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Bad tire wear..

jitb

CEG'er
Joined
Nov 13, 2005
Messages
83
Location
Conyers, GA
This has happened twice the first time i thoguht i just needed an alignment, but after the alignment, and months later ive got the same tire wear on the inner driver side tire. gonna take it back to the place that gave me my alignment this weekend and let them look at it. Anyone else have this problem?
 
This has happened twice the first time i thoguht i just needed an alignment, but after the alignment, and months later ive got the same tire wear on the inner driver side tire. gonna take it back to the place that gave me my alignment this weekend and let them look at it. Anyone else have this problem?

i had it extremely bad on my rears, check ur control arms, mine were bent
 
found some pics, did it look anythign like this, or this bad,
SSPX0057.jpg

SSPX0056.jpg
 
i had that on my fronts. then got new tires and had my alinment done and supension instected. i already know they sucked at doing that. it still pulls to the right. they said its my tires but thats bull. it did that same before the new ones. and i look at my suspension after they said everything is good. more lies! i found many bushesings shot
 
You have too much negative camber. It may be on the outer limit of spec, but it is still too much.

Camber cannot be adjusted unless you install camber kits.

Negative camber helps handling, especially cornering. Too much and you have wear issues. You need to end up with a balance. Make sure that you get it down to less than .7 degrees of negative camber. I have mine near zero and tire wear is even.

I had the same problem until I installed camber kits and brought the camber down.
 
You have too much negative camber. It may be on the outer limit of spec, but it is still too much.

Camber cannot be adjusted unless you install camber kits.

Negative camber helps handling, especially cornering. Too much and you have wear issues. You need to end up with a balance. Make sure that you get it down to less than .7 degrees of negative camber. I have mine near zero and tire wear is even.

I had the same problem until I installed camber kits and brought the camber down.

how does it juts happen by itself tho, something has to out of align because i dotn have any suspension upgrades at all.
 
My car was built that way and had inner tread wear issues from brand new (I bought my car new). The problem was not resolved until I installed camber kits.

It is possible that it is a bit worse because you have slightly worn (saggy) suspension bushings. Also, the toe setting is much more critical when there is a lot of camber. Some will even argue that you would not have so much inside edge wear if you drove more agressively (not a complete explanation though). Also your tires may be more sensitive to such wear depending on tire carcus design and tread rubber compound.

Do you have the alignment readings from the last time it was alligned? Can you post them? That will tell a lot.
 
Heres the read out from the front..

Left front:
camber -0.55
Toe: 0.02

Right front:
camber: 1.15
toe: 0.01

Front:

Cross Camber: 0.60
Total Toe: 0.01
 
You have too much negative camber. It may be on the outer limit of spec, but it is still too much.

Camber cannot be adjusted unless you install camber kits.

Negative camber helps handling, especially cornering. Too much and you have wear issues. You need to end up with a balance. Make sure that you get it down to less than .7 degrees of negative camber. I have mine near zero and tire wear is even.

I had the same problem until I installed camber kits and brought the camber down.
i have that problem with stock ride hight
 
Heres the read out from the front..

Left front:
camber -0.55
Toe: 0.02

Right front:
camber: 1.15
toe: 0.01

Front:

Cross Camber: 0.60
Total Toe: 0.01

First, the right front camber is probably -1.15 not 1.15. Often that isn't enough to cause the wear you are seeing, but it can, especially if the toe has drifted. High negative camber makes toe settings more critical.

Second, there should not be so much cross camber (difference from right to left. I suspect that the subframe has shifted.

Third, it would help if you had caster readings. Did the technician not bother to read caster because he knew it wasn't adjustable? He should have read it anyway to confirm that it was in spec. He needs to do a caster sweep to get the readings and that is part of an alignment.

From the way the tires are wearing, check to see if the tie rod ends have excessive play and that the A frame bushings are not worn/sagging.

Once you know that the suspension is tight, I would still recommend installing the camber kits and then aligning the car. Here are the readings I would suggest.

There are no rear adjustment caster or camber settings but they should still be checked to confirm that they are in specs and if so set the rear toe as close to zero as possible while still being slightly toed in.

Next, optimize the front camber using the camber kits. I would suggest .5 degrees negative camber. Each side should be even. Caster is set at the same time. Set it on the positive side. It will be either positive or negative when you get the camber right. It will probably end up about 2.5 to 2.8 degrees. It should also be even from side to side. If you cannot get the caster and camber even from side to side you may have a subframe that has shifted and is not quite square. It should not be hard to shift the subframe back. If you just cannot get the caster and camber even from side to side, then the caster should be up to .5 degrees more on the right side or the camber up to .2 degrees higher on the left side, but not both. Either one of these will give you a very slight tendency toward a left drift to compensate for road crown.

Then set the front toe at as close to zero as possible while still being slightly towed out (the opposite of the rear). Thrust angle is also set while adjusting front toe and it should be zero.
 
I would question the readings. The toe setting or the camber setting you posted would not explain the wear you are seeing on the left front tire. I would also wonder if you have some worn suspension parts so that the readings will not hold.
 
I would question the readings. The toe setting or the camber setting you posted would not explain the wear you are seeing on the left front tire. I would also wonder if you have some worn suspension parts so that the readings will not hold.

probrably, i need to get under the car and inspect this weekend..
 
I would say that the toe setting from your printout is incorrect. With to much toe out you will wear out the inside edge of the tires. Your camber can be evened out by shifting the subframe to achieve equal cross camber.

Carefully inspect the lower control arm bushings, if they are worn they can cause the toe to change under acceleration and braking.
 
I would say that the toe setting from your printout is incorrect. With to much toe out you will wear out the inside edge of the tires. Your camber can be evened out by shifting the subframe to achieve equal cross camber.

Carefully inspect the lower control arm bushings, if they are worn they can cause the toe to change under acceleration and braking.


Toe looks nearly perfect. It is nearly zero and slightly toed out. Well within specs and within ideal.
 
Toe looks nearly perfect. It is nearly zero and slightly toed out. Well within specs and within ideal.

The tires show to much toe out or worn suspension. The printout may show that toe is good, but is it?

If the LCA's are shot toe will change as the car is driven causing the tire wear problem.

Also depending on who did the alignment the printout could be incorrect. I have had cars come to my shop to have the alignment re-checked after being aligned elsewhere and seen incorrect toe settings etc.

I run -.75 camber and 0 to -.01 toe out on the front and -1.4 camber and .04 toe in on the back and have absolutely no uneven tire wear.
 
Last edited:
just for reference the alignment was done about 3 1/2 months ago
This statement usually doesn't mean anything. You could have hit a pothole or curb or the suspension (spring or strut) just crapped out after that.
 
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