Hi to All,

I have an 86 coupe, mostly stock with Goodyear Eagle HP tires, and new (last year) KYB shocks. The car rides great and handles perfect. I just noticed the inside edge of the passenger side front tire is begining to wear more then the outside edge. It is not like this on the drivers side.
Other then the new shocks, I have never done any front end work (didn't think I needed to)...

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Rich

 

My first thought is the camber is off. I just replaced a full set of tires when the passenger side front showed the same wear pattern you're describing.

Too much negative camber was the culprit.

Jake

 

Is this a big deal to adjust (fix)..this too is my first thought..shouldn't be a big deal, and hopefully not cost too much....not real sure...

 

but have never tried to correct a camber problem myself, I know others who have though.

 

When viewed from standing in front or in the rear of the car, negative camber is when the top of the tire is angled in-board; positive camber is just the opposite - out-board.
Zero camber is with the tire straight up; not angled in-board or out-board.

Correcting too much negative camber at the front isn't a problem at all, you just add shims to both the front and rear bolts. This causes the top of the tire to move outboard, thus reducing the amount of negative camber.

It's when you have too much POSTIVE camber and only a limited number of shims installed that the problem sets in. Removing shims allows the top of the tire to move from positive toward negative BUT if you don't have enough shims to remove, then you can only get just so much movement.

Changing camber settings can effect the toe settings, so after changing the camber settings the toe needs to be checked and adjusted as necessary.

As I understand it, you ALWAYS set camber and caster FIRST, then toe last. Also, ALWAYS set the rear camber and toe first, then move to and adjust the front, setting the toe last.

So for the rear you set the camber first, then set the toe.

The hood should be down and the suspension bounced up and down vigorously several times after each setting change.

If you want to get a ball park idea of your camber settings to see if they are negative, positive or zero, you can simply use a piece of 2"x4" cut to a length that will allow it to fit flush with the wheel.

Point the wheels straight ahead. The place a simple carpenter's bubble level perpendicular to the floor and tightly against the 2" x 4" then check the bubble reading. That'll tell you inwhich direct the camber is set.

It won't tell you how much, but will tell you in which direction the camber is set. Also, by carefully reading the bubble position, you can get an idea of how close the camber settings are side to side.

Jake

 

Great information...Thanks Jake, I'll look at it a little more over the weekend...

 

In the past I've checked toe by constructing a rectangle around the car in my garage. It's pretty inexpensive for the material but xan take a fair amount of time to set up properly.

All you need are:

Four jackstands of the same model/type/height

Two lengths of aluminum conduit about 7 or 8 feet long each (local hardware, like ACE) and

A roll of fishing line (probably at ACE too)

First you park the car on a relatively level surface, like the garage floor

You then set one jackstand at each corner of the car

Lay one piece of conduit on the two rear jackstands and the other piece of conduit on the front two stands

Tie one end of the fishing line to one end of one of the front stands and run it all the way down the side of the car. Then tie the other end of the same line to the rear conduit.

Do the same thing on the other side of the car.

Now you'll have built - roughly - a parallel rectangle around the car.

Next is the tricky, time consuming part.

You have to move and adjust both the jackstands and the fishing line until they are equal on all sides - jackstands parallel to each other at the front and parallel to each other at the rear. The fishing line the same.

Let's say you start at the driver's side front of the car. Measure (using a metal retractable tape measurer) the distance from the fishing line at the driver's side front to the fishing line at the passenger side front. Make a note of that measurement.

Then do the same at the rear - from the driver's side rear to the passenger side rear fishing lines. Both measurements should be exactly the same - or as exact as you can adjust them to be.

This'll take some time, so be patient. The closer those measurements are to each other the more accurate the final toe readings will be.

Try to keep the fishing line as close to the tires as you can, but remember, the measurements must be the same front to rear and side to side.

Once you're satisfied you've done your best, you can simply measure the distance from the front of a wheel - say driver's side front of wheel - to the rear of the same wheel - This'll show you if you have toe-in, toe-out or zero AND how much in fractions of an inch.

Let's say you measure from the front of one wheel to the fishing line and get a reading; then you measure from the rear of the same wheel to the same fishing line and get a second reading. If the front reading is greater than the rear reading you have toe-in. If it's less you have toe-out. The difference between the two readings tells you just how much.

The first time I did this it seemed to take forever to get the rectangle 'right', but when I set it up on subsequent occasions, it became a lot easier. Like most things, it's more difficult the first time.

Hope this helps.

Jake

 

Take it to an alignment shop, many will check it free. Toe in is easy to check. You can't really be sure you have camber correct without an accurate way to measure it. It is measured at the hub center. You also need the correct specs for your car. To me , it's just not worth it as a do it yourself project.

 

 

but check around for a reliable alignment shop, or you'll get what is called "set the toe and let it go" tell them you want a readout "spec sheet" of the before and after settings, this will be no problem for a good alignment shop