Technical Rear Suspension

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Technical Rear Suspension

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Mar 25, 2018
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How difficult or otherwise is it to adjust/realign the rear suspension?

The issue I have is that the nearside rear tyre has gone almost completely bald on the outside edge in under 1000 miles. The tread on the rest of the tyre is 5mm. The car does not handle strangely. It corners predictably, and brakes straight and true.

Any help or advice gratefully received.
 
How difficult or otherwise is it to adjust/realign the rear suspension?

Pandas are notorious for this; the rear beam is made to stupidly wide tolerances in the factory and it's the luck of the draw if you get one that's properly straight. Some folks got their rear beams replaced with new under warranty.

That said, this sounds like you have a particularly bad misalignment. How much do you know of the car's history? (I'm thinking perhaps someone has slid a rear wheel into the kerb and bent something).

There's no provision made for adjusting anything, so you'll have to improvise. If the beam is straight but attached at a skewed angle, you may be able to find enough movement to bring it more into line with the car centreline by loosening the bolts securing the rear beam. If the beam is bent (ie the rear wheels aren't parallel), then you might be able to shim the hub attachment plates. It's a fiddly job that most wheel alignment places would run a mile from.
 
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Thanks for the heads up. Less than 2 months into ownership and I am already sick of the damn thing. I have a full and comprehensive service history, and nothing in it suggests that the rear tyres have been replaced any more often than you would expect. I think someone has kerbed it.
 
Thanks for the heads up. Less than 2 months into ownership and I am already sick of the damn thing. I have a full and comprehensive service history, and nothing in it suggests that the rear tyres have been replaced any more often than you would expect. I think someone has kerbed it.

Clear photo of the full width of tyre would help a lot. There's two types of edge wear
Feathered and cupped
 
What type of tyre? Our 2004 Active had a set of really budget tyres on when we got it, and all the tyres were unevenly worn. 20k with good tyres since and rears still almost like new.
Just a thought...
 
The tyre is a Continental Eco Contact 3. So a decent tyre. It is worn in such a way that it looks as though the wheel is at an angle. The outside edge is almost completely bald, and as you look further towards the inside edge of the tyre the tread gets deeper. I hope I am explaining in such a way that I am understood.
 
This is cupping caused by faulty shock absorbers or tyre is not balanced properly yes I know yours is the other edge
 

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Or outer edge wear

Which is 90% over driving tbe car but can be toe or camber
 

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The tyre is a Continental Eco Contact 3. So a decent tyre. It is worn in such a way that it looks as though the wheel is at an angle. The outside edge is almost completely bald, and as you look further towards the inside edge of the tyre the tread gets deeper. I hope I am explaining in such a way that I am understood.

If done correctly, a full four wheel Hunter alignment will tell you exactly what is wrong. Unfortunately the only thing which can easily be adjusted is the front toe (needs to be right, but won't cause the issue you're having), so doing something meaningful with the results will be a problem in itself.

When these cars were newer, some had the rear beam replaced to fix this issue; on an older car, this probably won't be economically viable. DIY types might fit a secondhand rear beam, but finding a good one will not be easy as they are prone to rust, particularly the area around the spring cups. You can fit the rear beam & suspension complete from a 500 (there are plently in breakers yards); it's not quite the same, but it'll do providing you're running standard wheels & tyres. There are some detailed threads on this subject on the forum.

Unfortunately the rear beam is a known Panda weakness; it's particularly important on this model to check for uneven rear tyre wear when examining a prospective used purchase.
 
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I checked the tyres thoroughly. No uneven tyre wear. I think the dealer put a part worn tyre on to disguise the issue.

Thank you all for your help and advice. I really appreciate it.
 
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If done correctly, a full four wheel Hunter alignment will tell you exactly what is wrong. Unfortunately the only thing which can easily be adjusted is the front toe (needs to be right, but won't cause the issue you're having), so doing something meaningful with the results will be a problem in itself.

That's not entirely true.
If the front alignment is out, it can cause the rears to drag across the road.

If you think about it, to travel in a straight line the fronts and rears all need to point roughly in the same direction.

With the front out of alignment and steering one way, you tend to try and steer it out and this can end up crabbing all four wheels.

This'll scrub the rear tyres as they get dragged along trying to follow the fronts that are pointing anywhere but forward.

Before jumping the gun, get a proper alignment check, though this can often be hard as there are plenty of places that don't know what they are really doing and end up making things far worse.
 
That's not entirely true.
If the front alignment is out, it can cause the rears to drag across the road.

Strictly speaking, that's of course correct. If everything was adjustable, you'd start by aligning the rear track with the centreline of the car and work it up from there.

But if the front was far enough out to significantly affect the rears, then the front tyre wear would be something horrendous.

My point was that if it's only the rears which are wearing unevenly, just adjusting the front tracking won't solve the problem (and on a Panda, there's nothing else that can be easily adjusted) - I probably didn't make this clear enough.
 
What size tyres have you got fitted

Which model Panda do you have

I posted three types of edge wear which do you have

Without more details is going to be very hard to help you

A good start would be to jack the tyre off the ground and check for play at the 9-3 and 12-6 positions

Measure the height from the centre of the wheel to the top of the wheel arch

Drop a plumb line and measure to the top and bottom if the wheel

And so on
 
Some very interesting points made. Food for thought.

I have a 1.2 Dynamic ECO, with 155/80 13 tyres.

The steering wheel is not centred when driving straight ahead. It is at a guess around 2 degrees to the left. Tracking maybe out? Could this be the root cause of the problem?
 
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