Alignment Bad from Factory?

[CaptainUnderpants]

At about 15,000 miles on the car with the original tires, I noticed that the driver side front tire on the inside is completely worn through with fabric showing. These are the original tires. The rears are just starting to get to the wear bars. I was expecting to replace the rears first. Now it looks like I will be replacing all 4 at the same time.

I was surprised to see such dramatic wear on this inside front driver location while all of the other tires are wearing relatively consistently across the width of the tires.

Is this an indication that the front alignment camber might be a little out of wack on the front driver side? Or maybe I just hammer the car through left hand sweepers all the time? Or maybe this is just normal?

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[GT_Dave]

The same has been reported by many people here, I think this is caused by a combination of toe-out and camber adjustment. Definitely get a wheel alignment check with your new tires.

 

[lightrules]

speaking of alignment, does the gt350/r require a specialty shop to do our alignments or can any chain like pepboys or firestone do the job (the green/red print out, etc)?

 

[mrbillwot]

speaking of alignment, does the gt350/r require a specialty shop to do our alignments or can any chain like pepboys or firestone do the job (the green/red print out, etc)?

My dealer installed my factory camber kits & aligned to details that I can't think of right now - trying them out to decide is they stay in given I'm for the short term street & highway use only and our streets are rough. I would be interested in a way to monitor at the least and maybe even align as a DIY. I could imagine even designing something (I design products that use lasers for the last 8+ years) because tire wear seems like a horribly inefficient way for us to monitor issues we obsess over ;-) Ideas welcomed.

 

[JAJ]

My dealer installed my factory camber kits & aligned to details that I can't think of right now - trying them out to decide is they stay in given I'm for the short term street & highway use only and our streets are rough. I would be interested in a way to monitor at the least and maybe even align as a DIY. I could imagine even designing something (I design products that use lasers for the last 8+ years) because tire wear seems like a horribly inefficient way for us to monitor issues we obsess over ;-) Ideas welcomed.

You can "string" the car cheaply and easily to check wheel alignment. If you go to the TMO forum and search on my user name and the word "string" it will take you to a full thread on DIY alignment methods. I like string because it's accurate and idiot proof.

 

[mrbillwot]

You can "string" the car cheaply and easily to check wheel alignment. If you go to the TMO forum and search on my user name and the word "string" it will take you to a full thread on DIY alignment methods. I like string because it's accurate and idiot proof.

Thanks - will look this up.

 

[TaraFirma]

I’ve said this dozens of times.
Everything I’ve purchased from Ford in the last decade needed an alignment right off the truck.
Trucks, Fusion, GT500, GT350, and 19 GT. All of them had shit alignment.
I just lay for a lifetime alignment at Firestone, and I’m good to go, even after suspension mods.

 

[GT_Dave]

You can "string" the car cheaply and easily to check wheel alignment. If you go to the TMO forum and search on my user name and the word "string" it will take you to a full thread on DIY alignment methods. I like string because it's accurate and idiot proof.

I have been using a laser for many years to check and adjust toe on my cars. I made a wooden parallel that fits across the diameter of the wheel along with a laser level.
Park the car on a level surface in my shop about 25 feet from a wall. Put some blue tape on the floor just in front of the wheel and the same on the wall in the areas that the laser will shine. Make a parallel mark on the tape on each side just in front of the tire and the same on the wall. Measure the difference between the marks at the 2 locations and that will indicate and allow calculation for the toe-in condition. Much easier and more accurate than a string method because the wheel is the reference and not the tire. On my GT350 the difference is about 1/4" total at 25 feet, virtually zero toe on my car and I see no premature wear on the front insides at 18,000 miles on the tires. I am running Hankook 305's on the front and I get almost no tramlining with this setup, with exceptional wear, current the front tires are about 50% worn with 18,000 miles on them.

 

[JAJ]

I have been using a laser for many years to check and adjust toe on my cars. I made a wooden parallel that fits across the diameter of the wheel along with a laser level.
Park the car on a level surface in my shop about 25 feet from a wall. Put some blue tape on the floor just in front of the wheel and the same on the wall in the areas that the laser will shine. Make a parallel mark on the tape on each side just in front of the tire and the same on the wall. Measure the difference between the marks at the 2 locations and that will indicate and allow calculation for the toe-in condition. Much easier and more accurate than a string method because the wheel is the reference and not the tire. On my GT350 the difference is about 1/4" total at 25 feet, virtually zero toe on my car and I see no premature wear on the front insides at 18,000 miles on the tires. I am running Hankook 305's on the front and I get almost no tramlining with this setup, with exceptional wear, current the front tires are about 50% worn with 18,000 miles on them.

That's a great approach if you have the space. Unfortunately, I don't have room - my garage has about 18" behind the car and about 12" in front of it when the door is rolled up. Hence the string. It only requires the space I have.

The setup works like this: I have two 6' hardwood sticks that have narrow notches exactly the same distance apart for the string. I place them across the front and back of the car on jack stands so the string is stretched level with the centers of the wheels. I center the car between the strings by measuring in from the string to the dome of the center cap on each side and moving the sticks so the two sides are equal at the front and equal again at the back. It takes patience because the changes at one end affect the other, but it only takes a couple of minutes to get it all squared up. Then I measure toe by measuring in from the string to the front of the rim lip and again to the back of the rim lip. For a 19" rim, every mm of difference front to back is 0.11 degrees of toe. If the front is further from the string, it's toe-in and if it's closer, it's toe-out. I use lightweight fishing line for string and a 6" metric steel machinist's rule. I can get the measurements down to about 0.5 mm, which is close enough for me. Camber is done the same way using a plumb bob.

 

[SVTinAR]

My 2003 Lightning was out considerably when I picked it up off the lot new - had to put a camber kit in it. GT350 has seemed OK but I did get under it and take out the factory toe out in hopes of better tire life and reducing trammeling a little.

 

[lightrules]

I’ve said this dozens of times.
Everything I’ve purchased from Ford in the last decade needed an alignment right off the truck.
Trucks, Fusion, GT500, GT350, and 19 GT. All of them had shit alignment.
I just lay for a lifetime alignment at Firestone, and I’m good to go, even after suspension mods.

this is the information I'm looking for. I've got a coupon for pep boys lifetime alignment for $130. I just want to confirm that these guys know how to set the alignment on our cars.

 

[FLATPLANE]

Coming from a guy who does 100s of alignments per month This is a performance car Of course its set up to wear the inside edges of the tires first. If you are using this as a daily driver have the toe set at 0 and have as little negative camber as possible dialed in. if you track the car I have -2.5 degrees camber front and -1.75 in rear. i run the tires at 31psi and they wear perfectly on track!

 

[FLATPLANE]

this is the information I'm looking for. I've got a coupon for pep boys lifetime alignment for $130. I just want to confirm that these guys know how to set the alignment on our cars.

If you have an R model i would be very cautious of those Purdy carbon wheels getting scratched by the alignment sensors. Ask over the phone if they have the sensors that grab the tires not the wheels! https://www.hunter.com/Portals/0/Media/6230-T.pdf see page 2 for an illustration

 

[lightrules]

If you have an R model i would be very cautious of those Purdy carbon wheels getting scratched by the alignment sensors. Ask over the phone if they have the sensors that grab the tires not the wheels! https://www.hunter.com/Portals/0/Media/6230-T.pdf see page 2 for an illustration

thanks for the pro tip

 

[Droopy1592]

My right front tire was a whole degree more negative than the left on factory alignment

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