Outsides of front tyres wearing = need bigger sway bars?

[someonestolecc]

Just wondering what would cause my car to have the front tyres outter wearing. It's pretty much the side of the tyre between where the actual sidewall starts and the normal flat part of the tyre is.

It is on a cefiro (s13 suspension). I'm running the following-

Camber L -1.32 R -1.26

Caster L 7.33 R 6.52

Toe L -.05 R -.05

Rear Camber L -0.57 R -1.00

Rear Toe L 1.1 R 1.1

I'm thinking maybe I need more camber for the way I drive or perhaps bigger sway bars, they look stock and the car seems to lean a bit. I have a big and chunky front strut brace (it's rectangular) and a normal looking thinner (round) rear one.

I'm running some sort of tein coilover and mech diff if that's important.

Thanks.

[someonestolecc]

Anyone?

[Sydneykid]

Just wondering what would cause my car to have the front tyres outter wearing. It's pretty much the side of the tyre between where the actual sidewall starts and the normal flat part of the tyre is.

It is on a cefiro (s13 suspension). I'm running the following-

Camber L -1.32 R -1.26

Caster L 7.33 R 6.52

Toe L -.05 R -.05

Rear Camber L -0.57 R -1.00

Rear Toe L 1.1 R 1.1

I'm thinking maybe I need more camber for the way I drive or perhaps bigger sway bars, they look stock and the car seems to lean a bit. I have a big and chunky front strut brace (it's rectangular) and a normal looking thinner (round) rear one.

I'm running some sort of tein coilover and mech diff if that's important.

Thanks.

What I can see, minus usually means toe in, the front should be toe out, around 1 mm per side.

Some questions;

1. What do you use the car for?

2. What size tyres on what size rims? If there is a mismatch you will get uneven tyre wear.

3. What spring rates are in the Teins?

Upgrading the stabiliser bars will help A LOT. It depends on the answer to questions 1 and 3 as to what size you need.

[dangerous_daveo]

LoL, dude you can have my 30mm one Because I have the same problem of wearing the outside of the tyres Doesnt make sence to me!

[someonestolecc]

Thanks for the reply S-Kid and daveo

1 - Picking up girls and I will be taking it to the track for drifting around, I also like to do some grand touring

2 - 18x8.5 235/35/18 or 235/40/18 I can't remember which profile.

3 - No idea to be honost. They're hard, but when I depress the corner of the car it has a few cm of travel and bounces back okay. Certainly I think 6.5/10's of what I would consider stock 1/10 and rock hard 10/10. Should I find out specifically or is this a good enough estimation?

In regards to #2 I could swear they only started to really wear after I had these particular settings applied.

[Sydneykid]

Thanks for the reply S-Kid and daveo

1 - Picking up girls and I will be taking it to the track for drifting around, I also like to do some grand touring

2 - 18x8.5 235/35/18 or 235/40/18 I can't remember which profile.

3 - No idea to be honost. They're hard, but when I depress the corner of the car it has a few cm of travel and bounces back okay. Certainly I think 6.5/10's of what I would consider stock 1/10 and rock hard 10/10. Should I find out specifically or is this a good enough estimation?

In regards to #2 I could swear they only started to really wear after I had these particular settings applied.

Both Cefiros??????????????

MacPherson strut front suspension!:idea::idea::idea:

How low are they? Centre of wheel to guard.

If TOO low, the lower control arm is pointing up (at the wheel) not down. This means they go positive camber when compressed. So when you brake, both front wheels go positive camber. When you go around a corner the outside is compressed and it goes positive camber.

Three solutions;

1. Raise then up until the lowr control arms are pointing down at the wheels

2. Add more negative camber so they they don't go positive

The BEST solutiuin 3. Use a spacer between the upright (hub) and the lower control arm, so that the arm points down at the wheel.

I will try and dig up a picture of a spacer.

[dangerous_daveo]

If you can get a pic, or a diagram or something of that spacer thing that would be awesome.

But Im pretty sure mine isnt too low, could be, but its been raised a hell of a lot now, I just think its too stiff. StoleCCs is fairly high at the front too from memory, not 100% tho.

[Pablo]

Back to basics - do you have the correct tyre pressures?

[Sydneykid]

Back to basics - do you have the correct tyre pressures?

It's wearing the outside of the tyre, if it was underinflated it would wear out both the inside and the outside. If it was overinflated it would wear out the middle. Incorrect tyre pressure is unlikely to increase wear on the outside only.

[GTR-Ben]

If you space the lower control arm, is it wise to do the steering tie rod also?

[Sydneykid]

If you space the lower control arm, is it wise to do the steering tie rod also?

Anything that alters the relationship between the steering arm and the lower control arm requires that some corrective action be taken to prevent bump steer. They usually come together in a kit for cars where the steering arm is attached to the upright. This is not necessary where the spacer is placed between the steering arm (which pivots on the lower control arm) and the upright.

[someonestolecc]

Thanks everyone.

Yes mine is a cefiro too

I will measure my height S-Kid but I don't think I'm too low, the wheel don't scrape the guards (although it's very close) and I've had my car raised for engineering and kept it there because I recalled you saying low is slow.

If this is the problem I will concentrate on dialling in more camber.. it seems cheaper than buying a kit - tyres aren't much of a worry it wasn't too bad when I was running ridiculous camber.

Tyre pressure is 35 or 36 hot I believe.

[blind_elk]

My understanding is that you already have toe OUT and -ve camber. So should be wearing INSIDE of tread.

I asked around and came up with :

Do you live in a COURT (as distinct from street, avenue, etc)?

[someonestolecc]

If you're asking if I'm situations where I'm going around in circles a lot at low speeds then yes the streets I drive around are like that.

I'm thinking perhaps the mech diff is just pushing my cars around them and therefore wearing the outsides of the tyres as it's pushing my car through the corner.

[Greg]

Do you do a lot of spirited driving through twisty roads? I was told that this causes outside wear.

[someonestolecc]

Yes I do but on the street so it's not all that spirited. If that's the case I would hate to see what it would do on the track.

SydneyKid - any luck on the photo of a spacer?

[Sydneykid]

That is a pair of spacers for an AE86. The top of the spacer bolts to the bottom of the MacPherson Strut. Then the lower control arm bolts to the bottom of the spacer. So the spacer is sandwiched between the bottom of the MacPherson Strut and the lower control arm, effectively lowering the the control arm out at the wheel.

It is not a great picture of it, but you can just see (behind the stub axle) the alloy spacer between the lower control arm and the bottom of the strut

[someonestolecc]

*boggle*

Thanks for the pic - I can't imagine how that would work.

It looks expensive. Do you know of a supplier so i can start hunting around? I will put it on my list of parts I need. I will try for more camber for now.. Seems like the cheaper options in the interim.

[someonestolecc]

I've decided to dial more camber in and see how that goes. Hopefully it should help with the scrapiing of the tyre on the guard too.