My grandson has an 88 formula and we put a 3.8 SC in it. He got new rims with larger tires and I am assuming correct offsets because I did a fair amount of research. I would have to dig up the offset information . He put Michelin Pilot super Sports on. 215/45ZR17's on the front and 235/45ZR17's on the back. With a digital level it looks like the is about 3/4 degree of negative camber. The caster and toe I can't give an answer. Hes says that he does not burn out with it but he goes to college in Menomonie, Wi and he likes driving hard on the back roads.
The fronts are good but the backs are totaled with only about 6 months of usage.
Ant ideas on the problem?
Thanks, car54
[This message has been edited by car54 (edited 05-18-2018).]
I had the *exact* same thing happen - I got about 3,000 miles from a brand new set of 245/45-17 tires. I took it back to the alignment shop and there was a small degree of toe - maybe .30 total? I called it my bad for not double-checking their work, bought two new tires and set it to zero toe. I still won't get great mileage out of the tires, but at 5,000 miles they are evenly worn, although pretty worn... it's definitely partly limitations of camber adjustment, but it could also be my driving. IIRC, the factory toe specs were revised in a TSB, I think from "some toe" to "no toe." It's possible my shop (and your shop) had the factory specs, but not the revised ones.
[This message has been edited by thesameguy (edited 05-18-2018).]
PSS is a great tire all around, but too rich for my blood on a Fiero. My first "good" set was the Sumitomo HTRZIII which I liked, but wasn't *great* and wore very quickly... it was the tire I destroyed. Right now I am running BFG Sport Comp2 and am extremely happy with them. They are fantastic in the dry, fantastic in the wet. Great turn-in, predictable grip, and sufficiently quiet. I liked them so much, I bought another set for my XR4Ti. It's definitely my go-to for a midrange performance tire. I know the PSS is better in an absolute sense, but it's not twice as good (for twice the money), and I definitely can't push the BFGs past their limits on the street anyway.
Obviously he needs new tires, any suggestions besides what he has?
Those are some soft tires..... UTQG rating of 300 would show any mis-alignment pretty quickly, and reviewers say they seem to wear out at about 15K miles.....maybe your grandson could sacrifice a little stickiness for a harder rubber compound....say 450 to 500. Also, I got a wear pattern like that with my tires under-inflated.
[This message has been edited by Gall757 (edited 05-18-2018).]
Wear due to compound would be even across the tire unless there is something else causing the abnormal wear. Toe has a much greater impact on non-uniform wear than camber.
Very like he's lying about burn outs but ignore that for now. Sticky tires will wear out faster on the drive axle. then add likely have small alignment problem too.
Or maybe not because even if good on the machine, alignment can change some for engine/brake loads while driving. Toe setting in particular is a guess of the car maker to address actual loads on tie rods etc to get correct toe while driving normally. If driver is hitting the gas and/or brake a lot then that guess doesn't work and tires will wear.
Front tires are have worn too. Guessing 1 to 2 32nd" over the wear bars I see. On these, 3 Big groves have wear bars and hit them then tire is legally bald. Most places tires worn out when they reach 2/32" depth and wear bars try to sit at that limit. If you use the "penny test" make sure you use a good penny. https://www.bridgestonetire...ire-tread-penny-test
If the car is lowered very likely have alignment problems and can't trust shops to adjust their machine for lower car. More so at standard job rates.
Most shops get data from Bear Hunter etc makers of the machine. (Most machines have modems or network access for this.) Many do not get updated data because makers doesn't bother finding new data other then adding new cars every year.
See my Cave, Alignment Spec's But note that many can't read data from FSM or TSBs and won't adjust the machine.
Warning: If you have crap bushings and worn parts anywhere in the suspension the best alignment won't help. Many push Polly Hype that fixes everything but often only temporally. Polly can wear and never make noise and any bad parts are often hard to tell sitting at a curb or on the alignment machine.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
Those are very high-performance, sticky tires...Meaning soft and quick wearing.......I would definitely get the rear alignment checked....By a GOOD shop!
