2013 Mazda 3 I touring 155K looking at it used to purchase from a private party. It has tire wear on the inside of the front tires. It vibrates a little bit while driving. I didn't notice it too much but she said another buyer said it was too loud and backed out of buying it.
I checked the passenger side motor mount and that looked fine.
She said she had the rear struts replaced. Everything else was normal maintenance.
I noticed a tiny bit of curb rash on the rims. They are after market rims. Maybe about a 1.5 - 2 inch rough scrape mark.
I'm having a mobile mechanic check it out on Tuesday but I'm wondering what all could be the cause.
Thanks!
Could be a lot of things, but my guess would be that somebody hit a curb pretty hard, which messed up the front end suspension and/or steering parts (or even dented a rim or damaged the tire). That could be source of the bad alignment and why the wheels were replaced. Could be easy to fix, or pretty expensive, depending on the damage.
Yes, thanks for the good sleuthing. She said she bought the car from the dealer used and they told her the car had after market rims. So it could be the clue to the uneven wear on the front tires. Thank! I will mention that to the mechanic.
Wear on the inside of the tires could be excessive negative camber, excessive toe out or both or damaged suspension parts. It really needs to be examined by a professional alignment shop to get a definitive (and hopefully not too expensive) diagnosis.
If the mechanic doesn't see anything extreme this will definitely be my next step. Thanks for the help!
The mechanic cannot laser measure camber, toe in and caster. You need an alignments shop.