Uneven Front Tire Wear

[DiZzyBonne]

While my car was on a lift over the weekend, I was told that my front tires are wearing unevenly. When I looked at them, the insides of the front tires were worn, but the tire wasn't round anymore, it was bumpy. I was told I'd need new shocks.

I'm surprised, the car is a stock 2008 GT500 with 15,800 miles. Is this normal? If I really need to replace the shocks, what do people recommend while I get that taken care of?

I found this picture on Google, this is roughly what my front tires look like.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cm/popularmechanics/images/r1/tire-wear-08-0312-lgn.jpg

 

[barspen]

Assuming you need struts if the front tires are wearing unevenly like that. I like Koni STR.T for price\performance...lifetime warrantee. Probably want to check the springs and strut mounts while everything is apart.

Also, make sure you get the toe corrected with a good front-end alignment. This will help with any uneven wear on the inside edge of the tires.

If you are lowered, castor camber plates are the way to go to get everything dialed in. That is my next mod after some brake upgrades.

 

[jenkins_1120]

depending on the budget i would opt for coil overs with a caster camber plate, but a cheaper option would be koni front shocks with camber bolts and maybe new strut mounts or you could even find some take off PP struts for super cheap.

 

[ShelbyGT5HUN]

I lowered mine with the Eibach kit, and noticed uneven wear, had to put in camber bolts, seems to be working now, and it's aligned within factory specs too.

 

[nxhappy]

Doubt it's the struts with such low mileage. Most likely too much negative camber, or too much toe-in. Get new tires and a 4 wheel alignment.

This is assuming you have not jacked up your ride by lowering it.

 

[einehund]

I was told by Ford that the negative camber is within spec and that to pull out the negative camber involved drilling out the shock tower mounts and the ears on the struts.... Not worth it. just buy new tires every 10000 miles. That's what I do.

 

[GT Premi]

I was told by Ford that the negative camber is within spec and that to pull out the negative camber involved drilling out the shock tower mounts and the ears on the struts.... Not worth it. just buy new tires every 10000 miles. That's what I do.

That's only if you're keeping the stock pieces. Camber bolts or plates will work just fine. I have the cheap camber bolts from Eibach. Spend the 20 bucks for a set and you won't have to keep buying tires.

 

[finally03gt]

From what I've read, you should be able to spin the Strut 180° to correct camber. But, from that pic, I think it's more than camber. Looks like balance or toe to me?

 

[DiZzyBonne]

Thanks for the responses everyone, I'll try to get an actual picture from my tires soon.

 

[69b302]

Since you can't rotate the tires, you will get this type of wear. A good performance alignment is also not the best for even tire wear. I just replace when its get bad enough to notice when driving. My front tires still last many times longer then the drag radials I run on the rear.

 

[CodyK7]

Probably the alignment

 

[ShelbyGT5HUN]

Since you can't rotate the tires, you will get this type of wear. A good performance alignment is also not the best for even tire wear. I just replace when its get bad enough to notice when driving. My front tires still last many times longer then the drag radials I run on the rear.

That's good advice. Negative camber actually helps you corner better, like digging in with cleats. When the car rolls in hard cornering inside tire wants to lift and go positive camber.

 

[builttodrive]

These cars are set up with a little aggressive negative camber for better handling however nothing extreme. Shocks/struts would have very little to do with the wear in the tires. Most of the time these wear issues show up when lowering the cars and not being able to bring the camber into a good wear spec. Not being able to rotate the tires doesn't help. I have GRIGGS RACING Gr40 suspension under mine with adjustable cam plates and koni adjustable struts/coil overs on mine and the ride stance isn't anything crazy low but we still had to reem the sturt mount holes to gain a camber spec that wouldn't wear tires like crazy. Unless you have lots of money to spend on tires or plan on spending a bunch of time in the twisty's there is no reason to have so much camber.

 

[CodyK7]

Mine have the uneven wear on the edges. It's almost like if you take your hand and run it from the front of the tire to the back on the rubber you can feel it's raised and bumpy. My fronts are driving me nuts and have all kinds of vibration and I'm at stock ride height. I've had an alignment done but I think the damage was done by then. Do you guys run 35psi in the front tires?

 

[DiZzyBonne]

Mine have the uneven wear on the edges. It's almost like if you take your hand and run it from the front of the tire to the back on the rubber you can feel it's raised and bumpy. My fronts are driving me nuts and have all kinds of vibration and I'm at stock ride height. I've had an alignment done but I think the damage was done by then. Do you guys run 35psi in the front tires?

The bold is exactly how my front tires are as well, but it's only on the inside (which would make sense with negative camber.) However, since it's bumpy (I was doing some research, and I believe the proper term is "cupped tire wear,") wouldn't that mean it's the shocks as well? Also, my car tends to vibrate a little once I'm at around 80 MPH.

 

[CodyK7]

I think mine is the first one because its the inside and outside.