tire wear is odd

[bowlofturtle]

My infiniti G35, running 235/45/18 Summer tire Kumho LE sports 4 years old. 20k at best, only run in warm weather(April-sept)

Last year when i pulled my summer tires, i noticed the driver side was showing camber wear on the inside a lot more then normal. I put on the winters and got an alignment. Both from toe was about .10 and Camber was around -2.5, car is lowered for many years.

I didn't think much, this summer i put the drivers side tire on the pass side and vice versa. The tire that is now on the driver side is a good solid tire with no wear issues. Its now been 3 months and maybe 5k miles. The pass side tire with the camber wear doesn't seem to be wearing any more crazy but now my driver side as a cupping issue on the inner side. Literally obvious bumps all around.

I jack up the car and wiggle/push pull etc. Everything seems solid, this car has a lower control arm bushing problem and compression rod, but that looks good. With wear like that, i expect to see something loose. Its pretty even and consistent all around, i'm thinking these tires are just shot.

What normally does this? I'm taking it to a shop that does a lot of auto-x and track racing, hopefully they can show me whats going on.

 

[gathermewool]

You're lowered via lowering springs on the stock struts? The struts are original?

-2.5 degrees of camber isn't too bad, especially if you auto-x occasionally. My old STI couldn't get more than about -1 degree of camber in the front (adjustable) and that seems about the perfect place to be for street use. I noticed some additional wear on the inside tread of the tire, but not much at all (IIRC, something like 1/32" more halfway through the tires life.)

As far as lowering's effect on the dampers: I felt that the stock setup was overdamped in my previous STI, so I upgraded to very slightly stiffer RCE Regular Guy springs that were only lower by 5mm. The yellows were more like 15mm (still pretty mild) but they were also stiffer and I was worried about premature failure/wearing-out of the dampers, which may be your issue.

 

[The_Eric]

Bad or failing damper is my thoughts too.

 

[bowlofturtle]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
You're lowered via lowering springs on the stock struts? The struts are original?

-2.5 degrees of camber isn't too bad, especially if you auto-x occasionally. My old STI couldn't get more than about -1 degree of camber in the front (adjustable) and that seems about the perfect place to be for street use. I noticed some additional wear on the inside tread of the tire, but not much at all (IIRC, something like 1/32" more halfway through the tires life.)

As far as lowering's effect on the dampers: I felt that the stock setup was overdamped in my previous STI, so I upgraded to very slightly stiffer RCE Regular Guy springs that were only lower by 5mm. The yellows were more like 15mm (still pretty mild) but they were also stiffer and I was worried about premature failure/wearing-out of the dampers, which may be your issue.


I am lowered on a mild spring setup pair with KYB normal shocks (they don't make many struts for my AWD-variant). KYB has 20-30k on it at most. I've never had tire wear issues.

I got the car realigned. Driver front had a -0.01 Toe and -1.8 camber. Pass front was .10 toe and -2.5 camber. Something is moving on my driver side. I might have to see if KYB will warranty my strut.

Sadly i dont have many front strut options for a AWD model. I would love Koni Yellows.

 

[gathermewool]

Did you get even camber on both sides after the realign? If not, maybe the alignment tech was lazy before. Maybe there's a difference between the two camber bolts and he/she simply maxed each side out.

I would think a good alignment shop could easily check for loose suspension components.

How mild were your springs? What is the lowered amount and how much did spring rate change? My Regular guy springs were 5mm lower, with 40-50% higher spring rates, which were even, front and rear.) KYB might warranty the shocks, if within their warranty period, but if your springs are way more aggressive than stock than it may not make sense to buy the same non-sport dampers.