Factory alignment

[Redfuzzbutt]

I'm annoyed that I'm just finding this out, nobody else's fault other than my own. Had my 2017 GT non PP for approx 5k miles.
During oil change, saw that inner front tires being very worn down, scheduled alignment. Tech said that there is 1.5% camber on both front wheels and isn't able to make any adjustments without camber bolt/kit. When questioned if it was due to worn out parts or anything else (car had 24k miles), he said no, that it's typical of the mustangs to come from the factory with that much. That may or may not be true, you all can chime in on that, but here is the part that concerns me:
The suspension is stock, does have 285/30R20 tires with the added weight of the Whipple SC. Does that sound like a recipe for the inner tires to be worn down that quickly? Guessing the tires have a little over 5k on them as they appeared to have a lot of tread when I purchased the car.

I have not tracked the car nor really hit up any twisties to account for additional uneven wear. Other measurement when attempting alignment was that toe out was at 1/16" on each front tire.

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[moffetts]

-1.5 degrees? That's pretty mild. Toe should be as close to zero as possible if you are trying to save your tires.

 

[Redfuzzbutt]

-1.5 degrees? That's pretty mild. Toe should be as close to zero as possible if you are trying to save your tires.

Agreed, I thought it was mild as well but can definitely see the effects on the tires. And yes, when the camber bolt does get installed at next alignment, the toe will be set to center.
Just irritated that I'm spending $500 on tires due to a preventable issue that I didn't notice till it was too late.

 

[Redfuzzbutt]

Angry? Naw, irritated at myself. That info was available in my first post.

Without a doubt, I'm not going to pretend to know or understand anything beyond what I actually know. And that includes the physics of suspension, especially the more technical and detailed side of it. Big surprise, but that's why I'm asking questions.

No attempt to "flex" here, plenty of other better set up and performing cars than mine. Just wanted to provide any reasonable factors that may have contributed to the results.

 

[TeeLew]

The camber isn't your problem, it's the toe. You only need a small amount of toe-in. If the car has excessive toe in either direction, that will wear the tires quickly.

 

[K4fxd]

Forget the camber bolts, get the toe correct.

 

[Redfuzzbutt]

I appreciate the response. Did several pages of reading in the forum but wasn't able to track down the info I was looking for.
I was surprised to see that a -1.5 caused that much wear, in that short of time frame/mileage.
As time goes on, going to be getting some new brakes and suspension components, so I'll be sure to read and ask more questions as that comes up.

 

[Redfuzzbutt]

The camber isn't your problem, it's the toe. You only need a small amount of toe-in. If the car has excessive toe in either direction, that will wear the tires quickly.

So the 1/16 toe out on both is a larger contributing factor than the camber? That's good info to know but also makes me disappointed with the shop/tech... Perhaps they saw a sucker where they could make a few extra bucks. Oh well, I'll play the game and keep them on the hook for continued issues as this was their recommendation.
Appreciate the info.

 

[Norm Peterson]

So the 1/16 toe out on both is a larger contributing factor than the camber?

That's true.

What people seem to have missed so far is that the extra weight of your supercharger will lower the front ride height a little.

And just like lowering with lowering springs, camber will go slightly further negative. I'm guessing that for most MacStrut suspensions this effect runs about half a degree of "extra" negative camber per inch of lowering.

There's more . . . in front-steer cars (steering rack or linkage located ahead of the front axle line), adding negative camber normally moves toe in the outward direction.


Norm

 

[TeeLew]

So the 1/16 toe out on both is a larger contributing factor than the camber? That's good info to know but also makes me disappointed with the shop/tech... Perhaps they saw a sucker where they could make a few extra bucks. Oh well, I'll play the game and keep them on the hook for continued issues as this was their recommendation.
Appreciate the info.

Honestly, that number is not massive, but it's probably your culprit.

I doubt if the tech trying to get more money out of you. In my experience, most of them have absolutely no idea what adjustment has which effect. They can make a Hunter machine work & they can adjust the car (a lot of times that means only toe). Beyond that, most just don't have the necessary experience to really diagnose tire wear issues.

 

[NightmareMoon]

So the 1/16 toe out on both is a larger contributing factor than the camber? That's good info to know but also makes me disappointed with the shop/tech... Perhaps they saw a sucker where they could make a few extra bucks. Oh well, I'll play the game and keep them on the hook for continued issues as this was their recommendation.
Appreciate the info.

1.5 camber is correct for the chassis. The toe is what accelerates wear, the camber sets you up for that wear appearing on the inside.

I wouldn't assume your tires have only 5k miles on them. Could be 15k. My MP4S look pretty new except on the inside edge, where they're about to cord, which is pretty typical for that specific tire. IDK what tire you're running? MP4S we seem to get a lot of reports of them dying an early death to sear on the inside shoulder edge. I suspect its a design/contruction quirk.

 

[moffetts]

I have had accelerated inside edge wear on my front PS4S's and PSS's, more so than with other tires. I don't think it is realistic to expect the fronts to wear evenly, no matter what the alignment is. But your toe being off will kill them much more quickly than if it was dialed in correctly.

 

[Vicr]

I’ve had a speed shop with deep racing experience do all my suspension and steering work and was asked several questions before they did my alignment so they could set the car up correctly. I would never bring my Mustang to the average shop for an alignment. A correct alignment to any modified car is a necessity and the tech needs to have experience with how to set the car up and not go by “book” spec settings.

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