Originally posted by kswick:
I noticed that the inside edge of my tires are wearing. This indicates that an alignment is due. I have noticed that most garages and dealers insist on putting 35 psi in the front tires. Ford calls for I think 31 in front and 35 in rear.

What are you all doing out there for correct tire pressue? I am sure tire pressure is also impacting the tire patch area. I have noticed that the front tires are slipping on moist pavement an indication of both the wear and that the tires are not hitting the road correctly. I want to make sure I get this done correctly or am I off base thinking that tire pressure comes into play here.



The same thing happened to the first set of Z-rated tires I put on my '98 CSVT immediately after I got it in '99. At about 8000-9000 mi, I noticed the premature inner-shoulder wear, too. But even stepping up the rotation to every 4000 mi, I only got 29K on those puppies.

Turned out that this was due the negative-camber overkill Ford engineered into the front suspension -- presumably to appeal to those who think "performance" is the ability to hard-corner for no particular reason. The CSVT has no camber adjust, BTW.

As soon as I put on new rubber, I took it to a buddy of mine who specializes in underbody work -- basically suspensions and alignments. His shop manager hooked the car up to their Hunter, then used a tool my buddy designed and made himself to precisely bend the strut and eliminate the excess neg camber.

The new tires now have just over 6000 miles on them. Wear pattern is absolutely uniform.

And for anyone in Dallas, I'll put in a plug for my friend's shop:

Gary's Alignment
11460 Reeder Rd
Dallas, TX 75229-2189
Phone:(972)484-3542

I've known Gary and have been his customer for 15 years. The guy knows his stuff and his prices smoke the dealerships.