Car eating front tyres

Agricola

Got my e46 4 wheel tracked back in August. The camber on any corner was never touched. (I believe this is because it's not an NCT issue?)

Anyway, my back tyres were wearing unevenly (on the inside) so I adjusted the rear camber myself and now theres no issues at the back.

Problem is the fronts are now badly worn on the inside.

I know the front toe is calculated from the back and all must be done at once, but would be changing the rear camber have caused this problem at the front?

enumbers

The bmw factory settings are very aggressive on the rear tyres. We quite often set the rear at less than factory to lower tyre wear but the front will be well of if you adjusted the rear without the front.

mickdw

Agricola wrote: »

Got my e46 4 wheel tracked back in August. The camber on any corner was never touched. (I believe this is because it's not an NCT issue?)

Anyway, my back tyres were wearing unevenly (on the inside) so I adjusted the rear camber myself and now theres no issues at the back.

Problem is the fronts are now badly worn on the inside.

I know the front toe is calculated from the back and all must be done at once, but would be changing the rear camber have caused this problem at the front?

You adjusted the camber?
Is this actually adjustable on e46 without fitting aftermarket bits?

enumbers

im assuming he adjusted the toe rather than camber

mickdw

enumbers wrote: »

im assuming he adjusted the toe rather than camber

He said camber

enumbers

Sorry my mistake but camber is adjustable where the lower arm attaches to the hub I thought , possibly I'm wrong as its a while since I had to go near one

mickdw

enumbers wrote: »

Sorry my mistake but camber is adjustable where the lower arm attaches to the hub I thought , possibly I'm wrong as its a while since I had to go near one

Possibly.

Agricola

Hi lads,

Yeah it was the camber, adjusted by an eccentric bolt where the lower arm meets the hub.

To to be clear. I only adjusted the camber of the rear AFTER the tracking had been done a few weeks before. The reason being, as enumbers said, the e46 is tough on rear tyres the way the factory camber is set. The lads in the tyre place don't bother with it cos I don't believe its an issue for the nct.

But now I appear to have trouble up front with severe wear on the inside of both tyres. So Im assuming thats a result of me messing with rear camber......

mickdw

Agricola wrote: »

Hi lads,

Yeah it was the camber, adjusted by an eccentric bolt where the lower arm meets the hub.

To to be clear. I only adjusted the camber of the rear AFTER the tracking had been done a few weeks before. The reason being, as enumbers said, the e46 is tough on rear tyres the way the factory camber is set. The lads in the tyre place don't bother with it cos I don't believe its an issue for the nct.

But now I appear to have trouble up front with severe wear on the inside of both tyres. So Im assuming thats a result of me messing with rear camber......

I couldn't see it being a result of adjusting the rear camber specially if you are ending up with similar issues on both sides at the front.
It's more likely due to poorly adjusted toe on front or even tyre pressures or is the car sitting lower than it should?

Agricola

The tyres would say the toe is completely wrong up front alright but I don't know how because it's only been done 3 months ago, the car hasn't done 3k miles since. I was with the guy in my local tyre place when he was doing it and he took his time to get the toe angle on all corners perfect according to the machine.
I'm fairly vigilant on tyre pressures, it wouldn't have been going around for any length of time under 30psi. As for the suspension, its all factory, no lowering or mods.

I suppose I may just go back and get it all rechecked.

enumbers

You will need to get it re done as normally on the back any adjustment can put another reading of, If you explain your issue to the company doing the alignment they should be able to set it less aggressively on the camber and less toe in on the front if you wish. Obviously going outside factory settings will cause the balance of the car to be slightly different but shouldn't be a problem.

mickdw

Tyre places have been known to make very big alignment mistakes.
Even with the machine showing all good, if the chap doing the work doesn't know his job, things can be a mile off.

Agricola

Thanks lads. Im hoping to be able to leave the rears alone now, even though Ive almost got them at 0 with no negative or positive camber. The back tyres are wearing dead even.

I was told the machine adjusts for whatever the rear wheels are doing, so if the toe looks completely wrong on the front now, it may just be a matter of adjusting that.

Will see what they say next week.

mickdw

Agricola wrote: »

Thanks lads. Im hoping to be able to leave the rears alone now, even though Ive almost got them at 0 with no negative or positive camber. The back tyres are wearing dead even.

I was told the machine adjusts for whatever the rear wheels are doing, so if the toe looks completely wrong on the front now, it may just be a matter of adjusting that.

Will see what they say next week.

The machine would read the direction (toe) of the rears and account for that in setting the front toe.