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Front tyre wear on inside edge


Doughie
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Just found out that my front tyres are bald *but* only on the inside edge

(inch or so).

Rest of the tyres are fine, with about 3 or so of tread left.

 

I find this a bit surprising as a full-blown optical suspension alignment

was carried out on all 4 wheels about 1 year ago, and the front tyres have

not been changed since then.   I have the print-outs from this alignment

session and everything was within the specified range.    So quite why the

front tyres have worn badly on the inside edge i'm not sure.

 

Too much negative camber ?

Tracking ?   I sit likely that the tracking etc. has gone off so much in the

past 12 months that the front tyres have worn badly on the inside ?

Is this just a typical mkiv thing with front tyres ?  Anyone else find this happening to their tyres ?

 

 

Thanks in advance

 

cheers

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I noticed the same thing with my mkiv . I changed the wheels/tyres  as soon as I bought it and the front tyres were both scrubbed on the insides.

I had a 4 wheel alignment done to the specs on the mkiv.com site........ it took a while and the guys got a bit fed up, so persevere and insist on getting it spot on.......

I had driven a few hundred miles on the original setup and found the new one far superior

5k miles l8r and the fronts are wearing consistently

 

HTH

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Sounds like your fronts are toeing out a mile.

 

The MKIV is very sensitive to suspension geometry setup. Basically, just about everything can be adjusted and getting it right can be a little tricky.

 

Incidentally, it's very much the same with the MR2. With the MR, the slightest hint of toe-out and the steering becomes dog slow, like it's fighting you... particularly in quick turns. Plus, on fast bumpy stretches it'll be snatching left to right at random. But set it so the fronts are ever so slightly toeing in, and the difference is amazing.

 

If you need any info on MKIV alignment specs let me know. There is a reco in another post on this thread but, for the record, I use Northway tyres in Watford.

 

Yours,

J

 

 

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OK I was going to get my new S-03's a Micheldever Tyres.  They apparently do alignment too.

Has anyone any direct experience of the competence / results of Micheldever Tyres suspension geometry ?

Sounds to me a bit like i should get my new tyres from there and then trot off to Nothway in Watford to get it all sorted.

That way, when my S-03's start wearing unevenly, I can blame all you guys !

 

;-)

 

ps. good to meet you today Ash.

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Micheldever are supposed to be very good with tyres and alignment on the Scoobs, not sure how many Supras they have seen but if they have a decent alignment machine it will have the specs already stored and they just pull those onto the screen and align to that.

 

JB

Shop!!

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I thought inside edge wear was toe in, i.e., trailing edge scrubbing.

 

I wouldn't trust anywhere that doesn't have the type of kit that Powerstation has, a Sun 3D geometry alignment system.

They used it to adjust toe in/out & camber on my rears then same plus tracking etc. on the fronts. You enter make, model and chassis number and the machine knows the correct settings (that was impressive).

Now I've never been a tarmac specialist, preferring the loose, but even I noticed the improvement driving home and my printouts say my car started inside Toyota's spec limits.

 

The biggest lesson I learned while there was that almost all 4-wheel tracking systems align the wheels to be parallel but not necessarily aligned to the centre of the vehicle, i.e., they allow a small amount of crabbing. The Sun system identifies the angle to the centre that the power is being applied, but then it is designed for use on racing cars.

 

Yes it was an expensive tracking excercise at £75 but I *know* where my wheels are pointing.

 

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Thanks Paul.

One more thing is that i'm 90% likely to be getting my suspension lowered over the next few weeks, so i guess after i've done that, i would have in any event have to get the geometry re-done.    (I've heard that when you lower suspension you need to get the camber and tracking re-done.)

 

What this means though is i guess that the stock Toyota values for camber, castor, toe in/out will no longer be applicable t my car after it's lowered.

Is this true ?  and if it is, I guess Powerstation or whoever would be able to do sort out the suspension geometry taking into account that my car is lowered ?  

 

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Have it all aligned *after* you have the car lowered. The stock settings should be retained. For best performance err on the negative side of the spec on camber. What Paul is talking about is the thrust angle. He's right, not all garages that advertise 4-wheel alignment have this. FYI Northway Tyres do.

 

Yours,

J  

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OK folks, for the anoraks, I've now dug out the suspension geometry settings that my car was set to 1 yr ago in July 2000, together with the Toyota dealer's list of the range that the setting

should be within  :

 

LEFT FRONT Camber  : -0º12'   (i.e. negative)

RIGHT FRONT Camber  : -0º09'  (i.e. negative)

(Toyota range for UK TT front camber : +0º25' to -1º05' )

 

LEFT FRONT Toe : -0º00'

RIGHT FRONT Toe  : -0º00'

(Toyota range for UK TT front toe : -0º06' to +0º06' )

 

LEFT REAR Camber : -1º35'  (i.e. negative)

RIGHT REAR Camber : -1º38'  (i.e. negative)

(Toyota range for UK TT rear camber : -0º45' to -2º15' )

 

LEFT REAR Toe : +0º10'

RIGHT REAR Toe  : +0º09'

(Toyota range for UK TT rear toe : +0º03' to +0º15' )

 

Rear Thrust angle : 0º00'

 

so only very mild negative camber and zero toe on the fronts.  Everything well within range.   Front tyres & wheels are the same as they were a year

ago, and the car's not lowered.    No accidents or anything either.

I guess the settings could have drifted off in the last 12 months - i'll find out when i get the suspension geometry re-checked soon.    I agree that if the front camber had drifted more negative than it was set, this would wear inside edges, especially if a lot of motorway miles (the car DOES do mainly "straight" miles on motorways etc.)

 

cheers

 

ps. pressures are fine too, regularly checked.   35-36psi all round.   lowe pressures would tend to wear the shoulders but the pressures are never low.

 

(Edited by Doughie at 11:59 pm on July 23, 2001)

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Okay, I may be wrong, but it still sounds to me like the front toe is out by 2 or 3 degrees. Point being, the camber cannot simply start "drifting". If the camber is moving around then either a bush is worn or the adjusting bolt is loose!  

 

Also, when you have the suspension re-aligned you can go a touch more negative on the front. Say up to about 0.9 deg.

 

Yours,

J

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