Front Tire Wearing On Outside

[Zippi]

Ok fellows. I got my alignment issues fugured out last year and it tracks straight now. At the end of the car cruise-in season I noticed my passengers side front tire wearing pretty good on the outside. The front clip on my 49 pickup is a 92 S10. I laid a framing square on the garage floor and moved it in until it touched the tire and the top is out further than the bottom. I know this is not the correct way to check this but it let me know what I was seeing. Is this something I can adjust as it's hard to find a shop to work on the older trucks?

[Joyridin]

Sounds like you need a good alignment. Any shop should be able to do it if you tell them to align it the specs of a 1992 S10.

Sounds like your camber is massively off. It should be around .5 - 1 degree negative.

[Zippi]

Originally Posted by Joyridin

Sounds like you need a good alignment. Any shop should be able to do it if you tell them to align it the specs of a 1992 S10.

Sounds like your camber is massively off. It should be around .5 - 1 degree negative.

Thanks man. I just need to find a shop I trust with my truck.

[LS short box]

Assuming all the ball joints are good what I've done to check camber is cut a piece of steel just long enough to go from the top edge of the rim to the bottom edge of the rim. Don't touch the tire. Hold the piece of steel straight up and down against the wheel rim. I use 6" magnetic level. Then using a magnetic protractor/angle finder find out what the camber angle is.

[Zippi]

Originally Posted by LS short box

Assuming all the ball joints are good what I've done to check camber is cut a piece of steel just long enough to go from the top edge of the rim to the bottom edge of the rim. Don't touch the tire. Hold the piece of steel straight up and down against the wheel rim. I use 6" magnetic level. Then using a magnetic protractor/angle finder find out what the camber angle is.

Thanks for the info. I had my new exhaust system put on 1 1/2 years ago by an exhaust shop that is well known in this area in the Hot Rod scene and the owner has sugested a place to take my truck for the front end alignment and what fellow to speak to. I'm on my way there this morning to see what he has to say.

[Zippi]

I went to the tire shop yesterday and went back to speak with the fellow and he sounded very knowledgeable and said he could do the alignment on my 49. I have an appointment next Wednesday to take it in for a full front end alignment. I'm hoping for the best.

[theastronaut]

Sounds like too much toe in. Camber doesn't really cause uneven wear unless toe is also off. My autocross car with -4 camber and my VW bug with -5 camber will go 20k+ miles on tires driving it pretty aggressively. If the toe is off they'll only last a few thousand.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by theastronaut

Sounds like too much toe in. Camber doesn't really cause uneven wear unless toe is also off. My autocross car with -4 camber and my VW bug with -5 camber will go 20k+ miles on tires driving it pretty aggressively. If the toe is off they'll only last a few thousand.

Agreed. Seems like the Camber could be improved (based on the initial test w/the framing square). Seems the Toe settings are a likely suspect as well.

[Zippi]

Originally Posted by theastronaut

Sounds like too much toe in. Camber doesn't really cause uneven wear unless toe is also off. My autocross car with -4 camber and my VW bug with -5 camber will go 20k+ miles on tires driving it pretty aggressively. If the toe is off they'll only last a few thousand.

Thanks man.

[Zippi]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Agreed. Seems like the Camber could be improved (based on the initial test w/the framing square). Seems the Toe settings are a likely suspect as well.

Thanks. It's going in the shop for a full front end alignment in a couple days.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Zippi

Thanks. It's going in the shop for a full front end alignment in a couple days.

If you get a decent tech that understands alignments, you should be able to request NEG .5 - 1° Camber w/as much Caster as he can dial in while targeting that slightly negative Camber setting.

Factory spec would be somewhere around zero - POS 1° Camber & not tear up the tires aggressively so the negative values would be similar but allow better tire contact patch when navigating turns @ speed. My lowered 1-ton CC dually drives like a sport-truck on curves w/similar settings (on LT + load rated tires to boot).

[Zippi]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

If you get a decent tech that understands alignments, you should be able to request NEG .5 - 1° Camber w/as much Caster as he can dial in while targeting that slightly negative Camber setting.

Factory spec would be somewhere around zero - POS 1° Camber & not tear up the tires aggressively so the negative values would be similar but allow better tire contact patch when navigating turns @ speed. My lowered 1-ton CC dually drives like a sport-truck on curves w/similar settings (on LT + load rated tires to boot).

Thanks man. just got back from the alignment shop. My 49 Chevy pickup now tracks like Sacagawea.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Zippi

Thanks man. just got back from the alignment shop. My 49 Chevy pickup now tracks like Sacagawea.

Decent enough numbers to work for sure. Even though you're happy w/ the work, there's def room to make it even better.

My dually was/is NEG .6 Camber & 6.9/7.4 Caster @ aligned ride height. Crazy how it transformed the driving experience even w/ the skinny 16x6 OE dually wheel/tire set-up.

[Zippi]

I hear ya man. As far as my 49 it has a 92 S10 front clip matted to the stock frame that has been boxed, Camero Big 10 Rearend so trying to get all this aligned right is a bit of a chore. A hell of a lot better than it was. Getting Michelin pilot Sport 235/45 r18 put on this Friday.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Zippi

I hear ya man. As far as my 49 it has a 92 S10 front clip matted to the stock frame that has been boxed, Camero Big 10 Rearend so trying to get all this aligned right is a bit of a chore. A hell of a lot better than it was. Getting Michelin pilot Sport 235/45 r18 put on this Friday.

Gotcha. Just promoting the idea that even basic stuff (like your S10 based chassis & my dually) can really be woken-up w/some good settings.

The tire sizes you chose are better (more aggressive) vs what an S10 would have come with so that's yet another plus.