# wheel alignment



## popkorn77 (Sep 23, 2004)

just wanted to tell everyone to check there wheel alinement. at 20,000 my front wheels where in bad shape from the inside. they wore out very uneven and i checked my tire pressure every oil change and the air was good everytime. so get your cars checked, these tires dont last as it is, they say ur lucky if you get 30000 on them. and they go for about 180 each at big o tires.


----------



## EEZ GOAT (Jul 9, 2005)

sound like you had the sturt rub problem


----------



## PHOTOGOAT (Feb 17, 2006)

popkorn77 said:


> just wanted to tell everyone to check there wheel alinement. at 20,000 my front wheels where in bad shape from the inside. they wore out very uneven and i checked my tire pressure every oil change and the air was good everytime. so get your cars checked, these tires dont last as it is, they say ur lucky if you get 30000 on them. and they go for about 180 each at big o tires.


I agree on the alignment issues. With IRS it becomes even more important....

But my god man, where are you buying tires? $180 ? You need to visit Sam's Club.....save some money. :cheers


----------



## noz34me (Dec 15, 2005)

PHOTOGOAT said:


> I agree on the alignment issues. With IRS it becomes even more important....
> 
> But my god man, where are you buying tires? $180 ? You need to visit Sam's Club.....save some money. :cheers


:agree 

Or go to TireMart.com- - -great prices, they'll ship to your door or a local tire installer, and you can set up the install, time/date, everything right from your pc.

(You will still need to drive the car there):rofl:


----------



## HoldenGTO (Nov 22, 2005)

Discount tires is $146


----------



## Sean Monahan (Mar 24, 2006)

These are some pictures of my 2004 GTO's suspension and tires. Their is obvious tire wear on both of my front tires, from where it has been rubbing on the suspension when I go over bumps. I took my vehicle to a dealer, and GM sent some one to inspect it, they say that their is nothing wrong with my vehicle. Since then, I asked another gentleman that has an '04 GTO also, and we looked at it and he has the same problem. He also took his vehicle to GM and they said that their is nothing wrong with his vehicle. I have pictures posted that show my car, and a picture of on of his tires. I am looking to file a lawsuit against GM, and I need every ones help doing this. If you have the stock tires and rims on your '04 GTO pleas inspect the tires for abnormal wear, and your suspension for rust of any other sign of the tire rubbing. If any of this pertains to you or anyone you know experiencing this CALL ME A.S.A.P. 815-955-3882 If we get enough of us that have this problem, we can file a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT, it is very important that every one works together!


----------



## Subdriver (Dec 28, 2004)

Sean,
Where exactly is this wear you are talking about? You have a picture you can post?

I have stated before, that it is perfectly normal for the inner edge (on the normal rolling tread of the tire) to wear out first on these cars just like they do on the Corvette. To improve handling, the front camber is negative (top of tire towards the inside of the car). This results in the inner edge getting most of the wear during straight line use. But, it really helps in cornering performance. If you don't do any serious cornering to wear the outside part of the tire, the inside will wear out first. FYI, I ran two sets of tires on my Z06 before turning it into a dedicated track car. Wore the inside edge of the first set out in 3k miles, the second in 10k miles.... smiling the whole time. :cool


----------



## Sean Monahan (Mar 24, 2006)

I can email you pictures of the tire and where it is rubbing on the suspension. Their are obvious signs of the strut rub, thier is rust from the long term rub. I'll try to get them on the site today, but I'm not sure if I will be able to.


----------



## QSGTO (Nov 21, 2005)

Have the front camber brought up to zero degrees during a wheel alignment and this will solve the problem. I am an alignment tech and did this on my 05 GTO.


----------



## GM Kid (Mar 21, 2005)

QSGTO said:


> Have the front camber brought up to zero degrees during a wheel alignment and this will solve the problem. I am an alignment tech and did this on my 05 GTO.


Yup. Do it. Soon. If not to zero, then to pretty darned close. It'll keep your front tires from rubbing the struts, and the inner rib of your tread won't wear out so fast.


----------



## alptbird (Feb 20, 2006)

*zero alignment*



QSGTO said:


> Have the front camber brought up to zero degrees during a wheel alignment and this will solve the problem. I am an alignment tech and did this on my 05 GTO.


I am not an alignment person so I am curious what does the manufacturer set the alignment at and does going to zero effect the cornering of the car or the wear of the tire? If anything does it make it better?


----------



## GM Kid (Mar 21, 2005)

I'll defer to those who know more on the topic, but when I had my car serviced for this very issue last week, my service writer told me they were changing the camber from a negative five or six to about a negative one. This was per a GM technical service bulletin on the topic.

The visual effect of the camber change was to eliminate nearly all of the tip-in you notice on the tops of the front tires. They now sit nearly straight up-and-down, which contrasts with the rears, which still exhibit negative camber (but strut rub isn't an issue back there).

The handling effect of the change was minimal, although I do think my car offers a bit more resistence at turn-in--nothing you can't muscle your way through, though. I'm also tracking straighter now, which is nice. Can't say anything this soon about the effect on tire wear, but minus the previous negative camber, I imagine I won't see the wear on the inner tread ribs anymore.


----------



## Subdriver (Dec 28, 2004)

GM Kid said:


> I'll defer to those who know more on the topic, but when I had my car serviced for this very issue last week, my service writer told me they were changing the camber from a negative five or six to about a negative one. This was per a GM technical service bulletin on the topic.


That is probably -0.5 or -0.6 to -0.1. Negative five or six degress is huge. Even the nominal stock Corvette Z06 camber is only -0.7. For racing I use nearly -3.0, but as I spend a lot of time cornering, my wear is fairly even.

In response to the question above, negative camber helps cornering, which is why it is set negative nominally on high performance cars like these. The tradeoff is normally inner edge tire wear if the car is predominantly driven straight. I'd suspect a small, but probably noticeable drop in handling when going from -0.6 to -0.1, but only those that corner near the limit often will notice it. For the rest, lowering the front camber to -0.1 will improve inner edge tire wear and prevent the apparent strut rubbing issue discussed above. :cheers


----------



## QSGTO (Nov 21, 2005)

The factory camber specs are -0.5 degrees, but can be adjusted up to +0.1 degrees and still be in specs. The effect on handling in mine were minimal. Now the tires wear even all the way accross and do not rub the strut.


----------

