On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 13:02:27 -0700, alan <no-longer-valid@yahoo.com> wrote:

>George Macdonald wrote:
>
>> 45K on even a semi-performance tire is good IMO. Tires which last longer
>> are miserable to drive. Perfectly even tire wear is kinda rare as well
>> unless you drive on roads which are perfectly flat - the "railroad
>> tracking" effect of the lanes of major highways by heavy trucks is bound to
>> cause more wear on the inner edge of the tires. Then there's normal
>> two-lane highways which can have a high crown.
>>
>> I'd say it's unlikely you have a major alignment problem and there's no
>> alignment corrections which are possible with your car which would correct
>> the wear pattern you have, apart from toe-in. As the Honda double wishbone
>> suspension ages, it *does* tend to settle a bit and get some change towards
>> toe-out in the front wheels. When I see increased wear on the front
>> inners, I* just crank 1/4 turn on each tie-rod to reduce toe-out.
>>
>> Rgds, George Macdonald
>>
>> "Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??
>
>I also have extra inner wear on my front tires. I got an alignment when
>I got these tires (car is 48K) 7K ago. At that time, they said the
>front camber was -.5 deg. But the wear pattern suggests the camber is
>more like -1.x degree. Did they lie?

<shrug> There's more to tire wear than camber. Your camber measurement is
well within specs.

> I think you'd need to install a
>camber kit to adjust it anyway, so if I took it back could they actually
>do anything? I had thought maybe the extra inner wear was due to hard
>braking or trail braking where you cause the front end to dive and the
>wheels to negative camber. Maybe I should get my toe checked, as you
>suggest.

The Honda spec, for most of their cars, for front toe is 0 +/-2mm. If you
have a minor wear anomaly -- and slight uneveness at 41K miles *is* minor
-- you can correct it as I suggested. It's easy enough to do yourself but
if you take it to someone, tell them you want slightly more toe-in that it
currently has. Experience has shown that the cars do not always come from
the factory with the alignment calibrated to the middle of the spec range.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??