I have an 03 coupe that racks up 80% to 90% of its miles on long distance interstate driving. From what I've read, this car is setup with a negative camber for better handling that causes the inner tread to wear rather quickly with cupping/feathering, which also makes the car extremely loud. I believe I've gone through several sets of tires due to this setup and would like to extend the life of my latest set of tires while keeping the car quiet as well. Since I'm basically driving in a straight line 90% of the time, I'm more than happy to sacrifice handling to achieve this. So onto my questions...

Here's what I've been told are the 03 specs for camber and toe:

Front:
Camber: Min: -1.25 deg; Nominal: -0.5; Max: 0.25 deg
Total toe: Min: 0mm; Nominal: 1mm; Max: 2mm

Rear:
Camber: Min: -2.00 deg; Nominal: -1.50; Max: -1.00 deg
Total toe: Min: 0mm; Nominal: 2.8mm; Max: 5.6mm

Does anyone know if these are correct?

Would aligning the camber to it's maximum make the tires last longer? Would any problems result from this? Does the toe need to be adjusted to coincide with any camber adjustments?

I also read the front camber cannot be changed. If this is true, what can be done to the front to help increase tire life?

Can camber bolt kits help extend the tire life?

Thanks for any help...as you can tell, I'm ignorant in this area.

 

OK,

So what really burns thru your tires is your toe. Toe needs to be as close to 0 (total) as possible. Toe is when your wheels go inward or outward. Imagine pointing your toes inward (like being pigeon toed) and wearing roller skates. How easy does that seem to roll? Not at all, and you're just gonna drag the wheels along and ruin them. So with your toe at 0 it's like pointing your skates forward, giving very little resistance.

OK, so camber is the number of degrees your wheel sits from completely verticle. If you're standing straight up we can say you have 0 degrees of camber, and if you're lying down completely flat you have 90degrees of camber (think of a protractor). So if you're tire is standing perfectly straight up you have 0 degrees, and if you lean the top inward (negative camber) what happens now to the bottom of the tire? You take weight off of the outside bottom of the tire, which causes the inside to see the most action. That's why you lose comfort, because you're really only riding on the inside of the tire rather than using the whole tire to cushion the ride.

Caster is how your wheel is positioned in relation to the frame (think of a shopping cart wheel aka a "caster"). Because a car is aligned to mostly go straight, there is almost never adjustment for this. However, if there are bushings connecting the frame to the suspension (like our compression rod bushings), the bushings can tear and cause your caster to be off and screw up your tires, so that plays into it as well.

So, now onto your question:
No, there is no adjustment on our cars for anything other than toe. You can buy aftermarket adjustable camber arms tho, and many people too. If you are lowered, you should also buy SPC eccentric toe bolts.

As far as what your specs should be for max comfort, tire life and great performance:

Total toe: as close to 0 as possible
Camber: around -0.8 -/+ for front
Around -1.4 in the rear

To correct caster due to torn bushings replace compression rod bushings and front LCA bushings with polyurethane.

 

https://g35driver.com/forums/wheels-...ons-specs.html

 

Factory specs are garbage. That's why he's having the issues.

 

Thanks for the replies, Scraggle and bigc!

Scraggle - I thought I read the camber can be adjusted in the rear but not the front. Too bad that's not the case...

 

Nope. Its just a straight stationary bar.

 

Here's a pic of the rear tires. They're about the 5th set that have ended up like this.

 

How many miles are you getting out of them tho? And what's the treadwear rating?

 

It's varied but I got about 12k-15k out of those pictured, which from what I've read isn't as bad as others have experienced. I can't recall what the treadwear rating was. I guess my major complaint would be the rumbling noise that starts after a few thousand miles.

 

That is absolutely horrible. I got 30k out of some super soft falken tires with a 360 treadware. I'm at 26k on my current tires (440 treadwear) with plenty of tire left. Your toe must be out of whack.

With your wear, noise and comfort goals I would suggest an overhaul of your suspension and buying a lifetime alignment from a good alignment shop. It would cost you around $1k, but it'll save you more in tires, as well as be a much more enjoyable ride.