uneven tyre wear - solved - magnetic camber gauge = rubbish

my tyres are wearing unevenly, the inside edge on both sides is wearing quite quick.....

i'm sure i read somewhere that camber doesn't cause uneven wear, but tracking will. Is this true?

I'm running 1.5 camber, and i thought zero toe, but i set it up myself with vaguely the fishing line method so not 100% sure on the toe.


just for fun heres a couple of completely unrelated pics, first few of recent mods to the red golf ready for cadwell, the others just a few i took recently

 

Excessive camber will cause wear on the inside of the tyre. If you've got zero toe-in, this is the likely cause, although the only way to properly tell is with a 4 wheel laser alignment - choose a specialist with a Beissbarth set up or similar, to get the camber checked at the same time.

 

At 1.5 degrees of camber, I think it's more likely that your tracking is toed out slightly. I'm assuming you don't sit spinning the wheels much, and the car probably isn't doing a lot of mileage.

Worn wishbone bushes can be a cause of this, but on a track car they're normally in decent condition.

 

my money goes on tracking. ive had more than 1.5* for years and never have odd wear

 

found the problem

i used one of these



to set the camber, it's miles out! I had set it at 1.5 but it was actually 4!! just to double check i tested the magnetic gauge with a flat surface, some drill bits and trigonometry and it confirmed it.

just made a new camber gauge out of a spirit level and reset camber, re done toe and bobs yer uncle! Even on the wet roads out there tonight it feels better.

My cold air box thing worked perfectly too - engine bay is hot, but the ali on the end of the filter and intake pipe is stone cold

 

i've got one of those, but i have to say i haven't had a problem with it. it does a better job than protyre anyway!
it's more useful if you use it as a before and after reference rather than an absolute measurement, although it's ok if you calibrate it on a known vertical surface first, and account for any slope the car may be sat on.

 

This intrigues me...

 

Mee too - looks like the chin spoiler from something else, but on the back of the car? But then it looks like a headlight, although it would be too low for a Mk1?

 

the gauge has no name on it, but i'm sure i bought it from frost. The theory and everything is sound, it just seems the graduations marked on it are miles out.

hehe thats the front of the car, its a "nowak" spoiler designed for mk1 golfs from back in the day




i have added a composite splitter/undertray and some ali end plate i knocked up quickly. Acid test will be at cadwell tomorrow to see if it makes any difference to a) high speed drag => vmax and b) high speed stability

probably wont do anything, so i have the fact i reckon it looks cool to fall back on

 

that splitter looks great, i'm sure it will help, did you make the shape in timber or something and lay-up over the top?

 

when i say composite, i mean wood and glue => plywood

 

never understood how them type of camber guages can be accurate? surely the camber has to be set with the wheels on sat on level ground? if the car is jacked up with no wheel on and the suspension in under no load its not going to anywhere near right? it could be used for reference if the camber is already known to right and you needed to replace parts etc?? any thoughts?

 

exactly

 

you take a reading of the height from centre hub nut top of plastic arch edge, say, 215mm,when the cars on a flat level surface.

then jack the car up, then jack the wishbones to the height u took.

or take centre cap out of wheel and postin gauge in the centre of the wheel, with a either some sort of extention bar. but even if the wheels were on the deck, you wouldnt be able to get under there to slack the bolts off,and then move wheel and then re-tighten. the only way is taking wheels off,thats wot i did, and was accurate,according to my work place super tracker machine

 

i see where your comming from Tom, but if the car is jacked up its still not level to the ground so the reading would still be wrong??

 

or get some super legera's - dead light, and you can stick the gauge to the brake disc through the spokes

 

I have one of those gauges, you adjust it to zero with the knob.

To use it with the wheels off - 1.take measurement with car parked on level ground, wheels straight ahead(A). 2.jack up, remove wheel, place gauge on disc(B)

Now work out the difference between A & B, adjust camber, refit wheel etc.

EG, target camber=1.0 neg. A=0.5 neg, B=1.0 pos. Difference =1.5. Adjust B to 0.5 pos would give you 1.0 neg with the weight back on the wheels.

 

or another way, would to be take a reading, from bumper to ground level with wheels on.then take a reading from centre hub nut to arch on level ground, with wheels on.

then jack up, lower car so that bumper levels to ground as above, then raise track arms to level at the archs, then adjust camber

 

yeah mine has a knob to zero it too, but the graduations are all completely wrong, have you ever checked the camber by some other method after setting it?