Tracking damaging tyres

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Mistermackay

Active Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2012
Messages
60
Location
Essex
Car
Mercedes S320 CDI 2007
I have the correct tyres for my 2005 CLS. Twice now, the inside of the tyres have been damaged by scoring the inside walls by steering joints. Has anyone any experience of this, and any remedy?
 
Do you have the correct rims, with the correct offset?
 
Is your problem similar to this?
attachment.php


If so it could well be the camber is well out of adjustment

P.S. There should be no need for spacers if everything (wheels, tyres and suspension geometry) is within spec. Insurers don't like spacers. To them Spacers = Boy racers!!
 
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This is caused by too much "toe out" on the rear wheels and can be adjusted at the tie rod.
 

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Whitenemesis
Wow that is serious wear
How much was the camber out by. I had a similar problem and the camber was out by 1 degree on both sides
 
Whitenemesis
Wow that is serious wear
How much was the camber out by. I had a similar problem and the camber was out by 1 degree on both sides

Not my car but a fellow member on another forum. The camber was "quite a way out" but no actual value given. Both sides were the same. Dealership had to fit 4 camber adjustment bolts.
 
Whitenemesis
Wow that is serious wear
How much was the camber out by. I had a similar problem and the camber was out by 1 degree on both sides

One degree camber will not do that damage - toe out will, but then there are many who do not believe it except proper alignment specialists:wallbash:

I had two tyres damaged like that at very low mileage until I told the unprofessional alignment guy what to do - now its perfect
 
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Excessive toe out will involve much more tread since the wear pattern is lateral. To much negative camber say a degree past the tolerance would confine the wear as seen in the picture.
 
The attached evidence, and thousands of miles later my new tyres are perfect after having the toe adjusted.
 

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I'm pleased the wear issue is resolved but for the benefit of other members and as an instructor for chassis and suspension calibration the type of wear visible in the image is not possible by toe alone. Displaced toe is a wanton desire to laterally deviate from the intended line of travel. To wear a tyre to the wire the toe would need to be unbelievably wrong in which case the lateral scrub would without question involve more tread.

Historically when the camber ebbs away or is displaced by road trauma the toe will also be displaced so i'm not saying it wasn't wrong or saying it didn't add to the real reason by being wrong but the wear is definitely due to camber.
 
I bought a set of 19" CLS wheels for my E from a forum member and the two fronts had a lot of tread left on them which was evenly worn but unbeknown to him and me, they were cracked all the way around exactly as that pic - albeit not as obvious.

I presumed too much weight on the inside edge of the rim cause by incorrect camber.
 
Well your kind of there.... What we are looking at is an angle called the scrub radius. This is a line drawn though the SAI ( Steering Axis Inclination ) or in real language lower ball joint and the actual camber position. Where both lines intersect the road surface the gap between them is the tyres contact patch ( scrub radius ) This is the buisness side of all the steering and braking.

Camber deforms the tyre conically offering a compressive force which is actually desirable on track but not if tyre wear is a concern. If the camber position is to far negative then the projected line will aim the cars weight outside of the intended scrub radius meaning the conical effect accentuates the cars weight at the inside of the tyre.

All geometric angles offer some king of force, camber being the prevalent player but it's fools gold.

This image may help.
 

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