Tag Archives: sway bar

Feathering is the sawtooth wear that shows up on the edges of the tread blocks when the front tires are pointed slightly off straight. The toe setting decides whether the tires scrub as they roll, and even a small toe error on a Camry, Accord, Civic or Altima past ten years shows up as a smooth-and-sharp edge pattern you can feel with your hand. The usual causes are worn tie rod ends that let the toe wander, a rack that was replaced and never re-aligned, or an old alignment that was never corrected after the car was lowered or hit a curb. Feathering is one of the easiest patterns to read and one of the cheapest to fix — align the front end and renew the tie rods that have play. On the 2012+ Camry and 2013+ Accord the toe setting is critical because the EPS rack holds the wheel angle precisely, so any play at the tie rod ends shows up directly in the tread.

When one corner of one front tire wears faster than the rest of the tread, the front end has a localized problem rather than a general one. The usual causes are a worn ball joint or control arm bushing that lets that wheel carry the load at an angle, a sagged spring on one side, or a knuckle and arm damaged by a hit. A Silverado with a failing lower ball joint will scrub its inner shoulder on that corner, and an Explorer with a collapsed control-arm bushing wears one edge of the tire while the other side stays normal. The pattern is the diagnosis: one-corner wear points to one corner of the suspension, and fixing the part saves the tire. The same one-sided wear shows on a Tahoe or Suburban with a worn upper arm bushing, and on strut cars with a collapsed spring seat.