I bought an 02 protege5 a couple months ago. It's a 5 speed and has 246 xxx km on it.
It had new tires when I bought it. I've driven it approximately 1900km since I bought it and I'm experiencing excessive tire wear on the front tires. The tire wear is on the inner edge of both front tires and it's about an inch and a half thick line of wear. The rest of the tire is fine, but the inside is almost out of tread already. The steering seems fine. Wheel is straight and the car doesn't veer off on its own. I've jacked the front up and given the tires a wiggle. They get a little play in and out on the top and bottom of the front tires. But it's not much. Very minimal. Maybe a 1/4 - 3/8 inch in and out.
Another thing I noticed is a rotating howling sound when you get the vehicle up to 80km an hour. We thought it was the rear right wheel bearing, but I put a new one in last night and that hasn't fixed the problem. It sounded like that's where it was coming from, but maybe it was both sides, and the sound was just echoing in the vehicle making it difficult to pinpoint.
My questions. Do you think this vehicle just needs an alignment, or is there reason to believe it will need parts to get a proper alignment completed..?
What cost am I looking at for the alignment?
Could the howling sound be due to the front tire wear?
Any help appreciated. Thank you.
It had new tires when I bought it. I've driven it approximately 1900km since I bought it and I'm experiencing excessive tire wear on the front tires. The tire wear is on the inner edge of both front tires and it's about an inch and a half thick line of wear. The rest of the tire is fine, but the inside is almost out of tread already. The steering seems fine. Wheel is straight and the car doesn't veer off on its own. I've jacked the front up and given the tires a wiggle. They get a little play in and out on the top and bottom of the front tires. But it's not much. Very minimal. Maybe a 1/4 - 3/8 inch in and out.
Another thing I noticed is a rotating howling sound when you get the vehicle up to 80km an hour. We thought it was the rear right wheel bearing, but I put a new one in last night and that hasn't fixed the problem. It sounded like that's where it was coming from, but maybe it was both sides, and the sound was just echoing in the vehicle making it difficult to pinpoint.
My questions. Do you think this vehicle just needs an alignment, or is there reason to believe it will need parts to get a proper alignment completed..?
What cost am I looking at for the alignment?
Could the howling sound be due to the front tire wear?
Any help appreciated. Thank you.