1998 Pontiac Grand Am Tire Rubbs

BEAU GARCIA

MEMBER
1998 PONTIAC GRAND AM

Shakes or Wobbles problem
1998 Pontiac Grand Am 4 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 135k miles

Ive been trying to find a correct answer to my car problem. I have had blow outs every other day for the past 5 days now from just one tire, the front driver side tire. I notice the tire rubbs a metal brace that seems to be part of the strut assembly located directly between the tire and the inside wall. I got a 4 wheel alignment done which seemed to work and the tire no longer scraped the metal brace till about a month after the alignment. I have even checked the tire to see any damage made and I never see any damage at all untiil im on the road and its too late and I get another blow out. It only takes about 10 minutes of driving STRAIGHT before the tire rips up. Is it an alignment problem or is there something else thats causing this problem thats in dire need of replacement? There is never a warning, no sounds of rubbing or real shaking until right before the tire gives out. Ive even spray painted the inside tire to see where the rubbing is being done but NO signs of rubbing, but I hear it grind when I turn LEFT ONLY.

2 Replies

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,879 POSTS

Welcome to the forum, Beau Garcia. First, suspect a broken coil spring. Feel around the bottom coil but watch out for a sharp edge. When they break, they leave a sharp point on the ends. Under the right conditions the end will hit the tire.

Camber, (the inward tilt of the tire as viewed from the front) is not adjustable on your car until one of the two lower strut mounting holes is ground into an oval. Unlike the older Chrysler products that used a cam bolt with an offset head, there is nothing to hold the wheel in position on your car except making sure those two bolts are very tight. Even if they were to slip, the top of the tire would tip in and you would have a real hard pull to the right. Another clue is because of the bizarre steering geometry, if the tire did tip in it would cause the wheel to turn to the right. You would have to counteract that by turning the steering wheel to the left to keep the car going straight. All of that would make it miserable to drive, so I doubt the alignment slipped.

You can measure the front end ride height too to check for a broken spring. Pick the same spot on each side of the car and measure from there to the ground. There are published acceptable limits but what you are looking for is a significant difference from side to side. If a half a coil is broken, expect to find the left side is about an inch lower than the right side.

Caradiodoc