Alignment with Spacers; Uneven Wear?

[munizfire]

I have a couple of questions; and please correct me if I'm wrong in any of my assumptions.

Yesterday I noticed that my front tires need replacing ASAP, since they're worn very badly in the insides (will replace all 4, the rear ones have a lot of meat left, but have dry rot as well). For all I know, my alignment could've been thrown off in the past couple of months, but both my front tires have similar wear patterns, so I doubt it [Will get it checked this week] (See below, both tires look very similar, but this one was a little bit worse than the driver's side)

Now, I understand these cars have a stock negative camber that will cause premature wear in the insides. However I do not know if the amount of wear shown is proportional to 'normal' wear for said negative camber. [Stock Pirelli PZero Neros, almost 30k miles, not rotated as often as I should've] I also have 1" spacers all the way around, and a friend was telling me that the spacers could be a factor to how 'uneven' my front tires are worn; I had my alignment checked a couple of weeks before installing the spacers and the alignment specs were compliant to stock specs.

1- Should spacers affect the alignment specs? Should there be any kind of accounting for the spacers while aligning the car? or does it really not matter?
2- Is this wear 'typical' for 30k on these cars? [I assume not, even taking into account the fact that I had only rotated the tires twice. Shame on me, I know]
3- Most of my commute is straight driving; should this be accounted for to 'increase' the camber?
4- Could more frequent rotation have delayed this?

thanks

Sponsored

 

[Reddirocket27]

Not ignoring your questions, but is that tire torn open??

 

[munizfire]

Not ignoring your questions, but is that tire torn open??

Not yet, LOL

 

[luc]

My bet is on toe and correctly mounted spacers have no impact on alignment

 

[TeeLew]

Your toe is out of spec. It's not the wheel spacers or the camber.

 

[munizfire]

Thanks Guys
Got new tires and an alignment. The toe was the most out-of- spec.

 

[Check06]

for my own curiosity, what was your camber setting at before the fix that caused the tire wear?

Your toe is out of spec. It's not the wheel spacers or the camber.

What are you seeing that made you say toe is out other than camber?

 

[luc]

for my own curiosity, what was your camber setting at before the fix that caused the tire wear?



What are you seeing that made you say toe is out other than camber?

It’s hard to differentiate between toe and camber wear BUT, just a little wrong toe will cause this wear and you would need a huge amount of negative camber to create the same result.....more than can be done with a stock suspension

 

[Check06]

Makes sense without camber bolts or plates on it. Good to know Toes effect on tire wear though, thank you much

 

[TeeLew]

for my own curiosity, what was your camber setting at before the fix that caused the tire wear?



What are you seeing that made you say toe is out other than camber?

Experience, mostly. The tire has the entire shoulder tread cleaned off. Usually if it's a camber thing it will be a very narrow wear band right on the edge. Also, most people aren't running the types of camber it takes to hurt tires. It actually takes quite a bit.

 

[munizfire]

for my own curiosity, what was your camber setting at before the fix that caused the tire wear?



What are you seeing that made you say toe is out other than camber?

on that tire:
Camber: -1.3 (within specs)
Toe: 0.11 (outside of specs)

 

[Check06]

Experience, mostly. The tire has the entire shoulder tread cleaned off. Usually if it's a camber thing it will be a very narrow wear band right on the edge. Also, most people aren't running the types of camber it takes to hurt tires. It actually takes quite a bit.

Makes sense and thanks for explaining that.

on that tire:
Camber: -1.3 (within specs)
Toe: 0.11 (outside of specs)

Glad it was a quick fix for you, that many miles on tires is still good

 

[69mach1-395]

Several questions related to the OP...
Okay, so if I read this correctly, spacers should have no bad effects on alignment, right? Mine are 1" btw.
Also, did I read that not all of the 3 can be adjusted for my car without special replacement parts?
I have wear on the inside of the front left tire and was told it is probably out of toe, due to the feathering there. My local shop is a Big-O and my car is just a DD with wider wheels and tires in the back, so not much rotation has gone on, just the rears, side to side. I kept the fronts to show the wear.
Why do places offer different lengths of time for alignments, like one time, one year or lifetime? Do things move around that much?
Any advice?

 

[cerbomark]

I believe you have to check your tires more often (at least the Oper). I look at mine all the time on all cars. Only takes a few minutes to catch these things sooner. I ve been shocked in the past when you don t check often and then see a tire like the picture posted. I just bought a tire that has alignment wear marks to see uneven wear at the millimeter (maybe less) mark on inner and outer shoulders.
A one inch spacer is small and IMO will have no impact in the real world (before someone gets all technical).
Alignment life will be based on road conditions and driving styles. Potholes and curbs included.

 

[munizfire]

Also, did I read that not all of the 3 can be adjusted for my car without special replacement parts?

If you're talking like camber kit / bolts, it is a possibility, but not necessarily. Mine was able to be aligned back to specs without the need for extra parts.

Sponsored