I put helper springs in my '56 Chevy and I've been driving around like this for a few months now. While going over the car before a long trip I noticed the front tires are wearing differently than usual. The insides of the tires are worn pretty bad and the outsides are fine. The helpers brought the *** of my car up about 2". So I'm thinking that there is now more weight on the front of my car because I've also been noticing that now when I go around corners, the inside front tire will squeal alot sooner than before. I want to get an alignment to save my tires, but am I gonna have to get it aligned again when I get new springs?
In relation to the road your caster is now more negative. It's the same in relation to the ch***is as before, but the angle or clocking of where the tire meets the road in relation to the front spindle is different. Thus you have effectively added more negative caster. Try bringing the caster back and see what happens.
Any time you raise or lower a car an inch or more front or rear I would have the alignment checked. The more the ride height is changed the more the alignment is affected
While all of the above is true, the wear on the insides of your tire would lead me to believe you may be towed out. Leveling the car will not correct this. Also if your car pushes (under steers) lowering the rear will tend to make this worse. Not better. Lowering the rear will help keep it from wandering but if you have a toe problem it still needs to be aligned badly. John L
For $65, I align any time I mess with ride hight, tie rods, tire size or anything else I think might affect any of the angles where the rubber meets the road. I've found out the hard way, it's a lot cheaper than tires. Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
I believe it is excessive toe-in, not toe-out, that wears the inside of the tires. Toe-out scrubs the outter tread. And to the OP, your front end alignment (tire wear) may have nothing to do with your springs.....that is to say....you may just have noticed it since the springs were changed. "Coincidence is not causation". But I tend to agree with TheEngineer.....any significant change to suspension parts justifies having alignment checked/set. Ray
It's toe out the scrubs the inside as the front wheels are farther apart at the front and closer in the rear. Toe in scrubs the outside and the fronts are now too close. 1/8" Toe in will make the car handle better and 7' of Caster will make it stable. If you look at a FED it's a real good example of how Caster keeps 'em straight or an old Tail dragger plane. Good Luck, Tim
Here is an older thread with home alignment how to. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=413853 or use http://socaldsm.org/vfaq/BADSM/Tools/SmartCamber/SmartCamber.html No need to buy the Smartcamber Tool. Use a digital level and a cheap construction square from your local Home Depot.
yeah, you can mess up a set of tires pretty quick by not getting it aligned after putting springs in, or otherwise messing with ride height. I recently put new front springs in my 55, made an appt for alignment, but the shop was busy, and I needed to swap ball joints etc...net result was a lot of nasty feather wear on the tires....toe in was about half an inch! At least eyeball it, to see if it looks like the tires are pointed the right way. I didn't even do that.
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