26 replies to this topic

[BigWillieStyles]

Hey all,

I have some terrible wear on the outer wall of my front tyres. I have read a few forums and found that adding some negative camber should even the wear out a lot more. I am under the impression that the BH/BE chassis has factory adjustable camber bolts, is this correct? What is the most negative camber I could get from these?

Thanks

Will

[Morgan]

From memory, you'll need STi (or aftermarket of some sort) control arms to get the free camber mod?

Something about reversing the bolt instead of putting it in the normal way..?

Please correct me if that's way off the mark!

[Alex]

Morgan - adding the alloy control arms allows you to add caster, which in turn improves dynamic camber. Good for mid corner handling improvement, but not entirely sure if it's the solution for a daily driven car here...

Had a wheel alignment anytime recently? What did the operator say? Any comments?

Check tyre pressures? What do you run normally?

Driving technique?

Bushes... Especially on the control arms... Worn or tired looking?

And looseness in the front end?

Worn wheel bearings?

Gotta check the simple, bread'n'butter solutions before going all out and suggesting brash and expensive solutions.

[Morgan]

Morgan - adding the alloy control arms allows you to add caster, which in turn improves dynamic camber. Good for mid corner handling improvement, but not entirely sure if it's the solution for a daily driven car here...

Cheers!

I believe the camber of the roads we drive on are also fighting against even tyre wear but that's obviously a variable we can't change! Definitely check up on those things Alex mentioned.

[RX25SE]

I have -1.5deg with a stock GenIII front end.

You will be able to do the same.


I bought some Whiteline camber bolts, but found I didn't need them.

[Beckers]

My Outback already had the camber bolts from factory, but we could only get -.2 deg neg @ the max adjustment.
So had to slam in Whiteline top strut mounts, so now got more caster & -1 deg neg camber.

[BigWillieStyles]

Morgan - adding the alloy control arms allows you to add caster, which in turn improves dynamic camber. Good for mid corner handling improvement, but not entirely sure if it's the solution for a daily driven car here...

Had a wheel alignment anytime recently? What did the operator say? Any comments?

Check tyre pressures? What do you run normally?

Driving technique?

Bushes... Especially on the control arms... Worn or tired looking?

And looseness in the front end?

Worn wheel bearings?

Gotta check the simple, bread'n'butter solutions before going all out and suggesting brash and expensive solutions.

Excellent suggestions. I have booked it in at BobJane on Saturday morning, so hopefully, they will be checking these. I just use the normal tyre air specs listed on the door sil. I do drive the car hard-ish sometimes, but the rear tyres get more action I would have thought and they look fine. I do however get some minor creaks when I hit dips in the road at slow speed. I did however, put that down to struts showing their age, although car only has 70,000kms on it.

I have -1.5deg with a stock GenIII front end.

You will be able to do the same.


I bought some Whiteline camber bolts, but found I didn't need them.

1.5 would be great.

[TSG]

They got mine back to -1.3 all around after lowering. But they had trouble getting the passenger rear back to that, so its apparently at -2.3. I haven't noticed too much wear from it but its something I'll fix someday Could be the toe or something like that too as others have said. Been tempted to get those whiteline bolts for a while. But lazeh.

[SUBARU]

You'd have to have a bit of positive camber to scrub the outer tyre edge, so I'd be surprised if that was the problem. Toe might be out a bit die to a tie rod or perished bush, etc.
You also mentioned you push the car a bit, which would cause classic awd under steer and scrubbing of the outer tyre wall.

Will be interesting to hear the diagnosis.

[Alex]

I am unaware if the specs that are on the tyre placard. What pressure do you run your tyres at?

[SAV84C]

Get these instead of those over priced whiteline ones

http://bit.ly/SILNGT

Luke (boobyjimmy) and I both use them with no problems

[bobbyjimmy]

I don't use those Chris, I was going to, but ended up getting H&R's instead.
Thou a heap on WFC use them.

