Hey all. I realize I write long posts and some don't like all the reading, for you the cliff notes are:

My last set of front tires had wear down the upper sidewall on the outside, from the contact patch to maybe half an inch down, and a thin strip perhaps a quarter to half inch wide of less worn tire with a mild but obvious step on the inside edge of the contact patch. Whats wrong, does it matter, and how do I fix it with a preference for better handling at the autoX.



For those who want the full story:

I have a question about alignment. I autoX my nearly stock g35 coupe 6MT maybe 3 times a year. I had hankook V12s on the car for the last 2 years only during the summer. I put appox 20k miles on the tires before the rears were ready to be replaced. I just put on Bridgestone Potenza RE-11s all around, stock sizes for factory 19 rims.

My last alignment was at a nissan dealer, where I asked them to align to factory specs for my car.

When I took the tires off recently, I noticed wear down the upper sidewall on the outside of my front tires, maybe half an inch down, and a thin strip perhaps a quarter to half inch wide of less worn tire with a mild but obvious step on the inside edge of the contact patch. Again, this only affected the front 2 tires. If this isn't clear, I'll try to draw a picture, I don't have the tires anymore.

My questions hinge on whether or not this is normal for a factory aligned car or not.

If it is normal, would I see better handling (especially at the autoX) if I get my camber more zeroed with the goal of having even tread wear? Would there be any negative effects such as reduced stability or more noise?

If this is not normal, is there any reason to leave it this way, or am I just in dire need of an aliment?

Unecesary speculation: Could nissan have inverted my camber setting, like using +1 instead of -1? Whats the best way to measure camber in my back yard/garage? What is the factory camber setting for 07 g35 coupe 6MT?

 

Did i post in the wrong section?

 

Hi, I don't completely understand what you are saying. The actual contact patch of the tire doesn't usually include the shoulder tread blocks. Scuff marks on the actual sidewall are pretty normal for hard cornering like autox, just make sure you have good tire pressures before your events. Are you seeing actual wear on the sidewall? like where the numbers and letters are? sounds like terribly under-inflated tires.

As for the alignment, the factory specs are designed to get max gas mileage and tire life is what someone told me once. I.e. designed to have all 4 tires completely square when going at steady highway speeds. During hard cornering, you will wear the outside of your tires first. If you have a car for full track use, you actually want to run a lot of negative camber on all 4 tires, especially the front tires. We have double a-arm on the front basically, which is nicer than McPherson struts, but means we can't knock out more negative camber easily for the track then put it back for a daily driver. You can either get a camber plate and adjust it manually every time, or try for camber somewhat in between that will get you more even tire wear. I currently have my camber max negative on the stock suspension (supposedly), around -1, and am still wearing out the tires on the outside first.