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Tire Wear

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jcatnite

jcatnite

Jedi Knight
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Hello everyone, I have a question about tire wear. When I bought my 76 Midget, the front suspension was totally worn out. The tires wore on the inside edge significantly over the first 2K miles. Since I have rebuilt the front suspension completely with rubber bushings, new tie rod ends, better than new shocks (thanks PeterC) and rebuilt swivel axles ( I reused the king pin bushings but replaced everything else). Anyway, now after around 3K miles the tires have worn significantly on the outside. Any ideas? I haven't set the toe-in yet but I did put the new tie rods in the same place as the old. I have recently bought a toe in gauge but haven't used it yet. I'm also waiting on the tapered roller bearing conversion kit to come in, then I'll set the toe. Anyway, just wondering if you guys had some thoughts. It would seem as the camber is way off but I can't see it by looking. Guess I'll check it with a square when I get her off the jackstands. Feels like I'm constantly swimming upsteam...
Thanks,
JC
 
Seems difficult to have the camber far off if you have the suspension rebuilt properly. It's not adjustable at all on the early Spridgets--aren't the later ones the same? If toe-in is way off, you can get very strange wear. This happened to me--toe in was far off when I got my Bugeye, and one edge of the tires (if I remember correctly, the inside) started to wear very fast. Might be something like that.
 
It's almost surely the toe setting.

I know that you said you "put the new tie rods in the same place as the old", but that is not a reliable method. Check the toe before doing anything else.

Camber is not normally adjustable on any Spridgets (other than replacing components with special "race-parts" or "spacing" the shock mounts).
 
Thanks Nial and Sastro. I plan to set the toe as soon as the bearings come in. It was setting up to check the toe when I discovered my new (3K miles) front wheel bearings were worn. I had almost 0.100" play in the right front. If that doesn't correct it, I will probably go with some custom trunnions from speedwell.
I've also been toying with the idea of lowering the car. That will add negative camber too right?

Thanks,
JC
 
jcatnite said:
....I've also been toying with the idea of lowering the car. That will add negative camber too right?

Thanks,
JC
Click to expand...

Yes, you'll get some negative camber this way.
Race cars run 2 to 3 degrees negative. For the street, 1 degree negative would be fine.
But don't lower too much or you'll have problems with "bumpsteer" (Caused by changing the angle of the tie rod. This will make the car "hunt" and steer funny). I wouldn't lower more that 1.5 inches.
G'luck!
 
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