BudRacing

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azn2dmax

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azn2dmax

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BudRacing

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It's been a while since I last tried having it aligned. I got tired of spending the money only to have it back to exactly the way it was a day later. I probably have a sheet folded up between my drivers seat and the console, but I remember it being good. An even -0.10 toe on both sides with -1.0 degrees of camber and the caster was what it was. Something is obviously shifting, but I haven't been able to pinpoint it yet. Maybe it's the cheap Mevotech control arms I previously gave praise, although I'm really unsure how they'd be causing this issue.
I'm due for brakes, which I have sitting in boxes ready to install. I'll have my wife's car available next week while she's out of town so I have time to do some investigating.

FYI, my Powerstop Evolution Z23 brake pads have lasted 90k miles. They're not the kindest to rotors, though.

4EyedTurd1

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BudRacing

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I installed my 2nd set of Brakemotive brakes all the way around and bedded them Sunday night. They came with Z16 pads this time. We'll see how these do. They're still ceramic, but not "carbon fiber infused" like the Z23. My hope is that they're a little kinder on the rotors. Since bedding, they seem to have a little less bite than what I recall of the Z23 set, but that may improve with some further break-in time. I also flushed all of the swampy brake fluid while I was at it. I installed speed bleeders on the calipers last time I did brakes and was glad of that since I don't have a pressure bleeder and didn't have a helper around. I don't fully expect to own this car for the life of these brakes, but for the price (~$300 shipped) and the mileage I got out of the last set, these are well worth it. The zinc'd finish on the rotors also held up really well, considering.

A while back, I installed the Creative Steel trans mount, which has since been redesigned. This version (the full girth ̶r̶e̶d̶ black poly) proved to be slightly taller than the stock mount it replaced, which put the guibo bolts in conflict with my AZN modded short shifter while in 4th gear causing me to have to shim up the shifter with some extra foam material I had laying around. It also introduced some vibration in 4th gear due to the guibo now being slightly out of line. I don't know why I took my sweet time to do this simple fix, but when you've had a daily driven car long enough you tend to lose motivation. To fix this, I picked up a 6 pack of 1/16" washers and installed them between the trans cross member and the body of the car at each bolt to effectively lower the whole cross member 1/16". My 4th gear vibration is about 98% gone, and I'm happy--but also kicking myself for not doing that much sooner considering how simple and easy that was.

I also bled the clutch and changed the oil while I was at it. Now I just need some new front tires. The staggered setup wears the fronts a lot quicker than the rears. I'll be sticking with Continentals and looking forward to the new ExtremeContact Sports. I'm thinking the driftiness I've been feeling was a combination of bad brakes and worn inner tires. I couldn't find any true culprits in the suspension.

Creative Steel

Hey Bud, do you have a picture of that trans mount? I've personally only poured one red trans mount in my life, as it would be too stiff for normal driving guys.

-Jordan

BudRacing

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Now that I think about it, it could totally be black--in fact, I'm pretty sure it is. Sorry for any confusion. I believe you did confirm with me when ordering it that I had the same durometer black street hardness motor mounts.

ls1247

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Been awhile since I posted that pic...put 15k more miles on that car and sold it off, bought another V1 and have put another 30 on it.

ls1247

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I wouldn't be shocked....parts these days suck. Whenever I can, I look for low mileage cars at the pull-a-part...sometimes they write the miles on the windshield. I'd rather have a 50k mile stock part than those I'm thinking.

ls1247

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I wouldn't have thought this...I've got staggered F14s and I go through backs every 15k-20k. At 20k miles, the fronts look good through the middle but are kinda rounded off on both edges but I could get 30 out of them probably.

I'm running Hankook Ventus S1s because there were some on the wheels when I bought them and they seemed to wear flat across the tread on the rears. They're quite, seem to ride good, not crazy expensive and are good in the rain so that's a win for me!

BudRacing

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I'd be shocked to find a 50k CTS in a yard that hasn't been picked bare by now, but then again I don't frequent junk yards. Haven't been to one in at least 10 years.

My theory is that the increased grip in the rear promotes understeer--though only minor in daily driving, but still accelerates wear on the fronts. The slightly beyond spec negative camber targets the inner portion of the tires further accelerating wear in that area. Pair that with a seemingly sloppy toe due to faulty/worn suspension components and the front tires get consumed at twice the rate.

ls1247

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So more than anything, there's something wrong with your car.

AAIIIC

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Yeah, my staggered summers definitely wear the rears faster than the fronts. And I'm not the kind of guy that leaves every stoplight in a haze of tire smoke or something like that.

ls1247

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I've been driving v8 powered rear drive muscle cars with "big and littles" for 40 years and I've NEVER had one wear fronts faster than rears. Never.

But Budracing shed some light on his problems though..

This car is already negatively biased from a camber perspective so going even further than that is definitely a recipe for wearing tires out on a street car. I've got mine set up on the positive side of the camber spec and I wear pretty well really. But he also said this...

Could this be the Chinese control arms? Who knows but I wouldn't be shocked. But after aligning front ends in tire stores for years, you can often spot a tire that has camber wear over one that has severe toe wear. Camber wear is ridden off the tire and toe wear is scrubbed off the tire and yes, in some cases you can make the distinction.

4EyedTurd1

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BudRacing

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Hence, the POS-V moniker in my sig.

This is good perspective that will help to snap me out of my complacency.

IIRC the max negative camber spec is -0.9*. I'm right at -1.0* and I believe that's maxed out. I suppose I could dremel the camber slots for some additional adjustment.

I heavily suspect the control arms. I may swap out the uppers back to the stock pieces which were worn, but not exactly faulty. I'll start there since it's low-hanging fruit. I previously had the CS poly bushings in my lower arms that also had new ball joints, but I got tired of the popping noise the poly would make that greasing didn't take care of. I spoke in person with another member who had contributed to the related thread who had channels put in the aluminum sleeve to better distribute the grease that supposedly fixed the problem, but he also said he sold the car to a friend shortly after. Without a first-hand account, I'm not sure I can say with confidence that it was a good long term solution.

jcollege

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Water pump, new pulleys and belt. Definitely need to invest in a new balancer sometime soon, ugh.

raven154

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AAIIIC

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Whew! Good catch!