Originally posted by Big Jim:


You won't solve the inside edge wear problem until you reduce the negative camber. I played with the toe setting for some time before installing the camber adjusting kits. Now the tire wear is extremely even. At least that has been my experience.



Jim, I agree with you that the negative camber can wear the inside edge, but I would tend to think the wear would be even across the block and not saw tooth pattern wear the leading edge is higher than the rear.

For comparison I look at my Mustang that has a more aggressive alignment setting then the Contour. The front tires have ~20K miles and never been rotated. I travel the same highway and the settings are: -1.5 degrees Camber, 4 degrees Caster with 1/16" Toe. I see no signs of uneven tire. I do have to mention the Mustang has front control arm bushings made of an aluminum and derlin plastic combination which eliminates deflection.

My CSVT has had this tire wear problem from the day I bought it to the current 75K miles racked up on now. My original set of BFG KDW tires kissed off short of 30K and could have gone a lot longer had the wear been even. Next wear the BFG KDWS which developed wear signs after 10K miles. The asymmetrical design allowed me to change direction by switching sides, but that didnā??t help much. Alignments have been performed several times to factory spec.

Iā??m on my 3 set of tires now and back the BFG KDW. These have recently been dismounted and switched to the other side of the car to allow the once outside edge to take the abuse. Wheel bearings were also just replaced and the alignment done as mentioned above. I'm hoping the Toe setting at least helps slow the wear down.

My rear tires don't suffer with the wear pattern, so if I had to guess what the problem is, I'd have to say it's either A). the toe-out setting in combination with all my sustained highway driving at 70mph or B). the assclown inspired redesign of the front control arms to incorporate a vertical bushing configuration.

Well, that about sums it up. I appreciate the feedback and I will keep the CEG members posted after I log some miles. So until then I'm still keeping my fingers crossed...

2000 CSVT (#289 of 2150) 1989 Mustang GT