Outside tire wear

[DreamTime]

Tonight I pulled my track wheels out so that I could try and determine which tires were in what position at my last track weekend, since I did not have the foresight to pay attention and/or mark them for future reference. I wanted to know so that I could mark them to keep track of their placement for more effective rotating. Since I only used the tires “directionally”, it was pretty easy to figure out. Once I had them all placed, I noticed that every single one of them had wear in the same place (but to varying degrees) - on the outside. The fronts worse than the rears. It’s not bad or anything, but I feel like I should do what I can to stay on top of it. I guess this type of wear is normal Would this have anything to do with my camber? It is currently -1.6/1.5 in front and -1.8 in back.

I badly want to install the awesome Ground Control street camber plates that have been sitting in my garage for months now. Would this help? I have only waited because I wanted to install my B8s at the same time. I grow weary of waiting though, and have thought that maybe I should just install the damn camber plates soon, and then do the shocks when they get here.

I hope all of that made sense. Any suggestions or insight would be helpful. Thanks

[admranger]

GC Street plates will definitely help a lot. For now though I'd just flip the tires on the wheels so your inside edge will be your outside edge.

Double check your toe and make sure your control arm bushings are good.

[ayao]

Definitely too little camber based on what you are describing.

[ThunderMoose]

One of first mods I made was camber for this very reason. FWIW I run -3.5F/-2.2R in E46M3. I have very consistent tire wear.

[tdott]

Camber will help the most.

Tire pressure, can help a little bit. If it looks like the tire is rolling over the shoulder too much try increasing the pressure slightly.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by tdott

Camber will help the most.

Tire pressure, can help a little bit. If it looks like the tire is rolling over the shoulder too much try increasing the pressure slightly.

This. It's really both things coming into play.

Heck, the track layout also makes a difference (more left hand turns than right, and vice versa). The side of the car you sit on will experience a bit more tire wear.

[Richbot]

Wait...you have camber plates sitting in your garage and you're asking if you need to install them to reduce edge wear? Is this Punk'd? Ashton is that you?

[DreamTime]

Thanks everyone!!

Originally Posted by admranger

GC Street plates will definitely help a lot. For now though I'd just flip the tires on the wheels so your inside edge will be your outside edge.

Double check your toe and make sure your control arm bushings are good.

Thankfully I have a friend with a tire machine in his garage here in town lol. If the wear gets bad I will be showing up at his house with a bottle of scotch in exchange for occasional use of said tire machine

I just checked all of my suspension parts the last time my car was on a lift maybe 3 weeks ago, I'll check them again before I go to my next HPDE at the end of July.

Toe is set at 1/8 on front and rear. I think it's toe in, it was whatever I was told to do on another thread a few months back. After installing the camber plates I guess I will need another alignment, so I will make sure everything is where it should be at that point.

Originally Posted by ThunderMoose

One of first mods I made was camber for this very reason. FWIW I run -3.5F/-2.2R in E46M3. I have very consistent tire wear.

I can't wait to have the camber plates on so that I can adjust the camber in the front to an ideal setting at the track. Since I daily my car also, I was trying to find a good balanced camber for the rear since I would not be able to adjust it. Should I maybe try -2.0 when I get it aligned next? I'm still learning about all this alignment stuff, have lots of questions.

Originally Posted by tdott

Camber will help the most.

Tire pressure, can help a little bit. If it looks like the tire is rolling over the shoulder too much try increasing the pressure slightly.

My instructor that weekend had me start out with the pressure kind of low, I can't remember the exact number now (I really need to be writing this shit down), but I do remember it was a couple lbs lower than what I had ever started at. His reasoning was that it gets hot as all hell at Roebling, which it really does, and that the tire pressure could maybe get too high if I started out higher. That being said, he drives an E30 & E46, so not sure if his tire pressure reasoning was applied to my car, or even if that matters at all actually. I need to start documenting this stuff so that I can provide my own answers without having to ask for help lol.

Originally Posted by dparm

This. It's really both things coming into play.

Heck, the track layout also makes a difference (more left hand turns than right, and vice versa). The side of the car you sit on will experience a bit more tire wear.

Roebling is famous for destroying left front tires. It was easy to tell which one had been on the front on my left side.

Originally Posted by Richbot

Wait...you have camber plates sitting in your garage and you're asking if you need to install them to reduce edge wear? Is this Punk'd? Ashton is that you?

Damnit man. Lmao, I know... I can see the ridiculousness of my question, lol. I was just going to do all the work at once, but I have been waiting for my shocks for 8 MONTHS... I never would have thought I would still be waiting in July. I will get my car on a lift before my next HPDE and get the camber plates installed

[Richbot]

For what it’s worth, Mazda Motorsports FINALLY got spec bilsteins for the Miatas back in stock. So maybe this tragic Bilstein famine is almost over

[DreamTime]

Originally Posted by Richbot

For what it’s worth, Mazda Motorsports FINALLY got spec bilsteins for the Miatas back in stock. So maybe this tragic Bilstein famine is almost over

God, I hope so. My friend at Bilstein who I ordered my B8s through was actually visiting here in town last weekend. He didn't have any updates on when my order would be arriving up in Ohio, but I'm hoping I hear from him soon.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by dparm

This. It's really both things coming into play.

