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AU2 Front Tyre wear and Caster / Camber kits

4K views 25 replies 14 participants last post by  RAPTOR 
#1 ·
I noticed tonight that my front tyres are wearing badly on the outside and inside edge. Pressure is 32psi
I have lowered front and rear pedders springs and AU2 XR8 17" rims and tyres.

My car has pulled to the left since new. Ive done about 20000km now and has had 2 wheel alignments done (supposedly) at local Ford dealership.

The center of the front tyres are like brand new.
I do drive fairly hard and corner hard but I dont believe this wear is normal.

Any suggestions on cause of this tyre wear? and do I need to fit caster camber kit and if so what sort?
 
#3 ·
mbrown42 said:
I noticed tonight that my front tyres are wearing badly on the outside and inside edge. Pressure is 32psi
I have lowered front and rear pedders springs and AU2 XR8 17" rims and tyres.

My car has pulled to the left since new. Ive done about 20000km now and has had 2 wheel alignments done (supposedly) at local Ford dealership.

The center of the front tyres are like brand new.
I do drive fairly hard and corner hard but I dont believe this wear is normal.

Any suggestions on cause of this tyre wear? and do I need to fit caster camber kit and if so what sort?
Actually driving the car hard will cause the tyres to wear on the outside. You will be quite surprised how how much a tyre distorts in cornering at high speed.
 
#4 ·
Re: Re: AU2 Front Tyre wear and Caster / Camber kits

ELXR8 said:


Actually driving the car hard will cause the tyres to wear on the outside. You will be quite surprised how how much a tyre distorts in cornering at high speed.
HHmmmmmmm.............mine were slightly worn on the outside, but badly worn on the inside. Now i'm confused cause i do occasionally corner hard too.
Camber kit needed???????
Going to pedders today for a wheel-alignment (new tyres all round). I'll see what they say.
 
#5 ·
Re: Re: Re: AU2 Front Tyre wear and Caster / Camber kits

dragonV8 said:


HHmmmmmmm.............mine were slightly worn on the outside, but badly worn on the inside. Now i'm confused cause i do occasionally corner hard too.
Camber kit needed???????
Going to pedders today for a wheel-alignment (new tyres all round). I'll see what they say.
Badly worn on the inside, that's an alingnment problem for sure. Unless you are driving really fast in reverse all the time:s2:
 
#6 ·
Wheel alignment eh? Well, there's different wheel alignments and from experience most places wouldn't be able to set the car correctly to save their lives. Even if they know what they're doing (how many tire fitters have an IQ above 100?) the equipment is often out of date and has never been calibrated.

I suggest getting your car aligned at Herrods who have the top gear, or in Sydney I use East Coast Suspensions at Sutherland who do a great job.

As for CC kits, the ONLY one to use is K-Mac. Exxy but easy to adjust and well made.
 
#7 ·
The ONLY place to get a wheel alignment is at Pedders. Had it done several times at ford (free thankfully) and a couple of times at "tyre and wheel specialists" but only pedders could deliver the goods. It took them over an hour and a half on my au2 xr6 but it tracks straight and has perfect tyre wear. What can I say but "No Bull".
 
#8 ·
My experience with Pedders have been quite the opposite of 'No Bull' - more like 'Full of Bullshit'. My EA when in for one of their 40 points safety checks and they told me just about everything needed replacing. A visit to a recommended suspension place in Blacktown saw him laugh at the list, and instead recommended the urgent changes, and what could survive until later.

I prefer to go to a independant suspension specialist who you can get to know well and trust.
 
#9 ·
mbrown42 said:
I noticed tonight that my front tyres are wearing badly on the outside and inside edge. Pressure is 32psi
I have lowered front and rear pedders springs and AU2 XR8 17" rims and tyres.

My car has pulled to the left since new. Ive done about 20000km now and has had 2 wheel alignments done (supposedly) at local Ford dealership.

The center of the front tyres are like brand new.
I do drive fairly hard and corner hard but I dont believe this wear is normal.

Any suggestions on cause of this tyre wear? and do I need to fit caster camber kit and if so what sort?
if the tyres are wearing equally on the inside and the outside edges, then it is almost certainly tyre pressure. 32 psi is a little low in my experience (i was a fitter, aligner, mechanic and then manager at jax) for a falcon.

most car makers recommend a lower tyre pressure because it makes the ride smoother and quieter. try about 34-36 in the front and leave the back at 32. you may need to play around a little to get it right for your driving style. remember to always check them at the same place and at about the same temp.

re the pulling off to one side, the most common cause of this is the tyres themselves. regardless of brand, size, quality, whatever, many tyres have a slightly different rolling resistance and can make the car pull to one side a little. try swapping the tyres from side to side to see if it changes the direction of the pull. unfortunately if you have directional tyres you will need to take it to a place with a tyre machine to get tham flipped on the rims. another option is to rotate front to rear. don't forget to change the pressures!

hopy that lot helps:s5
 
#10 ·
Aussie Pete said:
Wheel alignment eh? Well, there's different wheel alignments and from experience most places wouldn't be able to set the car correctly to save their lives. Even if they know what they're doing (how many tire fitters have an IQ above 100?) the equipment is often out of date and has never been calibrated.

I suggest getting your car aligned at Herrods who have the top gear, or in Sydney I use East Coast Suspensions at Sutherland who do a great job.

As for CC kits, the ONLY one to use is K-Mac. Exxy but easy to adjust and well made.
I agree there, most wheel alignment places can't align for crap. I went to a place in SevenHills and the car came out worse than when it came in. :dead: :dead:
 
#11 ·
Venom XR said:
My experience with Pedders have been quite the opposite of 'No Bull' - more like 'Full of Bullshit'. My EA when in for one of their 40 points safety checks and they told me just about everything needed replacing. A visit to a recommended suspension place in Blacktown saw him laugh at the list, and instead recommended the urgent changes, and what could survive until later.

