Weird tire wear

[s_hemphill]

I took my iX to a local tire shop to have the wheels balanced. The guys told me that the tires have flat spots worn on them and suspected that it was due to something wrong with the suspension. I'm not really sure what to make of that considering everything is in pretty good shape. Has anyone had a problem like this? In the 8 years that I've owned this car I've never been able to get it to drive very smoothly due to bent wheels, wheel bearing issues, etc, and I really want to get it right. The car has been my DD for years and I've never had it sitting for any length of time. It also consumes tires like hell. The set I have on it are just over a year old and are worn down to the wear bars. Maybe it's time to get it aligned with something a little bit more precise than my tape measure. Anyone know what an alignment will cost for this thing?

[azraphale]

I think I paid about $70 at Sears to get it aligned. Note that there are several major settings on the front end that are non-adjustable unless you get camber/caster plates, but at least you will know how far out of spec the various measures are if you get the alignment checked.

Can you post some pics of the wear? And when you say the tires are down to the wear bars, is that on the inside and outside both, or just the inside?

[nando]

more than likely, your toe is not set correctly. it's definitely worth the money to get it aligned properly, especially if it's eating tires.

[jlevie]

Scalloping around the tires (a series of flat spots) will be from bad shocks.