's worth. Several years ago I was at the Chevron training center, having just purchased a service station. The trainers told us about a Chevron executive who weighed about 350 lbs. and drove a Mustang. They tried to align it several times and could only get it to drive right after they aligned the car with him sitting in it.
 
Originally Posted By: tightwad
Originally Posted By: SumpChump
Originally Posted By: berniedd
Ask the alignment to be checked with him in the driver's seat and with half a tankful of gas. That should settle the issue.


A. he cant do it due to his bad hips
B. The "liability" fairy says nobody beyond the yellow line in the shop for safety.


Take this anecdote for what it's worth. Several years ago I was at the Chevron training center, having just purchased a service station. The trainers told us about a Chevron executive who weighed about 350 lbs. and drove a Mustang. They tried to align it several times and could only get it to drive right after they aligned the car with him sitting in it.


+1. Had a teacher in high school who was rather rotund (about 325 lbs) and he had a VW Rabbit. He also had to have the vehicle aligned with him sitting in it so it would handle properly.
 
Had a couple that both weighed over 300(he did easily as he was big AND tall)bring in a Focus for tire wear. It had to be aligned with them in it in order to fix the issue. The sand bags sound like a good idea.
 
Louis Altazan of AGCO Automotive in Baton Rouge (great podcast) replied to me in a personal email saying that it is likely allignment settings caused by transport of the car in shipping and the settling if the suspension after the first 5k miles , combined with the possible 'load camber '. Interesting.
 
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