Lego_Maniac

iTrader: (3)

I'm surprised he couldn't get front camber closer to spec

Is there a reason you didn't ask him to try and get closer measurements side-to-side? I was under the impression that having left/right close to the same was more ideal.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

0.18° difference between the two sides is pretty darn close, Lego. The delta was larger two years ago, so I'm happy to see it narrow, whatever the reason.

As for the neg camber in the front... if they were straight up, it might look odd compared to the rears. However, if they were straight up then I wouldn't use 3mm spacers in the front with the Vossens. And IIRC, without having adjustable arms in the front, getting in spec up front wasn't really an option because of the lowering springs and OEM control arms.

Lego_Maniac

iTrader: (3)

I don't think that's the case, but every car is obviously a little different. I'm at -1* up front and I didn't experience any significant inner tire wear on my PSS with about the same mileage.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

It's a mystery then.

All I know is what I wrote here, and that I'll be paying better attention to this in the future.

MaQG37

iTrader: (4)

John, it's really interesting how much camber wear you're getting at - 2. I was at -3 on Pole Positions with pretty much 0 visual camber wear at 10k miles. They're still sitting in my garage.

I am going to -5 ride height camber soon so we will see how that fares.

Crusher103

That is all.

2GoRNot2G

iTrader: (5)

As these guys mentioned above, camber doesn't usually wear a tire like that. And -1.28° negative camber isn't actually much, so I doubt that was the culprit. Excessive negative toe is usually what causes that type of severe inner tire wear.. And although it is typically preferred to have a bit of positive toe, the 0.01° of negative toe on your left front is well within specs and shouldn't be enough to wear your tire like that.


A mystery indeed. with tire wear like that the problem is typically very obvious. But is sounds like you are on the right path by keeping a close eye on it in the future.


It's also quite possible that you might have a ball joint or tie-rod end that is just starting to go bad. I had to replace my right front inner tie-rod end at around 30K miles because it was starting to show some play for some unknown reason. Inner tie-rod end wear is much less obvious than outer tie-rod end wear and is typically overlooked. And I only found the issue because I noticed some uneven wear pattern on my right front tire. Even Firestone didn't mention it to me when I had it aligned, so it could have gotten a lot worse had I not caught it early. Just something else to think about.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

That is worth thinking about, thanks. When I have the rear damper mounts replaced, I'll ask the shop to look at the front TR's. So... November or December time frame, I'm in no particular hurry, and in the context of full-family automotive expenses, I have to buy a set of snow tires for the wife's new Subaru next month.

On an unrelated note, I'm going to visit a shop called "Berg Racing" on Thursday, to discus an EcuTek dyno-tune for next Spring. Just research at this point, but it would be GREAT to have a local shop available for that project.

2GoRNot2G

iTrader: (5)

Yup, can't hurt to have the entire front end checked out the next time you have it up on a lift.... Alignments are done with the suspension loaded (i.e. tires on the ground with the full weight of the car loading the suspension). Some cars (like Porsche and BMW) even require extra corner weighting to be added when the car is aligned (like in the drivers side foot well and trunk). This is to simulate the weight of the driver and some cargo in the car. Because the suspension is loaded during an alignment its not really easy or even possible to check for worn front end parts. You really need to have the car on a lift so you can try and "wiggle" the tires when they aren't under load from the weight of the car and check for suspension component wear.


Any visit to a tuning shop sounds like fun! I'm not familiar EcuTek, so I'd be curious to know your thoughts after discussing it with the shop.

2GoRNot2G

iTrader: (5)

FYI.. Here's a pic I found on the interweb of tire wear caused by a worn tierod end.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

You know, back in 2014 (and 18K miles on the car), I had one of the tie-rod end-links replaced. Don't know which one it was, but it was damaged. My mechanic theorized it was very likely damaged during Day One shipment, because the boot was ripped. But really, it was anybody's guess why it was bad.

No wait, I wrote about it here, and it was my driver's side. The really bad tire wear recently was the passenger side, even though they are both worn. It's not like there's just one bad side, you know, just one worse than the other. Ah heck, IDK what's going on. Either way, I'll have the shop look at this next time it's up on the lift, so thanks for the heads-up idea, Adrian.

And yes... I'm hoping to come away from this Tuning Shop with a positive vibe. We'll see.

SomeName

"Inner tie-rod end wear is much less obvious than outer tie-rod end wear and is typically overlooked."

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

Just got back from a great visit to Berg Racing, just outside of Rochester: http://www.berg-racing.com/

I was there for about an hour, in discussion with the owner and his Tuning Specialist. They gave me a tour of the facility, and we talked in depth about my car and what to expect out of an EcuTek Tune. All kinds of race cars in their shop... Ferrari, Mazda Mazda Mazda, Porsche, Mustang, Camaro, Subaru... and even a 1930's Rolls Royce, which was odd but very cool. Some were race & street, and some where purely track cars. They also had half a dozen race cars under wraps for the winter. This isn't a Street-Pro shop, like "The Little Speed Shop" that I've been testing the waters with. This place is Race-Pro... if that's a word. Point being, their focus is on track cars, but they do work on hopped up street machines too.

The OBDC cable is theirs, so all I'd be buying is the single-car license and paying them for their time & expertise with their Mustang Dyno. It's a flat price: $700 plus the license. Don't know how much the license costs, but it's something I can purchase well ahead of the process, to spread things out.

I'm feeling really excited about this. A racing shop which will dyno-tune my car that's literally 15 miles down the road from me.

So this is really happening, sometime in May 2018. Six months from now.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

I am curious to see how this goes with the dyno tune. Sounds like a 1st rate shop. That is always a fun place to be. We have 3 speed shops in the area that work on really cool old cars and old race cars- mainly restorations, so no dyno tunes. I just learned one store is a premier Ferrari restorer, but you would never know it from the outside.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

I was walking the dog and thinking about the last six years with this car, wondering what I'm doing with it. I think as I get old, the car became my only hobby in a lifestyle I've slowed down into. With no complaints or judgement before or after, I'm just getting older and more lazy and am preferring things uncomplicated.

Meh. Time to go vote.