AZ28DRIVER1

I have a 2001 Z28 that came factory with 245/50/16 GS-C's. After about 35,000 miles those tires wore out. However, even with rotating them religiously the driver side always seemed to wear the edges out faster than the passenger side. If it wasn't for the edge wear I probably could have made the tires last until 40,000 miles. When it was time for new tires I upgraded to 275/40/17 BFG KDW. I now have 65,000 miles on the car (30K on these tires) and these tires are doing the same thing. I've had the car aligned and the shop states that everything is right at factory specs. I'm getting ready to get tires again and don't want to have this premature wear happen again. What aligment can I do to prevent this. If it helps the car is drag raced about 5 times a year, but i drive extremely windy roads (15miles) to and from work each day.

mitchntx

iTrader: (14)

Aligned to factory specs ... windy roads ... outside edge tire wear ...

You need better alignment specs ...

-1* camber
+4.5* caster
1/32 toe in (or your personal preference depending upon how much "wandering" you can tolerate.

Your particular car might not be able to get to those specs. It depends upon the kind of springs you run. A lowered car can get close to -1.0* camber. Stock sprung cars might be able to get to -0.8* ... each car varies somewhat.

Just get as close as you can.

When the alignment tech tells you you will wear out the INSIDE edge of the tires tell him you know different. These specs have been around since the 4th gen was introduced. They are tried and true.

Oh ... and be prepared for some amazing handling differences on those windy roads.

technical

Is it the outside edge of the tire or both sides/edges wearing on the driver side tires?

Low air pressure + your weight on the driver's side could cause this .

Cal

iTrader: (1)

Yeah a good performance wheel alignment as mitchntx said, and make sure you have plenty of presure in those front tires; I like 40 psi in mine, but you only need about 32 psi in the rear tires. The stock alignment specs are pretty loose, and also as mentioned are not optimum for cornering. I did the same thing you're talking about in about 5,000 miles of driving windy roads to work and back on the stock alignment. If you lower the car, you will be able to get more negative camber, and a lower center of gravity for better handling. I was able to get -1.7 deg camber after lowering the front 2 inches.

AZ28DRIVER1

It is just the outside edge of the tire that is wearing funny. The car does have the stock springs on it. The air pressure in the front tires is kept around 35 psi. I do raise the pressure to 40 psi in the front tires when I go drag racing. Thanks for the alignment settings. I'll be printing this out and taking it up the shop to have that setting put on the car.

99PontTA

i just had the EXACT same problem with my 99 TA......it would tear up the outside edge of the passenger tire.......i rotated the tires evey 2000 miles trying to save the tires.Well i took it a friend of mine that has a alignment machine and what he found was the right frt camber was too positive and the caster was set @ +3 degrees........left frt was ok camber but caster was 4.5 degrees............get this ...THESE SETTING ARE WITHIN FACTORY SPECS! insanity.......we couldn;t increase the right frt caster any more ,so we set caster to +3 both sides and camber +.25 degees.....tires are wearing fine now. TELL UM TO RESET THAT CAMBER even a small amount too positive camber will tear up the tire........be sure they set the toe to ZERO also...........none of this WITHIN SPECS BS


WITHIN SPECS could mean just about anything....if they don't work with you ask around and find a real pro who knows his stuff

Cal

iTrader: (1)

As I said in my other post, the stock alignment specs are pretty loose. The first mod everyone should do on one of these cars is a wheel alignment, umm maybe right after the skip shift eliminator, LOL.

Mike K.

Those specs are for the front tires only right? You can't really align the rear tires can you?

99PontTA

it is possible to adjust the rear thrust angle.but not easy.....some newer alignment machines take the thrust angle into consideration.