The Goodyear GSD3's on my '01 vert have 20K mi. on them. The ones on the back are about half worn out but they are wearing reasonably evenly. The right front has plenty of tread left and is also wearing reasonably even. But the left front has excessive wear showing on the inside edge. I called a local Corvette shop and the owner immediately asked if I let the tire run low on air. He said that it is very difficult to knock a C5 out of alignment. It just so happens that I do have a very slight leak in the left front - pin-hole in the rim I think. I do check it constantly and never let it get below 26 lbs. cold - usually I catch it at 28 and bring it back to 30 cold. I would think if low pressure was causing this wear then it would wear on both edges of the tire face. The Corvette guy said no, that they tend to wear on the inside edge only when they run low on air. I am now getting pretty darn confused over the whole thing but know I don't like what I see (the wear on LF inside edge). If anyone feels qualified to render expert advice on this problem I would certainly appreciate it very much.

 

Low air pressure will not make a tire wear on the inside or outside. You need to have your caster, camber, and toe in checked.

 

Alignment! Alignment! Alignment!

 

If you have had any mods or repairs done requiring the cradle nuts to be loosened that could cause a misalignment. Either way, sounds like you need to get the alignment done, it's about a third the price of one of your tires.

 

I would check for too much negative camber. Toe in can also cause accelerated wear.
Also, the alignment can change if the cam nuts are not torqued correctly.

I found that even with the shop using an impact (which I did not like), they were still under the recommended torque of 125 ft-lbs.

Mark the cam positions with a paint pen. (Pick a mark on the cam, and mark the line on the frame) Then you can tell if the alignment is changing due to the cam slipping.
My Z06 used to get out of alignment, but since I torqued the cam nuts, it has not changed.

 

Thanks to those who responded, especially TEXHAWKO. Here's a little follow-up. Kaufman Tire uses the Hunter alignment system and a store in Tampa agreed to align just my front wheels for $79.95. After a considerable amount of info was entered on the service order and I had been waiting for about 15-20 minutes I was then suddenly hit with the Corvette tax - the price jumped to $99.95 for a full 4 wheel "exotic car alignment," which I didn't need and they knew I didn't need it. I said thanks but no thanks and left. I don't like people working on my cars anyway.

At home I found a piece of scrap aluminum angle and cut it so it would span the front rims. With the rim spanning piece and a bubble level, I took very close note of the properly wearing right front tire/wheel. Then I then went over to the left front and found exactly what would be expected if it was an excessive negative camber situation. The amount of error on the left compared to the right side was easily noticeable on the level bubble. Moving to the lower control arm camber bolts I found them to be not very tight, just as TEXHAWKO had predicted. Through trial and error I got the left wheel to show the same vertical position as the right (with the car on ground). Now I need to check the toe setting. I know this is easier said than done. But I'm pretty sure the ongoing excessive wear on the LF inside edge is over now!

 

SMART---Very Smart!!!

 

You are correct that if you changed the camber, you also changed the toe-in. Toe should always be set last in an alignment.

You can also manually check the toe-in with a tram.
If you scribe a mark on the tread around the circumference of each tire, you can simply measure the distance between the marks on the front side of the tire and on the rear side of the tire. The difference is the total toe-in (or out, if the front measurement is more than the rear) Toe-in should be zero to 1/32 inch.

It is worth noting if you have a shop check the alignment that you can have up to 1.2 degrees negative camber and still be within factory specs, but if you want acceptable inside tire wear for street driving, the camber should be zero to no more than about -1/8 degree.