I have a 2002 S2000 and have some questions concerning rear wheel excessive negative camber: can it be correct and how. It is my understanding that some degree of negative camber is to be expected with independent rear suspension.
Since I purchased the car, there has been excessive rear wheel negative camber wear (inner aspect of the tires wears more), more so on the passenger side than on the driver’s side.
The soft tires that came on the car demonstrated abnormal wear at 12,000 miles of conservative driving. I spoke to the head of service at the local Honda dealership and made it clear I was not happy that my year old car had this problem. They recommended getting an alignment at the local Goodyear shop -- this was a waste of time since they did no adjustment of the camber.
I changed tire brands and am now running harder Goodyear tires The set I have on the rear now has 30,000 miles on them. I noticed today that the tread on the inner aspect of the passenger’s side is almost totally worn away whereas the outer tread is about 5/32â€. On the driver’s side the excessive negative camber is less severe with the tread 1/32-2/32 more shallow at the inner vs. the outer aspect.
I re-approached the Goodyear shop that did the alignment and the Manager at Honda without getting any satisfaction. The guy at Honda told me that I should expect the tire to wear out at 10,000 miles and that I am lucky to have gotten 30,000. This sounded bogus to me and I’ll think twice about doing business with this guy in the future.
Before I go to a dedicated alignment shop, I hope to find out what can be done so that I don’t again pay for something that I could do myself or something that can't be fixed. Any comments / advice would be appreciated.
Miles
Since I purchased the car, there has been excessive rear wheel negative camber wear (inner aspect of the tires wears more), more so on the passenger side than on the driver’s side.
The soft tires that came on the car demonstrated abnormal wear at 12,000 miles of conservative driving. I spoke to the head of service at the local Honda dealership and made it clear I was not happy that my year old car had this problem. They recommended getting an alignment at the local Goodyear shop -- this was a waste of time since they did no adjustment of the camber.
I changed tire brands and am now running harder Goodyear tires The set I have on the rear now has 30,000 miles on them. I noticed today that the tread on the inner aspect of the passenger’s side is almost totally worn away whereas the outer tread is about 5/32â€. On the driver’s side the excessive negative camber is less severe with the tread 1/32-2/32 more shallow at the inner vs. the outer aspect.
I re-approached the Goodyear shop that did the alignment and the Manager at Honda without getting any satisfaction. The guy at Honda told me that I should expect the tire to wear out at 10,000 miles and that I am lucky to have gotten 30,000. This sounded bogus to me and I’ll think twice about doing business with this guy in the future.
Before I go to a dedicated alignment shop, I hope to find out what can be done so that I don’t again pay for something that I could do myself or something that can't be fixed. Any comments / advice would be appreciated.
Miles
Mar 30, 2009 at 7:23 PM
