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Re: Tire Wear
Posted by Peter Ogilvie (more from Peter Ogilvie) on Tue, 3 Dec 2002 23:58:49
In Reply to: , Kok Chen, Sat, 17 Dec 1988 12:00:00

Car is a '96 900 SE with 2.0L turbo with 50,000 miles, 205/55/ZR16 BFG
g-force T/A tires with a little over 20,000 miles on them. Tires are just
slightly taller than stock 205/50/16 but helped to keep from dragging the
bottom on our poor roads.

Experienced what I thought was unbalanced front wheels, a shimmy in the
steering wheel at 50-55mph. When I took it into the dealer for a rebalance,
they found the front tires were scalloped and worn on the inner edge and one
tire was beginning to get tread separation. Tire Dealer said damage was
caused by front end alignment and worn shocks.

Rear tires, now on front, run smoothly without shimmy even though they also
show some evidence of scalloping and uneven wear.

Took the car in to get alignment checked. Shop said the alignment is
slightly off but still well within specifications. Otherwise, they didn't
feel it worth adjusting and all other adjustments were spot on.

They did find that the camber was out of spec's and was not adjustable. All
four wheels tip in at the top which I believe is known as negative camber
(remember you're competition swing axle VW). Believe he said camber was the
same all round. Shop feels that the car was built with camber out of
specifications as all wheels are out of spec the same amount and there is no
sign of any damage.

We haven't noticed any problems with the shocks. No front end bounce
excessive dive, etc. After getting all systems up to speed by driving around
for a 1/2 hour, tested the shocks by getting the car bouncing pressing down
on the bumper. Shocks would dampen motion in a 1/2 cycle. Otherwise,
stopping pushing down at bottom of cycle, car would lift but stop before it
began the downward cycle. Incidentally, release the hand brake before doing
this at the rear. The E brake makes a clunking noise as the suspension moves.
Scared the hell out of me thinking that the rear end was falling off.

So it appears adjustable alignment is near perfect, shocks are in good
condition but camber was built out of spec by the factory. Why would tires
cup instead of just wear unevenly around the circumference of the tire??

Drove a number of swing axle Porsche's in my youth and never had a cupping
problem. Tire wear was uneven even when rotated religiously, though. Also,
these bath tubs were driven with a good deal more enthusiasm than my wife
drives the Saab.

Camber problem is a little troubling. Probably gives car greater cornering
ability but seems to eat tires after only 25,000, relatively gentle, miles.
Anyone else had a problem with Camber and any ideas what to do about it??

TIA
Peter Ogilvie
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