Alignment/tire wear issue.

A few months ago I realized that my drivers front tire (O/T 72 Chevy pickup) was wearing heavily towards the outside edge. The p***enger side also has wear but it isn't to near the extent as the drivers. I figured that an alignment was in order, so I pretty much parked the truck until we could get to it. After some discussion (and issues trying to find anyone to align my wifes 54) we just went ahead and bought the tools so we could set em up ourselves.

The tools came in and we sat down and did our homework and studied up on the proper use of the tools and what kinda numbers we should be looking at to put us where we want to be. We did my buds truck first, and things went off without a hitch and the truck drives much better. We also did my brothers truck that went like we wanted as well.

When we put the gauges on my truck (the one that I started this post about originally) everything checks good!? We went on and checked tie rods and ball joints for wear and they all look and feel good. Tire pressure was checked and it was spot on as well. The only thing we found that was not as it should've been was the wheel bearings. They were just a smidge looser then we would have liked em so we snugged them up.

So...Any clues to why my tires are wearing? I do know that I had to add air to the tires back in November before I drove it to Daytona but I don't recall them being low enough that they would have had this kind of wear on them. Also the tires are directional and different sizes front/back so rotation is out of the question.

I also didn't write down the caster/camber or toe specs but they were all within what we were led to believe would be acceptable.

All three of these trucks have been lowered correctly using drop spindles and new 1" drop coils if that makes a difference,

Thanks in advance for any help or speculation that you may provide guys!
<!-- / message -->

 

The thing about those gauges, I'm guessing, is you can't check your steering axis inclination, or your setback. These may be causing an issue. If you can locate a shop that has a Hunter Hawkeye machine, I would have them check your alignment. Those machines are awsome!

 

I would think that regardless you thinking it's in spec, you have a camber issue on both sides, but more so on the driver side. That being said, and not knowing what specs you're using and reading, I would tend to bring the camber in a bit on each side (more on the drivers side).

Sometimes a good alignment shop with good calibrated equipment can figure out off the wall issues like this pretty easily. Good luck. Stu

 

When one tire only wears on the front end it is usually a camber problem, in your case too much positive. Could also be off a bit on caster. I would recheck you camber numbers.

 

The driver's side was pretty close to 1 degree positive camber. The p***enger side was less then 1 degree positive but more then zero.

Should we go back in and try to set it closer to 0 on both sides?

Thanks guys!

 

Once a tire wear pattern is established, changing alignment angles will not correct it. The tire will continue to wear in the same general way even when an incorrect angle is reset.

Try getting the camber equal on both sides. "Within spec" isn't really close enough. Also, the stock angles will not necessarily be correct on a lowered vehicle, as you've thrown all the original steering geometry right out the window with your lowering project. On caster, set up half a degree less caster on the driver's side than the p***enger's side to compensate for the drainage crown on the road. For instance, if the p***. side caster is 3 degrees positive, set the driver's side to 2 1/2 degrees pos. The car will lead toward the side with the least positive caster. That will make the car steer straight down a road with a drainage slope toward the shoulder.
Jerry

 

Set the front camber at about 1/4 to 1/2 degree negative. Should work good. 1 degree positive is way too much.

Tony