Hello All:

My '92 245 (137K mi) is wearing the front tires on the outside edges of both wheels. I jacked it up and tried to find the free play that would explain this wear, but there really wasn't too much. Both outer tie rod ends are about a year old-- the car was aligned after that.

I checked for in-out play and found virtually none, so the wheel bearings are probably fine.

I push/pulled at 3 and 9 o'clock, but got only a very small amount of play, presumably from the inner tie rods. It really didn't feel like much-- no clunking or clicking or grinding.

The final suspect is the ball joints-- I don't get any movement push/pulling at 12 and 6 o'clock. Do you need to compress these joints to check for play, or is it sufficient just to push and pull on the wheel?

It also appears that this car has a slight toe-out when the wheels are straight ahead. I don't remember this being the case before, but I must admit that I haven't paid much attention to it, given that I always have alignments done at a shop.

Any suggestions for sorting this out would be appreciated-- once I diagnose it correctly I will order some parts and get it straightened out...

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Herb Goltz, Aurora, Ontario, Canada '92 245 w/130K mi, '92 945T w/200K mi