byron - b'rizzle

a couple years ago i bought lightly used (under 10k) OEM sport springs and shocks from someone on AW.. i also bought the helper springs (from a dealer) and had a shop to the conversion for me. At the same time i upgraded my summer setup to a set of 18" wheels. i also bought the front and rear sport sway/stabilizer bars (i haven't put them on yet.. yes, i know i'm lazy).

in the past 6 months i've had 2-3 alignments and can't get the wear under control on the left front tire... its cupping the inside edge of the tire (but only on half of the tire... the other half is moderately rounded). the other 3 tires have slightly more wear on the inside but not nearly as much as the left front tire. also, the left rear is similarly worn because i rotate front to back on the same side.. but its the front of the left side that is causing the abnormal wear.

from what i understand, there is no real camber adjustment for the front suspension... so i don't understand how the front left can be so out of wack, but the front right doesn't seem to be affected in the opposite direction (ie extreme negative camber on the left forceing extreme positive camber on the front right). i could be wayyy off base b/c i'm by no means a gear head... i just can't seem to find someone that can figure out what's going on.

i've attached the print outs from my alignments and would like some opinions on what is going on. the most recent two alignments are only two weeks apart (the last one they didn't make any adjustments.. just gave me a printout of the current setup). i hate to put new tires on this thing only to trash them... but i need to make a decision soon.

anyone have any ideas?

<b>December 2005</b>
<img src="http://files.bbrewer.net/december2005.JPG">

<b>March 2006</b>

<img src="http://files.bbrewer.net/march2006.JPG">

<b>June 2006 - no alignment, just printed what the machine said it was set to</b>

<img src="http://files.bbrewer.net/june2006.JPG">

diagnosticator1

Nothing in any of the print outs you posted points to an alignment issue responsible for the scrub on the inside left front tire. Unfortunately, without additional information, it is not possible to further explore the cause of your tire wear.
FYI, the camber of the front suspension, while not adjustable in the usual sense, the total camber angle present can be balanced and divided equally left/right, by moving the sub-frame sideways left or right. Having said that, it does not appear from the alignment prints posted, that camber is uneven by an amount capable of producing the left front scrub problem. The Toe out at the allowed limit, may be partly involved, but as it looks now the only other possibility is a defective tire on the left front.
How does the car steer? Does it pull left?

Jimax

Let me find the name of that guy I told you about. I'll gmail ya in a sec.

byron - b'rizzle

worn like this.. i thought i had it under control when i put these on but i obviously was wrong. i have new tires... but im hesitant to put them on b/c i don't want to just trash them as well.

i would almost think that i have something bent/damaged in the suspension that might be throwing it out of whack but the car was a-ok until i did the suspension swap so unless its a bad shock/spring, i'm not quite sure where to look.

byron - b'rizzle

what they are doing... that same shop looked right at ETKA and tried to tell me the sport package and non-sport package had different front and rear control arms.... i double checked when i got home and it clearly is not the case. so i'm not putting much faith in those alignment numbers.

i think i might just put on the new tires and keep a close eye on the wear pattern, unless someone has an idea of how i could pinpoint anything that i might have overlooked.

All Wheel Driver

could you have a bad bushing which is moving a little and making the tire scrub?

byron - b'rizzle

any way i could spot something like that myself? or would that require yet another dealer visit?

diagnosticator1

With the left front jacked up, tire off the ground, grab a hold of the tire and twist in different directions you should not be able to see or feel any play in the wheel from the bearings or other suspension parts for that corner. With the wheel removed, use a WOOD stick, and use it to pry on different suspension pivots and rubber mounts at the inner ends of the upper link arms, and inner bushing of the lover control arms. The rubber parts will be able to move from the lever pressure, but there must be no free play from loose rubber bushings. Also, use the stick to lever between the wheel bearing/hub, and the lower control arm, to see if there is any play in the lower ball joint. Grab the spring/shock on the upper end and try and move it side to side , and front to back.


Make sure the car is stable, with proper jack stands in addition to a floor jack, don't use the emergency jack for this work.

byron - b'rizzle

you mean the jack that came with the car won't cut it for this kind of stuff? lol. j/k i'll use my beefy 3.5ton hydraulic floor jack.

OT... i actually did have to use that crappy audi jack last week when i caught a retread on I-81 and it ripped my belly pan halfway off. it was just dragging and i had to jack it up in a parking lot and cautiously half-crawl under the front edge and remove the one screw that didn't get ripped out when i hit the retread. that audi jack scares me but i really didn't have much of a choice seeing as how it was on memorial day and it was at night.. so nothing was open.

Silly Boy RS4

You have a bad bushing causing this. It drove me crazy and cost me three alignments!!!!!!