I prefer to go to a independant suspension specialist who you can get to know well and trust.
Very true, i found the pedders workshop to be pretty ordinary. But have to say their parts are cool for the price.
I got Pedders Castor/Camber kit, sway bar, shockies and found them to be good gear.
 
#13 ·
You shouldn't need a Castor/Camber kit. My car is fairly low and I have no problems getting it aligned nor with any abnormal tyre wear with my 18's. I agree with "i gotta ute" that 32psi is a little low, I run my tyres on 36-38 (under advice from various sources). Oh and it doesn't track at all.
 
#14 ·
you should only need a caster/camber kit if your cars brutally low. however, we don't live in a perfect world...

32psi is too low for 17" wheels. i'm running 36 on 15" wheels.

as for the tyre wear, i've got a similar problem. the outside is fine, but the inside of my front tyres is pretty much bald. then again, i do run about 1.5 degrees camber so it's understandable.

if anyone can recommend a good wheel alignment place in the ryde-parramatta area, please do! when whiteline did my wheel alignment all was just peachy, and then thomson ford came along, f*cked it up :angry: and beaurepaires on ryde sort of fixed it up. it's still not as good as before...
 
#15 ·
Grunter said:
You shouldn't need a Castor/Camber kit.....
Well if that's true Ford must be building their bodies to tighter tolerances than before and those body structures must be pretty rigid to never need adjusting.

Grunter, if you don't need the kit then good for you, I don't mean to be disrespectful. But without it all that can be adjusted by any alignment shop is toe in/out. I hardly consider that an alignment.
 
#16 ·
ghentboy said:
how much for the swaybars from pedders?
I only got an additional one for the rear end to improve the turnin response of the wagon. From memory it costs $200 something.

In regards to castor/camber kits, the EF-EL's tend to wear on the outside of the tyres on stock ride height. Seems they have like 0.5 of positive camber.

I've got mine on 1.5 neg now. :s6: :s6:
 
#18 ·
RAPTOR said:

...But without it all that can be adjusted by any alignment shop is toe in/out. I hardly consider that an alignment.
Disrespectful? No way!. :s5

To give you a idea though, I've done over 23,00klms with 18" tyres which are normally very prone to bad alignment and higher wear rates, have had the car lowered and have no uneven wear and heaps of tread left on them.

Actually I just rang up the mob that have always done my alignments and asked the question on camber/caster. His words were basically AU's can have those adjustments by using shims in the top of the upper control arm, BUT this can only be done if the bolts are long enough and he did say that the bolt lengths seem to vary from car to car. Just to be sure, I rang and spoke to another suspension specialist (not Pedders or the like) up here and he confirmed the same, but he also added "unless the springs are very low".

I should also add that I rotate my tyres after no more than 5,000klms. :s2:

{edit} I'll take a pic tonight of what they mean, and post it here.
 
#19 ·
I agree with the notes about the pressure, 32 psi is WAY too low. To get decent life out of a low profile tyre you need serious pressure, I run 44psi on my 225/50 16's and get at least 35K with perfectly even wear front and rear.

Inside and Outside wear of a tyre almost 100% certainly low pressure.

If you dont like the ride at 40psi, you shouldn't be running low series tyres!!
 
#20 ·
Grunter said:
.....AU's can have those adjustments by using shims in the top of the upper control arm.....
Aha! So you have camber and caster adjustment then. This is all the EA-EL kits give you - the ability to adjust the position of the top arm by adding/removing shims.

(The exception is the K-Mac ratchet item which allows the same movement by way of a ratchet which can be adjusted with the vehicle at ride-height and suspension fully loaded. Otherwise it is trial & error with the shims).
 
#21 ·
adviliax mortus said:
1.5 neg? as of when? i never noticed this.
1.5 is virtually un noticable mate, if you look closely you'll see it. Trust me my car ain't like those ricer boys driving around with like 4or 5 degs negative camber. :dead: :dead:
 
#23 ·
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRR

Went to pedders for the wheel alignment.
Didn't have to pay. Why you may ask?

Some time ago when my son had picked me up from the airport, we were cruizin home, bit after seven pm. Went through the lights and spotted something on the road at the last minute. Straddled whatever it was and KARPOW. It turned out a truckie lost one of his strap-binders. I'm sure the car lifted off the ground.
Checked immediately,no oil or fuel pouring out. Beauty.
Next day found it had hit the cross member and made it a little untidy. No real drama i thought untill today.

Found out why tyres are wearing funny. Could not do alignment till cross-member replaced.

Lots of questions later, check with the bank, will know by monday yeah or neah.

1 Fix cross-member
2 Fit camber kit (just in case,while it's in bits)
3 Replace upper and lower arm bushes
4 Fit lowered sports suspension all round

When will it end? Just had 4 x 225/50/15's fitted too.

Never mind, i'm still breathing so what the hell. Lot of people worse off.

:s6:
 
#24 ·
RAPTOR said:


Aha! So you have camber and caster adjustment then. This is all the EA-EL kits give you - the ability to adjust the position of the top arm by adding/removing shims.

(The exception is the K-Mac ratchet item which allows the same movement by way of a ratchet which can be adjusted with the vehicle at ride-height and suspension fully loaded. Otherwise it is trial & error with the shims).
The shims are a kit? :eek:o1:

They probably charge some people big bucks calling it a kit. :s3 (Got mine as part of the normal priced alignment after installing the springs)

I was thinking about another brand which I can't remember the name of that looks a bit like a block and has multiple adjustments that you change with an allen key.
 
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