C2 Sudden Tire Wear

[Mark W.]

I drove my '66 roadster to Vettes on the Rockies a couple weekends ago (approx 240 miles roundtrip)and when I looked at my tires this past weekend, there was some extreme tire wear on the outside tread of both front tires. During the trip, I had occasionally noticed the steering was sloppy, but attributed it to some road construction. This tire wear is a new problem as I drive the car regularly and check tire pressure and condition often. What areas should I be looking at that would cause this problem? Steering box? front end? Both? anything else? I installed new shocks this past winter.

[Wayne P.]

Re: C2 Sudden Tire Wear

If the wear is smooth, it sounds like too much toe-in. If cupped, probably balance. New shocks should not effect the alignment and might improve cupping.

[Chuck R.]

Re: C2 Sudden Tire Wear

Is this the first real sustained use of the car Mark?

If it were the steering box, I would (should I say it) assume, that you would be constantly chasing the front end to keep it straight.

I would agree with Wayne on the tow in, that would also make the steering a litle dicy at times too.

Chuck

[William V.]

Re: C2 Sudden Tire Wear

Mark

As suggested by Chuck and Wayne, my best guess is too much tow-in. I suggest you seek a trusted and qualified front end shop that will thoroughly go through the front end looking for looseness, component ware, check the ride height and properly set the caster/camber and tow. A knowledge shop can also easily check and adjust the rear camber as needed. There are numerous posts that provide different alignment setting based on your driving. A good shop will be able to set the alignment based on settings you request. However, the front end setting in your owners manual are based on normal town and highway driving, and these may be best to meet your needs.

Beware of these quickie alignment shops.

Good luck

Bill

[Mark W.]

Re: C2 Sudden Tire Wear

Thanks to all for your suggestions. To answer some of your questions, the wear is smooth, not cupped, on the outside tread of both tires (passenger side being the worst). I've owned the car for over 4 yrs and drive it regularly, having put over 12,000 miles on it during that time. I did a quick visual tonight to see if there was any apparent damage or something out of whack. I didn't see anything obvious. I have an appointment this friday with an alignment shop that came very highly recommended by a friend in the Corvette restoration business.

[John H.]

Re: C2 Sudden Tire Wear

If you have radials, don't use the total toe-in spec in the Service Manual for the front tires - that's for the old bias-ply tires that needed it; radials are happy with zero-to-1/16" total toe-in.