Excessive rear tyre wear

[Torquemadder]

Hi guys. Hope you all had a good Christmas an santa was generous
I am looking for advice. I fitted coilover suspension all round and a set of 16" wheels with 195/40x16 tyres. I set the front camber to 2 deg which I know is slightly too much but it handles like a kart. 2000 miles later and the front tyres are like new but the rears are both bald on the inside half while the outside half is like new.

I assumed that it being a beam rear axle it wouldnt make any diference lowering it but is it possible that the rear wheels toe in when the suspension goes up and is it possible to alter the tracking on the rear? Both rear tyres are worn equally

Any help will be greatly appreciated. I cant afford 2 new tyres every 2000 miles

Just had a thought! Could worn rear bearings cause the wheels to toe in/out? I havent noticed bearing noise but its a light car

 

[Simon Audi]

Hi,

The bearings would need to be exceptionally worn to cause this, and then you would have all sorts of noises going on, so I would say its not the bearings.

As you say, with a beam rear axle you would not expect this problem - i.e the geometry would not change.

Lowering the rear suspension should just drop the distance between body and axle, so this by itself should not have changed anything. - I assume the coilover kit for the rear was seperate springs and shocks?

Is the OD of the tyres different to what was on the car originally - i.e. have you changed the rolling diameter? - Did you fit different offset wheels to standard?

Sorry I can't be of more help!!

Simon

 

[lunalupi]

For some reason the rear wheels do tend to lean in at the top after lowering....but being fixed you can't adjust them back out again.
That tyre wear does seem over-excessive though - my rear tyres wear slightly more on the inner edge but not that quickly....have you had the tracking checked recently to see what they are at?

 

[allallyouyou]

I had this but on the front tyres. Took it for tracking and balancing and it been fine since (about 10K miles later)

As for the rear, im clueless so would seek proper advice.

 

[F2 Stu]

You can adjust the camber my the means of a tapered shim between the beam and the stub axle, but thats usually done to increase negative camber and in your case wont help, yet to find a shim that gives positive camber

 

[Boo]

I had the same issue with my front wheels after lowering. Was recommended to get a set of camber bolts. However, I have changed my tyres to Yokohama S-Types which are designed to reduce uneven wear and seem to have been ok. Best to get your tracking and camber checked though honey.

 

[cardaft]

I said on your picture thread your rear wheels dont look quite at the right angle, i have a thing about wheels and angles, they must be sport on or they look odd to me

Anyway, since it is a beam there is no adjustment, so it may have a bent rear beam, it sounds like its toeing out by quite a bit. . What did its original tyres look like, wear wise?

Id get it checked out, im surprised that it doesnt feel a bit funny to drive. One of our Renaults would scrubb the outsides of the tyres off in 15K miles (a lot more miles than yours does), the rear tracking way way out and it handled odd, any bigish bump and the car would jump sideways. It was a newish car and within Renaults specs. Basically they made a batch of bad beams but fitted them anyway and set huge tolerences to cover themselves. But anyway ...

One thing i tried with that (an odd quick check to see if the tracking is at fault) is to deflate the rear tyres say to 15PSI or something, and drive the car slowly backwards and forwards on the drive and see if the tyres sidewalls tuck or buldge at the botton when you go either way. This should not happen, as wheels should be parallel, but if it does, its the tracking, which it must be anyway. (dont forget to inflate them if you try it!)

Get it checked, may be something more simple, but there is no adjustment on the rear suspension, even lowering doesnt effect the rear wheels camber much, so something must be amiss.

Edit: This is what i said on your first thread: "It looks like there is something wrong with your nearside rear wheel angle though? Looks like its toeing out and in at the bottom? " http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=175345

Odd how i noticed that through a computer screen! There you go, ive diagnosed it for you

Hope its nothing serious

 

[lunalupi]

The problem with that Cardaft, is that in the photos the wheels look to have positive camber+toe in - but to be scrubbing the inside edge of the tyre they'd need negative camber.....

First step is certainly to get it up on some ramps for a tracking check, and inspection of everything.

 

[cardaft]

No matter how bad the rear camber was, it shouldnt scrub away tyres in 2K miles. There is very little movement on the rear wheels to give much camber when lowered. In the pictures it looks to me that its toeing out and the N/S/R wheels has a lot less camber than the other side, which would explain the tyre wear. Id say thats the issue, the near side rear wheel.

It will be the tracking, but to test if you run your hand along the tread, from left to right sidewall and one way the tyre will feel smooth and the other it will feel sharp, this is called feathering and is a good sign your tracking it out.

Best thing to do is get it laser checked and see if they can investigate why its out.