Odd tire wear

I am running stock Continental tires on 18" Technology rims. I have had the ROW M030 suspension installed and went with the factory alignment specs while adding a 1/4 degree of negative camber to the front and rear. Anywho... I have run two track days since the install/alignment with the front pressure at 38# and the rear at 40# (hot pressures). My front tires seem to be feathering on the outer edges and the rears are wearing pretty low on the inside edge. I have put on a total of maybe 1200 miles since I had the suspension work. The fronts have only 7000 miles on them total while the rears are due for replacement (not sure the milage). My question is this... what is causing the front wear? Is it an inflation issue, an alignment issue, or do the Conti tires just wear like that? I expect some increased wear on the insides due to the increased neg. camber, but what about the feathering on the fronts? Any input is appreciated. TIA

Soth, It might help if you publish your alignment specs or at least camber. If you added -.25 degrees to both ends I'm guessing you are around a -.25/-1.85 combo. If that's the case, your tire wear makes sense. -.25 is nothing in front and you could easily tear up the outer edges of street tires in a couple of days at the track. Especially if you have a bit of understeer which you likely do. You mentioned that your rears are wearing on the inside. That's not too surprising either. They probably wear about even on the track and wear on the inside on the street. Having said all this, it is only speculation without more alignment data. Jim

The suspension is set to factory ROW M030 spec with the exception of camber. Specs shown in degree, minutes. 15'= .25deg. Factory camber spec... F -15' R -1.10' I speced an additional -15' for the front and rear... F -30' (or -.5deg) R -1.25' (or -1.42deg) Any thoughts? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

I would still guess that your outside front tire feathering is caused by too little camber mixed with a bit of understeer. BTW, is it worse on the "outside of the track" tire?

The feathering is on the outide of the front tires. The excessive wear is on the inside of the rear tires. Street Continentals all around.

I'm sorry, I should have been more clear. On the front tires that are feathering on the outside, is it worse on the side of the car that is on the outside of most corners on your track?

I'm with ya now... I think. The left front tire would be worse as there is more right hand turns on the track. Both tires showed the feathering, however, I did not compare to see which side was worse. I will have to look at that when I get home. So you seem to think that it is a combo of not enough camber (for track use) and the inherent understeer associated. So short of really increasing the camber (to further eliminate the understeer), the feathering is going to be an ongoing issue at the track. I just want to be sure that everyting is alright with normal wear (all things considered), and that the shop did not totaly botch the alighnment. Thanks <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

I guess I would say it slightly differently. I think you are getting the feathering because you don't have enough -camber in front causing the tire to run on it's outside edge through corners. In addition, I would guess that it is made slightly worse by understeer.

JimB Thanks for your help. <img src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" border="0" alt="[cheers]" />

Just checked my tires after the weekend DE, they have a nice even treadwear pattern. I also run RoW 030, 225/265 Pilot Sports at 34F/39R hot pressures. My alignment is to factory sport specs.

Hi Gang, A lot of good info so far. One thing I have not seen anyone mention was "What is the track like?" Which track? If your in the south and running Roebling Road your going to chew your left outside 75% faster than all other tires. IF your at Sebring your going to get good wear all around more or less but your going to chew through your brake pads faster. In most cases you wear out your inside first, but the track does have a lot to do with it. Neg camber will help....a lot if your on the low end...but even with a lot of camber in the front you can still chew up the outsides if the track is really rough and you hve all the long sweepers going in the same direction..... Just My $.02 Armando

Thanks for that input. The track that I noticed most of the wear from was Moroso in W. Palm Beach. The track was rough enough to turn my left front into a hamburger like texture.