steveski

Guys,

Many of you know I have been experiencing uniform inner tire wear on my UCF20. Recall I have a staggered setup. After two mechanics drove the car and looked into it, the suspension components all check out - nothing is worn, broken, etc.

Last week I had the local tire shop break down the front tires and swap them left to right. The wa wa wa is significantly diminished since the swap. I will get an alignment again this weekend using RA40's settings from an earlier post (toe and camber).

The shop swapped the tires for free but normally charges $8 per tire for 18" configurations. I thought this was a pretty decent solution to get more miles and comfort out of a staggered set up.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

to check for degredation of bushings make sure the shop uses a pry bar to stress the components otherwise you wont see the cracks/tears.

Photoinc

Did swapping the tires get rid of your shimmey??

I have the same wear problem too, but I always waited too long to swap the tires and end up buying new ones. They keep telling I'm not staying on top of my air pressure....They're right.

How bout posting RA40's settings.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

My front is at -1.5 camber. Some tires may wear faster but either way, the inner is going to go first. Front toe on mine is 1/16".

Many of the tires I've had tolerate the neg camber for a spell. Once they get to a certain point, it's like rubber just wears off looking at them. What I don't like about flipping them is the tire already has a diagonal wear pattern on them from the neg camber. Putting that high outer to inner location makes handling so-so. You'd want to flip them early on so they wear nicely but I seldom think of it till it's already noticeable. Too late.

Since I'm able to rotate, my rears are -1 neg camber so the tires get a bit of relief.

steveski

Didn't watch him do the underneath portion but I will contact them though Still seems odd that after nearly 200,000 and 13 years any bushing could still be good though.

steveski

Thanks - yes when we notice we usually already have the wa wa wa and then it is pretty much too late. Since I swapped them the noise is nearly gone so maybe I caught it in time. My rears have toe wear but tread is light since they have nearly 25,000 miles.

I saw an alignment machine (small digital device) that allows you to set camber, toe, etc. I am not sure if it is a worthy device though.

steveski

Shimmy is still there but less noticeable. It really makes me think it is not suspension related but actually the road since it comes and goes. I am driving a 1,000 road trip this weekend and will have lots of opportunity to experience it

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

i run -2.8 deg+ camber in my rears but my wear is pretty good, my toe is square through the car, close to/better than factory specs.

im getting an alignment soon and il throw my specs up for you guys.

steveski

That would be great Pure - looking forward to it

s_ribs

I'll have to check my alignment specs once I get back home, but I tend to have the outside of the front tires wearing first. Inside on the rears of course. Interesting to see that some of you are getting inside wear up front.

I'd go with Pure's toe settings. So many people forget that incorrect toe setting will eat up tires fast (not implying you don't know).

steveski

Yeah toe will eat the tire quickly - luckily it is my camber - not too far out but my commute is 80+ miles RT. My inner wear is smooth, not choppy - Since I broke tires down and swapped them to the other side it is quieter. I will use RA40's settings this weekend and see what happens.

Outer tire wear - 100% opposite to mine - either way it

s_ribs

Glad you posted, I completely spaced on getting the last alignment specs. Looks like the last alignment was 2 years ago, definitely about time to have it checked again.

Front camber is (L) -1 degree, (R) -0.8
Front toe is (L) .23, (R) .21

Rear camber is (L) -2, (R) -1.9
Rear toe is (L) .23, (R) .21

Not sure if there's anymore available negative camber up front on this car (anyone?). Definitely would prefer less out back but I'm pretty sure that wasn't possible (Eibach springs on my car). I'll have the toe brought close to ZERO next time it's done. Should make the car feel a bit livelier in the corners.

Most of my personal car owning experience is with BMW street/track cars so it'll take some playing around to see what this car likes best.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Keep us posted. Oh...rear toe on mine is 1/12" or .08". Front is .06" Caster 7.85

I haven't tried a setting where toe was almost zero'd. I like where mine is at so these are what the tech does them to.

What I need to do is take some temp readings to see what I'm getting across the tread.

s_ribs

I'm not sure you'd see anything high enough to give anything to work with though. It's hard enough getting accurate tire temps when on the track.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Agreed, it's a rough indicator even at street speeds. It's letting me know where I can expect the wear to come from on the daily stuffs (Not that I drive the barge hard anyway.) It's not critical which why I seldom do it.