The Mustang Forum for Track & Racing Enthusiasts

Taking your Mustang to an open track/HPDE event for the first time? Do you race competitively? This forum is for you! Log in to remove most ads.

  • Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

Serious tire wear

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

I have a set of all season Kumho Ecsta 4x in the stock size on the front and noticed that they are almost bald on the inside from the camber after about 20k miles. I was told when I had my car checked right after installing lowering springs that he camber was at 1.4* and was within spec. Does anyone have the same issue with that camber, or do you think after the springs settled the camber may have gone further, or could there be another reason causing this?
 

Boostd4

Relapsed Turbo Addict
161
0
What are your toe settings in front? This tends to be the cause of a lot of that wear as well.
 
367
1
Boostd4 said:
What are your toe settings in front? This tends to be the cause of a lot of that wear as well.

I'm with Boostd4. Toe is what is going to wear the tires down more dramatically. Brandon, seeing that you autox, I am suspecting that you run quite a bit of toe out up front (just a guess), which could be the problem. FWIW, I change my tires annually due to the number of track events and races I attend. The tires dont even last 1 summer :(
 
I believe the toe was at .2 out, I haven't found the info yet. The cars is my DD and according to Ford everything was within spec, I will be getting an alignment shortly and will see what the current specs are at.
 
Brandon302 said:
I believe the toe was at .2 out, I haven't found the info yet. The cars is my DD and according to Ford everything was within spec, I will be getting an alignment shortly and will see what the current specs are at.

The spec is 0.00 to 0.20 and that is toe in. If you are sure it is toe out then it is -0.20 (not 0.20) and that is a lot of toe out IMHO and way out of spec. I run from 0.00 to -0.06.

If they are telling you it is +0.20 then you are on the edge of toe in, that would not cause the problem you are having as far as I know. As a DD I would always shoot for the middle which is 0.10 toe in.
 
YellowBoss said:
The spec is 0.00 to 0.20 and that is toe in. If you are sure it is toe out then it is -0.20 (not 0.20) and that is a lot of toe out IMHO and way out of spec. I run from 0.00 to -0.06.

If they are telling you it is +0.20 then you are on the edge of toe in, that would not cause the problem you are having as far as I know. As a DD I would always shoot for the middle which is 0.10 toe in.

It must be toe in then as on the sheet it said everything was within spec. I will have to see when it goes in again. I wonder if also not having the proper air in the tires may have caused them to wear prematurely. I have not been the best at making sure they are at at 32 pounds this past few months since the weather has been so weird.
 
367
1
Grant 302 said:
No surprise to me...20k miles and -1.4*. I'd expect cording.

Whoa. Totally missed that 20k miles part.
That is pretty amazing if u ask me :) I wouldn't worry about the tire wear at all. And FWIW, tire pressure should be 35 front and rear as per the plate on the door jam. Though I'm not sure that would have affected your wear that greatly... You should see what mine looked like after 5k miles :D
 
boro92 said:
Whoa. Totally missed that 20k miles part.
That is pretty amazing if u ask me :) I wouldn't worry about the tire wear at all. And FWIW, tire pressure should be 35 front and rear as per the plate on the door jam. Though I'm not sure that would have affected your wear that greatly... You should see what mine looked like after 5k miles :D
Not sure if I put it in the original post but I also switch to Kumho Ecsta 4X all seasons which are a 440 I believe tread wear. I know tread wear is pretty subjective when it comes to how hard the rubber is but still.
 
Grant 302 said:
For conservative/street use, I'd try to get that under -.9* I think you could try flipping your strut mounts 180* and getting your alignment redone.

Is there any adverse affects from doing this? Or does Ford have the arrow to let you know which way the mount should be for optimal camber.
 
Measurements were done and the camber is about 1.5-1.6 and the toe was at .1. I guess I will need new tires and will not be going back to the Kumho's.
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
Brandon302 said:
Is there any adverse affects from doing this? Or does Ford have the arrow to let you know which way the mount should be for optimal camber.

There are arrows to indicate the correct orientation. Optimal is relative...it's obviously not the optimal setting for your style of driving. It's probably optimal for achieving the factory spec settings and little else.
 
I will be rotating the mounts and getting new tires. Maybe I am being stubborn but I find it hard to believe that 1.5* is balding the inside edge. Hopefully though this will help.
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
Brandon302 said:
I will be rotating the mounts and getting new tires. Maybe I am being stubborn but I find it hard to believe that 1.5* is balding the inside edge. Hopefully though this will help.

It's also the toe. At nearly 1/8" total, 1.5* is a lot to scrub your tires on the highway. Assuming that the wear is spread evenly on both sides, over 20k miles, you are scrubbing both your front tires 9.5 miles laterally on the inside edge. Zero out your toe and it won't be as much of an issue with your next set.
 
Grant 302 said:
It's also the toe. At nearly 1/8" total, 1.5* is a lot to scrub your tires on the highway. Assuming that the wear is spread evenly on both sides, over 20k miles, you are scrubbing both your front tires 9.5 miles laterally on the inside edge. Zero out your toe and it won't be as much of an issue with your next set.

Gotcha, I will be having that done once I get a new set.
 
20k is a lot of miles with 1.6 negative camber for any tire no matter the treading. If you want DD type tire life your camber really needs to be in .8 to 1 negative range. The toe out isn't helping either. The tires are not at fault here, its your alignment setting. Good luck with the next set whatever you decide.
 
548
0
I have the same problem with excessive inside tire wear on my fronts at 14.5K miles.
Factory specs for the boss (not LS)=


Camber LH/.RH -0.95 +- 0.75 Total Split= 0 +- .75
Caster LH/RH 7.0 +- 0.75 Total Split= 0 +- .02

Toe 0.20 +- 0.20

So to set for daily driver, camber/caster isn't really the issue it is to 0 out the Toe? I got that right?
 
jimprw said:
I have the same problem with excessive inside tire wear on my fronts at 14.5K miles.
Factory specs for the boss (not LS)=


Camber LH/.RH -0.95 +- 0.75 Total Split= 0 +- .75
Caster LH/RH 7.0 +- 0.75 Total Split= 0 +- .02

Toe 0.20 +- 0.20

So to set for daily driver, camber/caster isn't really the issue it is to 0 out the Toe? I got that right?

That is what I am getting out of the discussion as well. Makes sense that the scrubbing caused by the toe would wear the tires more then the camber itself. I would think camber would have to be pretty severe to wear the inside more then the rest of the tire since your just changing the contact patch from the middle of the tire to the inside middle. I could also see that 20k with the toe causing a scrub would do maybe double the wear since that section is wearing while rotating and scrubbing.
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top