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Ok Reddi, you said you're back, what's new ??
Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving to you too Brad! Thank you bro.
What's new is I finally found a pit alignment shop in a town that's 15-20 min from mine.
However, it seems I've burned through my rear drivers side tire already.
So I bought 2 new hankook V12's (gonna keep the other rear as a spare tire).
Planning on heading over to the shop in the next 7 days to have them install and align the two new tires. Also gonna have them change out the spacers for me and install those alignment bolts you suggested I buy
Because of the bad alignment? How many miles did it take to do that?
Man, that's a tough lesson learned.
Lesson learned for sure.
I'm guessing it took around 100-150 miles to totally destroy that one tire. Maybe even less than a 100 miles. I don't drive it much and when I do it's very short distances. I drive it even less BC I was worried about this happening. I mean I can see the wires on the inside tread
I'm guessing it took around 100-150 miles to totally destroy that one tire. Maybe even less than a 100 miles. I don't drive it much and when I do it's very short distances. I drive it even less BC I was worried about this happening. I mean I can see the wires on the inside tread
Ouch! Those rear tires are pretty tucked so I imagine your camber & toe were both way off. Hope your new alignment and tires get you back to a happy place.
Too much camber couldn't have done that in 150 miles. The one wheel had to have been wobbling really bad with toe out of alignment.
And now I understand why my mechanic goes through such effort to eyeball toe whenever he does suspension work. He stretches a string along the length of the car across the wheel to help him gauge things, then tells me to get to an alignment shop ASAP and keep off the highway.
Last time I did this (which was 3-4 months ago with rear CO's), the tech at my dealership where I get the car aligned was going on and on about how straight it was. He couldn't believe someone did that without an alignment rack.
Knowing how quickly Red's tire was shredded has given me a whole new appreciation for my mechanic, and all-wheel alignments in general.
Yep, when toe is far out (which we have to assume it was) those tires are fighting their way down the road instead of free rolling. Also that rear arm that got bent may have slightly moved the mounting perch which would push the alignment even further out of spec.
Was the shredded tire the side that had the previously bent control arm?
Yep, when toe is far out (which we have to assume it was) those tires are fighting their way down the road instead of free rolling. Also that rear arm that got bent may have slightly moved the mounting perch which would push the alignment even further out of spec.
Was the shredded tire the side that had the previously bent control arm?
Hello gentlemen. I apologize for my disappearing act of late. TBH I was still dealing with the alignment issue and I just didn't have the heart or the desire to get on the site.
Brad the control arm that was bent was the rear passenger side. The tire that got eaten alive was the rear drivers side tire. It wasn't the tread that got destroyed. It was the outer tire wall that is closest to the suspension. The tire tread was still lookin tick and wonderful. But the tire wall began to show a healthy amount of the wire belt. This happened over a course of two months, but you need to understand I only drive my car 10 miles a week. Maybe even less than 30 miles a month. So this was drastic.
I found a pit alignment place, took the spc adjustable bolts Brad told me to buy, jacked the car up, installed the spc bolts, and relinquished the car to the alignment technician. Before I left I armed the tech with the installation instructions and told him to please not use the impact wrench to put my project kics R40's back on once finished. He called me an hour or so later and said the rear tires could not be aligned without aftermarket control arms.
I am planning on having my brother in-law (professional mechanic btw) drill the holes the spc holy instructions call for this Subday. Oh and I bought a set of 5mm kics spacers to replace the 20mm kics spacers I had in the rear. This gave the wheels n tires much more room to be manuvereed without having to worry about rubbing the fender. I'll update you all after the holes are drilled and the results are in.
FYI the tech did manage to align my front tires. This caused the traction control warning light to go off which is great IMO. Here is a few pics to catch you guys up.
There is a fine line between taking great care of your ride and never letting the big dog eat!! I may only out 30-50 miles a month on my ride but I certainly feed her speed everytime I get the chance!!
Got the SPC bolts installed today. They helped tremendously. Not only can I actually has the car now and get instant speed and traction....but it also looks so much better from the rear and the sides while intently staring at the rear wheels n the saggy bottom. I hope it's not just in my imagination, but I feel like the alignment helped my eliminate a half inch to a possible full inch of the droopy butt disease! Very exciting to be able to see nearly all of the top of my tires between the rear fender. I used to only see wheel lip when I was standing a couple feet away.
Oh I bought an oil catch can for $40 and a cusco strut bar for $120 as well. I'm actually looking up the paint my engine bay DIY now to get a list of materials I need. Time to tackle the bay!!! I'm so exited.
Got a catch can for $40 off of chi city snow. Also got a cusco strut bar coming soon from another member. Just wanted to update everyone.
Gonna attempt to do a JP type of engine bay job DIY style before I install either of them. Most likely I'll practice on the battery cover first. Wish me luck!!
Anybody got tips or tricks on bay painting pls speak up or pm me.
Make sure you mask it well. I just used some standard spray can dupli-color on my engine/batt/brake covers. It looked good, until I went with another color on the rest of the engine cover and didn't mask it right, got some paint bleed and tried to touch it up. Now I need to redo the engine cover when it warms up a bit.
The black is now white, and engine heat has discolored some of it, if you do the lower portion of the engine cover, might want to use high heat paint.
Last edited by NickyP; Feb 26, 2016 at 11:40 AM.
Reason: add pics.
And here I thought I was a garage queen.
