jdwk

So when I was under my car putting on my headers I noticed the inside of my rear tires were much more worn than the outside.

Is there a lot of camber on them that would cause this? Is this typical? Fronts didn't seem as bad, but the fronts are hardly worn at all compared to the rears.

I had the car aligned at like 5000 miles. I have 8000 on it. Not sure if they would have messed with the camber though. Can the camber even be adjusted?

Want to get this straightened out before I buy new tires.

dbratten

Rear camber is adjusted with the front eccentric bolt on the lower a-arm. After changing camber you will need to reset toe using the rear links.

Depending on how you drive or if you participant in autox or track events you may have far more camber than you need. Setting the car to OEM specs (a wide range) will result in the wear you are seeing. If you aren't pushing your car hard or need opimum handling you will greatly improve tire life by setting camber closer to 0 deg. F & R. Toe set to zero (or just a bit of toe-in in F) will also help.

I run 1/16" toe-in in F and 0 to -0.4 deg. camber F & R on the street. I add a bunch of negative camber for autox events with my race tires and then switch back. You can search to find other threads on this subject and will find many owners running less than the OEM spec camber.

--Dan

jdwk

Hmm, I do race occasionally. So some camber is probably good. However, I am spending more time at the drag strip than I am on the road course (cheaper and more frequent events), and I am having major traction issues. I was thinking it's probably better to have the rears as flat as possible.

How do you measure the toe and camber when you adjust it yourself for autocross? If it's not too difficult I am sure it is best to set the car up for it's current application.

dbratten

Traction does improve by flattening the tires and it becomes a trade-off for autox vs. how much neg. camber to use.

I bought the Camber Adjustment Kit from Pfadt and use the David Farmer alignment methods. Both make it simple to adjust and check at home. I've found when setting toe that when you measure and have a difference of 1/16" that that is equal to rotating the toe link (which has six flat sides for your wrench) one flat per side. You'll need to loosen the jam nut and retighten when finished.

So, on the R, if the front of the tires measures 5/16" wider than the back you have toe out. To set to zero, adjust five flats wider -- rotating the link down on the D side and up on the P side -- to add toe-in (as the toe link is to the rear) on each side and you will be where needed. In the F, the toe link is to the front so the opposite adjustment is made. But, the one flat/side = 1/16" still applies.

Periodically, I check thrust angle to not get it out of whack.

--Dan

Modshack

Another way to do easy home alignments is to invest in Toe Plates and a quality Digital Camber Gauge (Smartcamber). About a $275 investment. I've used both for many years on different cars. Haven't had to pay for an alignment in a very long time!

Toe plates:


Smart Camber:


Available at : http://www.racerpartswholesale.com

runutzzzzz

How long does it take you to do an alignment? Is it pretty accurate?

dbratten

Yes, agreed. A digital camber gauge is the way to go. I use the module out of my digital Smart level. Toe plates or a rod with pointers --something to allow for easy repeatable measurements by a single person -- make all the difference.

--Dan

Modshack

You can dink around and just tweek the toe in 30 minutes...Camber/Toe, naturally, is a little more involved. You can spend an hour or a few hours dialing it in precisely with double checking everything..

Accuracy is excellent. Smart camber can be Zeroed to the surface you're working on, though having a very flat and level area is preferred.