1995 Camber question
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Heel & Toe
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 22
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1995 Camber question
I have a 1995 with automatic, stock except for the wheels. A prior owner installed what I think are C-5 wheels on it. I think the front wheel is wider than the factory wheels, requiring a 245/45R 17 tire. In any event I am replacing the front tires that I had put on the car 6 years ago. The present tires are both worn irregularly. Each has the outside of the tread worn much more than the inside part of the tread. All that I have read seems to say that this wear pattern is a camber problem. Given the well discussed (on this forum) problem with finding a competent alignment shop, I need a little advice. Does putting what I believe are wider than stock wheels on the car automatically change the camber geometry, requiring an adjustment? Secondly, the left wheel seem to lean out a bit at the top, using a level, and the right wheel seems to lean in a bit at the top. Assuming each is a camber issue, would excessive positive camber and excessive negative camber both cause the same bad wear problem? Any help would be appreciated. When I go to a shop I would like to have a little knowledge in order to not appear an idiot. Thanks again. .
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 6,192
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From: near the thumb in the mitten
The FE1 uses 245 or 255 /45/17 tires up front. Same as c5. Z07 would have 275/40/17 all the way around. PO driving habits may have caused out edge wear. Better alignment shops will inspect suspension for wear. Give you options of what to do if worn parts are present. No additional work align it and monitor tire wear. If other repairs are needed you will need to decide. Don't worry about sounding smart. Let the shop tell if something is causing wear. If tire installer is not aligner take pictures or old tires so they know how they wore.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 2,649
Likes: 863
I'll agree with kenova that a GOOD alignment tech can learn a lot about what is going on based on tire wear.
But having said that - there seem to be a lack of good technicians these days - most places will just set the car to the OEM specs and move on to the next car... So - sometimes you (as the guy who is the car owner and bill payer) may need to help the process along a bit. The outer edge wear you describe sounds like improper camber wear to me. So - first question is if anything is worn in the front end. If so - whatever is worn needs to be replaced before aligning.
Assuming nothing is worn - you would want to get / see what the current alignment angles are. Based on what you're describing - it would seem like you have pos camber. Very little good comes from positive camber - I typically aim for about - 1/4 degree of neg camber to 1/2 degree of neg. camber in a street alignment (a couple of relatively easy ways to think of camber are that with negative camber the tops of the two tires are closer together than the bottoms - and cars with way too much neg camber typically wear the insides of the front tires.).
But having said that - there seem to be a lack of good technicians these days - most places will just set the car to the OEM specs and move on to the next car... So - sometimes you (as the guy who is the car owner and bill payer) may need to help the process along a bit. The outer edge wear you describe sounds like improper camber wear to me. So - first question is if anything is worn in the front end. If so - whatever is worn needs to be replaced before aligning.
Assuming nothing is worn - you would want to get / see what the current alignment angles are. Based on what you're describing - it would seem like you have pos camber. Very little good comes from positive camber - I typically aim for about - 1/4 degree of neg camber to 1/2 degree of neg. camber in a street alignment (a couple of relatively easy ways to think of camber are that with negative camber the tops of the two tires are closer together than the bottoms - and cars with way too much neg camber typically wear the insides of the front tires.).
Last edited by Purple92; Jul 7, 2018 at 08:39 PM.
