Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1919-11-16
TIRES NOT TO BLAME
FOR WEARING OUT If
WHEELS MISALIGNED

The best tires in the world will wear
out in two weeks. Tires which are
guaranteed for thousands of miles will
wear out in few hundred. And why?
A very simple reason, and one which
causes the tire adjustors more trouble
and argument than any other cause
presented to them. 1t is merely mis-
alignment"
Time after time tires are brought to
the factory branches in Phoenix to be
adjusted which have been run but a
short time. The tires are worn
through the tread and fabric, com
pletely ruined and absolutely worth
less. The disappointed purchaser can
not understand what has happened to
them, and believes that defect in the
composition Of the casing has caused
the trouble.
The fault all lies with the machine.
The wheels are out of alignment and
tire cannot be dragged over roads
without being worn completely out.
Wheel irregularities of various kinds
cause much of the average motorists
tire trouble" but none is so common
and yet so seldom recognized as mis-
alignment A wheel run out of line
means inevitable grinding away of the
tread in a very short time. 1t is very
easy for a wheel to get out of line.
Few motorists ever thing of testing for
| this trouble, and are prone to blame
1 the tire when it wears out in few
miles.
Misallignment usually occurs on the
front wheels. Although cars are
shipped from the factories with
wheels in perfect alignment, a few
weeks service is often sufficient to
loosen or bend some part of the steer
ing APPARATUS which can oily result in
''toeing" a wheel in or out-so that it
| does not run parallel with the car, but
partly rolls and partly drags across
the road surfaces.
1t car readily be appreciated that no
tire can possibly withstand such abuse
for long. A diagonal grinding away
of tho tread sets in, and tires per-
fectly good in every respect have been
known to wear through and blow out
in so miles or running due to this
cause.
Misalignment comes from any i'm
proper adjustment of axles or steering
gear. 1t can very easily be caused by
sharp jolting in hitting ruts on roads
or curbings. 1t is in itself not appar-
on the tire are unmistakable. Sharp
square edges are produced, something
that never occurs in normal service
Every small cut on the tires soon de.
velops feather edge, on side beine
stretched and folded over on the other
and then ground down to a fine papei
thinness. Wheu such condition ap
pears on tires, go at once to a servic,
station and have the wheels tested TO
alignment, and the necessary adjust
ment made. The test can be made b,
merely measuring the distance between
wheels at two different points, takel
parallel with the ground on the insid
: of the felloe, directly opposite eacl
other.
Front wheels are usually "cambered
fraction of an inch-that is, they ar
bent in at the bottom and out at tn
top, in order to put the point Of con
tact tire and road as nearly unde
the steerink knuckle as possible. Thi
makes steering much easier. But Il
4 this condition there is a tendency 70
the wheels to run apart from eac
other, just as a coin rolled on the floo
leans to one side and rolls to that side
To counteract this, the wheels ar
''toed in" approximately Is of an inc
that is, the wheels are purposel
mis- aligned to that extent in order t
J direct the wheels inward and overcom
the tendency of the Gambler to .direc
them outward. No more misalign
/ ment than this is permissable-it wi
surely show its effect on the life of tn
tire.
The misaligned condition is by n
means limited to pleasure cars. 1t oc
ours just as frequently and just as dis
astrously on motor trucks, from til
same causes. Solid tires that are bui
to yield thousands of miles Of servic
are ground down in few hundred DIT
to this condition. The marks are ii
same as on pneumatic tire, thong
\ usually not so pronounced.