[BigWillieStyles]

You'd have to have a bit of positive camber to scrub the outer tyre edge, so I'd be surprised if that was the problem. Toe might be out a bit die to a tie rod or perished bush, etc.
You also mentioned you push the car a bit, which would cause classic awd under steer and scrubbing of the outer tyre wall.
.

I didnt necessarily mean that I believe I have severe positive camber, but am under the impression that a bit more negative camber might even out my tyre wear whether its from understeering or whatever else. I havent had an alignment ever Car is mostly a weekend car and have only started driving it to work lately. But the car is smooth at cruising speeds, no vibrations. I have aftermarket swaybars and havent noticed any understeer.

Tyre pressure is around 230kpa (33psi) on the front, and 220 (32psi) on rear.

What is a recommended toe-in spec for the front?

[SAV84C]

I don't use those Chris, I was going to, but ended up getting H&R's instead.
Thou a heap on WFC use them.

Oh I was under the impression u did as u sent me the link...

[bobbyjimmy]

What is a recommended toe-in spec for the front?

0.00 all round.

Up the tyre pressure to 36psi (cold) all round too.

[SUBARU]

I didnt necessarily mean that I believe I have severe positive camber, but am under the impression that a bit more negative camber might even out my tyre wear whether its from understeering or whatever else. I havent had an alignment ever Car is mostly a weekend car and have only started driving it to work lately. But the car is smooth at cruising speeds, no vibrations. I have aftermarket swaybars and havent noticed any understeer.

Tyre pressure is around 230kpa (33psi) on the front, and 220 (32psi) on rear.

What is a recommended toe-in spec for the front?

Nah, camber angle actually wears out the tyre less than toe in issues. There is a factory camber adjustment bolt and if that has come loose and is providing enough slack in the adjustment of your front strut to create positive camber angles, then you'd be having bigger problems than tyre wear.
On top of that, the factory camber adjustment isn't large enough to cater for a dramatic difference in the wear of the tyre.

The car should have a slight bit of toe in, EG, your front wheels while standing will be angled in like this: / \
With forward motion, the pressure of the road pushing back on the wheels will straighten the toe in to this: | |, to give you a positve straight driving line and even wearing tyres.

If your toe adjustment is out, or comprimised by worn components, you will probably be driving around with your front wheels still angled like this / \, which will account for wear on your outer edge and feathering of the tyre tread.

A four wheel alignment and diagnosis of the tie rods/bushes e.t.c. is the way to go. I wouldn't bother messing around with Camber too much at this stage. It's all horse before cart kinda stuff at this stage.

[BigWillieStyles]

0.00 all round.

Up the tyre pressure to 36psi (cold) all round too.

So I took it to BobJane today. The manager was well impressed with the Legacy and while he didnt do an inspection of the bushes. He said that I need to run the tyres with about 38psi which is why my soft side walls are gone. He didnt think that bushes could wear out at 70,000kms and suggested they would check but I still need some new tyres and an alignment as a priority

[RX25SE]

Ask for the alignment specs before and after.
A lot of places will just set front toe and nothing else, what you'd expect really when the charge is about $50.

[SUBARU]

So I took it to BobJane today. The manager was well impressed with the Legacy and while he didnt do an inspection of the bushes. He said that I need to run the tyres with about 38psi which is why my soft side walls are gone. He didnt think that bushes could wear out at 70,000kms and suggested they would check but I still need some new tyres and an alignment as a priority

That's the first time I've heard of low tyre pressure scrubbing out only the outer wall. If the wheel is already inclined to scrub, wouldn't harder pressure make them scrub faster?
Your pressure wasn't low enough to cause significant telltail wear of low pressure tyres anyway.

I wouldn't accept that answer. Beng bob jane, they make their money from tyres, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were fluffing over any suspension related issues.
"he didn't think that bushes could wear out"? They are rubber, they perish based on a combo of k's, climate, age etc. So, garbage.

Are you able to get a second opinion before you spend the money? His answers don't sound right.

[RX25SE]

I found that most cars will scrub the outer front, low pressure just makes it worse.