I had my SPC rear camber kit installed by the alignment guy and on paper everything seems perfectly fine and within spec but my Potenza S-03 literally melted 2 weeks later. They went from approx 5/32 left to 0/32 left. But not unevenly... just smooth.

No I do not do burnouts or send my car sideways at every corner. Spirited driving yes but nothing to wear out tires on purpose...

Is it possible for those toe bolts to move out of spec by themselves? I swear that just by looking, the passenger rear wheel is at least a full degree towards the inside of the car... When looking from behind towards front tire. Might be that the car is not perfectly level also...

Also an important factor, and the only thing I can think: tires were manufactured in 2002... I purchased them last year already mounted on my Volk GT-C and they had around 7/32 left and looked perfectly fine, no cracks nothing. Is the fact that they are simply so old possibly the reason they melted for no reason?

The reason I'm asking is because I just bought Continental ExtremeContact to replace them and I don't want to go through those for no reason. Obviously I'm going to get another alignment done soon but I'd appreciate any thought on what might've happened. I read the Suspension 101 sticky and I was disappointed about not reading it before getting the toe bolts installed.

 

If the tire wear was even all the way across the width of the tire I really doubt the alignment is the root cause. Have your alignment checked again, maybe even try a different shop to get a second opinion.

 

what is your toe at?

 

Do you have lockout washers? With adjustable toe bolts, as far as my knowledge goes, without lockout washers your toe can slip out of alignment.
I think it's a pretty common thing too.
I wouldn't think the year the tires were produced would cause them to wear THAT fast.
However, if your toe were out of line, your tire wouldn't wear out evenly.

 

Yes. That issue is discussed in the "Suspension 101" thread
I did put marker circle around mine (SPC) and occassionally I do visual checks. So far so good

 

Very common post. No way to verify miles on "destroyed tires." No photos of course.

 

^^ this.

toe is what eats tires.

 

Why did you think 10 year old tires were a good idea?

PrOb dry rotted. Did you get a computer alignment printout?

 

tires from 2002?

 

BLue is your issue, those were 10 year old tires. Firestone themselves( I used to work for them) Will take those off the shelves after 3. They were dryrotted to hell and back 3 times.

 

Wear was pretty even except for the outside which still had some tread left, running 1.5 degree camber does that I guess. I will go to a different shop to see the read-out.

1/32" on both sides, 1/16" total toe in on the paper they gave me

Lockout washers for the camber eccentric bolts? No but perhaps I should get some. I did look underneath and they are installed perfectly centered.

Good idea, I'll mark mine once I get it double-checked. One thing that does look weird is the fact that on the driver side, the "fat" portion of the eccentric washers are on top, like stock, but on the passenger side, the fat part is on the bottom. Would that have any impact on anything?

If I'd have known they were 10 years old I still would've bought them, they came with the wheels I wanted. I would've discussed the price a little more but I was unaware of the manuf dates being printed on tires.

As for a printout yes I did and everything on there is within specs. But perhaps the suspension settled after the alignment and now everything is out of wack.

That's what my conclusion was after all that but I'm still nervous about it and don't want the new ones to wear out. Just today, I washed and detailed the car, drove it 25 miles and after found what seems to be rubber dust on the rear mudflaps and a little around the fenders...

Anyways, thank you all for your input. I'll get the alignment double-checked elsewhere.

 

alignment is spot on.

tires are not.

if the same thing happens on a new/recent used setup
get back to us.

/thread.

 

My brand new Continental ExtremeContact DW I got installed friday give out a pretty bad rubber smell every time I park it.

I'm bringing it back to the alignment shop tomorrow, the guy over there said he'd it double-check everything as this is just stupid.

I'm just convinced that the fact that they performed alignment right after dropping the car down from the lift, when it hadn't settled, screws up everything.

 

Pretty bad rubber smell? I would guess something is rubbing.

 

Brought it back to the same shop who had done it the first time:

Driver side toe had moved from 1/32 to 1/8, passenger side had moved from 1/32 to 9/32...

They aligned it back to 1/32 and marked the bolts, the washers and the frame for me to have a visual reference and I'll check every now and then to see if it's moved...

No idea how it moved out of spec like that. They had a different mechanic perform the alignment and he mentionned something about the other guy not loosening them before adjusting.

 

There you go..someone fugged up.