Heck, the track layout also makes a difference (more left hand turns than right, and vice versa). The side of the car you sit on will experience a bit more tire wear.

Originally Posted by tdott

Camber will help the most.

Tire pressure, can help a little bit. If it looks like the tire is rolling over the shoulder too much try increasing the pressure slightly.

Boomshakalakaa!

[bigjae1976]

I recommend about -2.5 fr and -2.0 rr camber. Stay with the OE rear toe spec, zero toe up front. That will be a good starting point and a good in between for a dual purpose car. I got pretty even wear...in fact I had more of an issue with the outside of the rears wearing.

You'll need to service those camber plates occasionally. The bearing is not sealed so you get dirt and crap in the bearing and its a cheapo roller/ball bearing unit. The spring perch won't rotate freely and cause a front end clunk at some point. Pull out the plate, disassemble, clean and regrease. I did it annually until I retired my E90 from track use and went back to the OE mounts.

What applies to the E36/E46 suspension doesn't always apply to the E90. Just a word of caution. Very different designs.

[DreamTime]

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

I recommend about -2.5 fr and -2.0 rr camber. Stay with the OE rear toe spec, zero toe up front. That will be a good starting point and a good in between for a dual purpose car. I got pretty even wear...in fact I had more of an issue with the outside of the rears wearing.

You'll need to service those camber plates occasionally. The bearing is not sealed so you get dirt and crap in the bearing and its a cheapo roller/ball bearing unit. The spring perch won't rotate freely and cause a front end clunk at some point. Pull out the plate, disassemble, clean and regrease. I did it annually until I retired my E90 from track use and went back to the OE mounts.

What applies to the E36/E46 suspension doesn't always apply to the E90. Just a word of caution. Very different designs.

Cool, thanks for the alignment advice.

That's good to know I will need to service the camber plates. Since I'm putting them on here in the next couple weeks, I will plan on July for my annual service time. Thanks!

PS - I was going to text you soon to see when a good time would be to talk about Solo2 stuff, just been insanely busy. I got some interesting advice at the track last weekend about where/how to connect to the power in my car... Anyways, I think early next week I will finally have a second to finish up the loose ends on that project. Thanks again for all your help with this!

[bigjae1976]

Originally Posted by DreamTime

Cool, thanks for the alignment advice.

That's good to know I will need to service the camber plates. Since I'm putting them on here in the next couple weeks, I will plan on July for my annual service time. Thanks!

PS - I was going to text you soon to see when a good time would be to talk about Solo2 stuff, just been insanely busy. I got some interesting advice at the track last weekend about where/how to connect to the power in my car... Anyways, I think early next week I will finally have a second to finish up the loose ends on that project. Thanks again for all your help with this!

Might not need annual maintenance but it will need some maintenance.

I just changed my #...I'll text it to ya.

[Richbot]

One of the big draws of the Dinan plates was their dumb simplicity for me. -2.5 approx on both sides, zero moving or sliding parts other than of course the slgihtly relocated stock strut bearing.

[rhyary]

Here is front -3.12
I don't like how much it eats the inside.
I am going back to -2.9
.
.

[bigjae1976]

Originally Posted by rhyary

Here is front -3.12
I don't like how much it eats the inside.
I am going back to -2.9
.
.

-2.5 fr and -2.0 rr with NT01s and Conti scrubs worked great for me. I suspect you'll need a little less with a street tire.

[DreamTime]

Originally Posted by rhyary

Here is front -3.12
I don't like how much it eats the inside.
I am going back to -2.9
.
.

That is really interesting to see the inside tire wear at -3.12. I was told to set my fronts at -3.0 I think, I really need to look back over the old thread and double check. I will have my camber plates on before my next track weekend, so this will matter soon. It looks like anything much past -2.9/-3.0 might start to eat up the inside edge? This is really helpful, thanks!

[admranger]

Originally Posted by DreamTime

That is really interesting to see the inside tire wear at -3.12. I was told to set my fronts at -3.0 I think, I really need to look back over the old thread and double check. I will have my camber plates on before my next track weekend, so this will matter soon. It looks like anything much past -2.9/-3.0 might start to eat up the inside edge? This is really helpful, thanks!

You don't need that much for an E9xM3. -2.5 is plenty up front and then -2 in the rear. This suspension is leagues better than previous generations.

[bigjae1976]

Originally Posted by admranger

You don't need that much for an E9xM3. -2.5 is plenty up front and then -2 in the rear. This suspension is leagues better than previous generations.

Exactly.

The E9X has a multi link front instead of the e36/e46 wishbone lower control arm and 2 points of contact on the kingpin and front subframe.

You can run a lot less camber than the E46. I run -4.0 camber on mine. Really good front end grip on turn in, crap braking. You get none of this on the E9X.