I am running BFG Comp 2 A/S and they perform well....and last longer....I will next be buying General G-Max AS5s........I had the predecessor, AS3s before and really liked them...
Those are very high-performance, sticky tires...Meaning soft and quick wearing.......I would definitely get the rear alignment checked....By a GOOD shop!
I am running BFG Comp 2 A/S and they perform well....and last longer....I will next be buying General G-Max AS5s........I had the predecessor, AS3s before and really liked them...
His tires have a 300 tread wear, mine are 200 with 3 years and 20K+ miles with 382 rwhp and probably still have over 50% tread life. It helps that mine are 235/285 as the wider tires lower the contact pressure which helps with tread wear.
I just had the same issue with a very sticky set of Firestone Indy 500's. Wore out the rears like no tomorrow. Rotated often last year due to this, but only got about 9,000 miles out of them. I have complained that I need new struts and an alignment (in which I probably do), but I am thinking that the wear factor of the tire had a lot to do with it. Here is why...
All tires 225/45/17.
I ran Nitto's for over 24,000 miles on this setup with very even wear. New alignment and a full suspension rebuild. Rode beautifully.
Installed Firestone's and immediately had tire residue on the rear lower quarters after several hundred miles. Always accumulated rubber. It never stopped. I cornered harder than ever before. Could not easily slide. Insane grip actually.
I bought a set of Continental DSW's out of necessity, and experience with them in the past on two other cars. Less performance, and more comfort I suppose. Well over 1,500 miles and no residue at all? The wear is even thus far. Car rides like night and day. Same size tire. So much more quieter in the cabin. I can easily break the tires free when called upon. Way more manageable at the limit. Albeit at a lowered limit.
Reading this thread, and thought that I would add to the sticky tire talk.
Originally posted by fieroguru: The car has too much toe in at the rear.
Yep, either that or he's doing a lot of drifting. (or maybe a little of both)
In addition to getting the toe-in checked, he may also want to dial in some more negative camber in the back. If it's currently at 0.75° negative camber, maybe try something in the 1.0-1.5° range.
300 on treadwear is not that bad, 160 and 220 is what I call low. What did the previous set of tires look like since those have only been on the car 6 mo. They're not racing slicks so there's no reason for the tires to look like that at about 3/4" wider than stock except for abuse, or alignment trouble. Wider than stock tires should take longer to wear out, plus it hasn't been hot enough in WI in the past 6 mo to make any kind of tire suffer the way hot black top does.
Grandson + Fiero + 3800 SC + 9th episode of the fast and furious series released last year, well, okay if he says he didn't spin them. If it has the original control arm bushings I'd be highly suspicious of the increased combined torque loads on the control arms from the increased traction and engine torque above stock resulting in toe-in under firm acceleration. You have confirmed negative camber so theoretically except for a toe problem they shouldn't be worn like that. If he had been spinning them excessively they'd be worn as much, or more in the center. I wouldn't drive it on a wet road, you'd be asking for trouble. Keep him safe, especially if he has the sense I had in college when I jumped out of line on the interstate and past that snow plow all of those slow pokes were following on I-70 in Kansas one Winter. The tail end of that firebird wiggled as I was pushing through the snow thrown in front of me from the shovel, you think I stopped. I was going to see my girl friend, you know how it is.
[This message has been edited by Joseph Upson (edited 06-03-2018).]
The alignment is obviously off causing the outside to wear waste than the inside, however one would expect to see tread similar to the front on the inside of the tire if they weren't being abused. The fact that they are bald on the inside and cords on the outside tells me he's been spinning them quite a bit.
As fieroguru and I immediately observed, it's too much toe. I had the *exact* same thing happen on my car from too much toe. My car doesn't make anywhere near enough power to spin 245/45 G-forces. Uneven wear from the outside in happens when tires are being dragged diagonally down the road from too much toe in.
IIRC, the factory toe specs were revised in a TSB, I think from "some toe" to "no toe." It's possible my shop (and your shop) had the factory specs, but not the revised ones.
