What the He!l could be wrong with my rear suspension?
 

I went to put my rear splash gaurds on tonight. Jacked the rear up and happened to notice the passenger tire had threads hanging out of the inside edge. The inside inch or so of the tire is tore to pieces. The driver tire looks normal. wore evenly and normal looking. I got to measuring things. center to center on the wheels is the same. BUT the passenger side is sitting 3/16" in further at the top of the tire. It kinda looked like it had more camber than the driver side, but I thought maybe it was an illusion at first. Could that just be alignment? I bought the car used. so I dont know the history.

Any ideas on what else to check, or what could be wrong with the car?

i know i didnt rotate my tires, stupid me. Anyways, i was parker and had me wheel turned all the way and when i got out of the car i noticed threads hanging out on the passenger tire :eek: . I ordered new tires, but when they came in i noticed that the passenger side wasnt as bad.

Im going to say it was due to allignment being a little off.

-sean

I agree^ I'd say your alignment is a bit out of spec.

is it possible for it to be out 3/16" just from alignment? that seems kinda far to me. anyone know for sure if its possible to be that far off?

Sounds to me like the previous owner liked to jump curbs!

-sean

You think it seems to be more than just an alignment?

Well, it def has to do with your alignment, unless the car was in an accident and the frame is bent...i think you would know though. Whoever did the last alignment on the car might have loosened the toe to much or to little. I think it is your alignment. Take it somewhere and have it looked at. Since it is a "sports car" everything on it has to be very precise and if its just a little bit off, it can cause alot of problems.

-sean

^^^hopefully it wasn't banged up somehow?

sorry to jack your thread, but quick question...

so i bought my new tires/rims when my car had 5500 miles on it. Its now at close to the 9500 mark. I am not an agressive driver, dont track it, or race it, dont spin tires, dont do donuts, none of that...

when do i need to perform any sort of maintenance activity (balance, alignment or rotate tires etc) on my wheels/tires?

its suggested that you have your car aligned every 6 months or 6000 miles. Since the coupe has a staggered setup you can only flip flop the tires from side to side and that is more labor indusive so it will cost you more money, but well worth it in the end. When flip flopping the tires i would monitor your tires and do it once you start to see some unever wear on the inside edge of the tire.
-GP-

to the OP, it sounds like your camber is a little bit more negative on the one side and the toe is in way too much. I'd get some new tires for the rear and take it to get an alignment asap!
-GP-

Rotate... cant dothat on these cars, unless my chance you have changed over to the same size tires front and rear. BUT even then you will have to mis-mount and re-mount the tires. The rims are marked front and rear. i cant see the difference but something must be different if they are maked that way.

I would have them balanced every 5k miles or so. Thats what i did on my tacoma, and i rotated them every 5k miles. they never cupped and they were perfectly even.

I just got some used tires off ebay on my lunch break. they will be good enough to get me by for a little while. I hate the thought of buying new 18's when I am planning to get 19's in the next couple months.

lol, that's why i said to flip flop the tires or in other words, rotate them side to side. Which involves taking the tires off of the rims and switching them to the other side and then balancing them. It is a little more costly but well worth it in saving your tire life. If you have the coupe 18's all 4 wheels are the same exact size, just the tires are staggered.
-GP-

OK, I just heard from the dealership. They tried to align the wheels today. The passenger rear would not line up. The camber is adjsted all the way out and it still has 2 degrees of negative camber. They said they could not see anything bent. they want to put it on a frame machine. But its $200 right off the bat just to set it up.

My friend that runs the body shop at my local Chevy dealership. He said that putting it on a frame machine wont tell anything about whats bent unless its the unibody. he sait he should be able to put it on their alignment machine and find the problem.

Any input would be appreciated.