Negative camber situation - solutions?
 

I have had my 92 Z for 8 years now and the previous owner lowered the car with lowering spring all around. I do like the stance of the car but the negative camber it puts on the front suspension just doesn't allow tires to last. Even with a fresh alignment, I get maybe 15,000 miles to a set of tires with the insides of the front tires wearing faster than everything else....

Has anyone found anything to help with this situation? A better alignment setup? I can't change the spindles because I have SSBC's 1LE brake setup that uses very specific spindles to mount the brackets. Hoping I can get better tire life.

What do a lot of the G-machine, autocross, or pro-touring cars run? Or does everyone just expect to replace tires....?

Re: Negative camber situation - solutions?
 

What are your alignment specs & what brand of tire?

Need more info to determine how bad the situation is.
Any pic's of the tire wear?

Re: Negative camber situation - solutions?
 

Re: Negative camber situation - solutions?
 

Lots of people have lowered cars and dont have that problem. Sound like the alignment is still off enough to cause problems. Other possibilities are the tires you are using.

If you can share the alignment specs and tire selections we can probably help. Also if you know what other work was dont to the car, ride height pic, ect.

The spindles are not the problem really and the ssbc brakes use the same modified factory spindles that every other brake upgrade uses so dont let it throw you.

Re: Negative camber situation - solutions?
 

Ok... to respond to some questions...

The last 20,000 miles have been on BF Goodrich G-Force Super Sport A/S 245/50ZR16. Stock rims. The previous tires were Kumho tires that had to be replaced because the inside of the tread had worn down to the belts.

The car has had two alignments since I have owned it. Once at 92,000 miles and the most recent at 104,221 miles. Its currently at 116,600. The rear tires were rotated to the front at that time. So this wear has happened in just 12,000 miles.

Results of last alignment:

Left Camber: 0.1 deg
Right Camber: 0.5 deg
Left Caster: 4.0 deg
Right Caster: 4.8 deg
Left Toe: -0.02 deg
Right Toe: -0.01 deg

Pics of tire wear attached. Wear is on the inside of the tire. Drivers side pic loaded first.

This has remained persistent since I have owned the car (bought at 90,000 miles). I have changed the tires, lower control arms (tubular) from stock, steering box and linkages (upgraded), spindles and brakes, kept it in factory spec alignment.

all these and no change to the tire wear issue....

Re: Negative camber situation - solutions?
 

I assume you explained all this to your alignment technician; what did he have to say about this problem?

Re: Negative camber situation - solutions?
 

Toe out will wear the inside. I prefer toe in. Makes it less nervous on turning

Re: Negative camber situation - solutions?
 

You have positive camber by the numbers you posted.

Re: Negative camber situation - solutions?
 

Usually negative toe is toe out. That will cause similar wear to what you have and make the car handle oddly at times. Also, like QwickTrip said, positive camber (as you've written) means the top of the tire is tilted out. The camber should be as close to even as possible when comparing side to side. The caster looks spot on though.

For what it's worth, (as best as I can remember) my camber is around -1.0* (maybe a touch more), caster is about the same as yours and toe is about 0.01* toe in. My wear is pretty even across the tread other than the centers that are more worn due to over inflation.

Re: Negative camber situation - solutions?
 

Thanks for your input...I have been through 2 sets of tires, and 2 different alignments and keep seeing this wear pattern. I never saw it on my 85 Z28 that had stock suspension. I was wondering if having the lowered suspension through lowering springs was causing a heavier push in the inside of the tire when the suspension loads due to the different geometry when lowered.

I have tweaked the toe on each side by giving the tie rod connection one turn on both sides. Hoping this helps.....