Excessive Tire Wear

[Joe Flanagan]

My front tires are wearing badly on their outer edges. I noticed this problem about a year ago when I first got the car on the road. I adjusted the camber to within limits according to the manual but it obviously did not correct the wear problem. My right front is borderline unsafe. 

The way I checked/adjusted the camber was using a straight edge that touched only the rim of the tire. I held a level against that and measured the distance out of plumb as I moved the eccentric bushing. At the time, I posted a question here on the forum asking how to translate out-of-plumb into degrees. I don't remember the details offhand. But assuming that measurement was correct, I did get both front wheels within acceptable limits. 

Anyway, I'll check the camber again but if that's not the problem, my manual tells me it could be king pin inclination. The book does not offer any information on how that is corrected (if it is correctable). Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should look at otherwise? I would like to take it to a shop and just have it done but I don't know of anyone in my area that has experience with these old cars. Even if they told me they could do it, I would be reluctant to believe them. 

[Plymouthy Adams]

alignment is alignment..this suspension system design has been out there since the late 30's and still used today.....it is not a great stride backward to align..carry you specs from the book with you just in case they do not have the data..the data should be all a decent alignment shop will require..

[Don Coatney]

I did as Plymouthy mentioned. Carried my "from the book" alignment specifications into the alignment shop. They corrected my toe in and out issues after my disc install and all is well with no uneven wear patterns.

[Plymouthy Adams]

what Joe did with his measurements is great from a "back together again" perspective and one that should be done prior to taking the car to the alignment shop...but it is very hard to align a vehicle on a driveway without a few special tools like a caster camber gauge, turn tables and good means to measure toe...and even at that...it is again first echelon maintenance to get you by till you roll to the alignment rack...at least that is per my view..close is not always close enough

[Joe Flanagan]

Thank you, guys. I will be taking it to a shop soon.

[Andydodge]

Joe, any competent wheel alignment shop should be able to do the wheel alignment without too much trouble, even my car with its cobbled together 1940-56 combination of upper & lower A arms and rack & pinion is not that much of a problem to the local guy.....the only issue was the camber adjustment "nut" between the upper A arms in that I decided to make a tool that allowed the guy to get access to adjust the camber, however he said that he didn't really need it as he had various tools the allowed him to do it....lol......but he appreciated my efforts and concern for him..............lol........take your workshop manual with you, say......... yes sir, no sir, 3 bags full sir........lol.......and you should be fine......it doesn't take much use to put some incorrect wear onto a tyre and its almost impossible to "wear" it right.............lol.............ask me how I know..............lol........regards, Andy Douglas   

[Joe Flanagan]

Thanks, Andy. I figured I would at least have to show the mechanic where the eccentric nut is and how it works. Otherwise, I'll hope for the best. 

[Young Ed]

Joe I think you'll be surprised. The shop that did mine was the same as everyone mentioned. They said as long as I had the specs they could do it.

[Dan Hiebert]

Don and Plymouthy both touched on it, your tire wear could also be improper toe adjustment (excessive toe in).  Also as noted in the thread, doing an alignment in the driveway without specific tools amounts to using the "TLAR" (that looks about right) method, and is really only good for staying between the ditches on the way to a near by alignment shop.  There are tools to do an alignment on a shop floor, remember that back in the day, those alignment contraptions they use nowadays weren't around.

[Joe Flanagan]

That's good to hear. I just dropped the car off at the shop. They say they'll have it done today.

[Dodgeb4ya]

The car/truck needs to be on a perfectly level surface to do a proper 3 way alignment too.

[Joe Flanagan]

I just got the car back from the shop. The toe-in was way out of whack. It is correctly aligned now. The mechanic was an older guy who told me that I actually got the camber correct when I did it in my driveway. But the toe-in was really bad. He also said that the car handles very well and that the engine runs beautifully. 

[Plymouthy Adams]

an the only pain was to the wallet....lol...good deal...