I bought my Crossfire convertible about 2 years ago. Love the car, but have had problems with the rear tires. After the first year, the passenger rear blow out, and the driver rear also needed replacement. Replaced them both, chalked it up to just being old tires. This past weekend on a trip, the passenger rear tire blew again after less then 10,000 miles. This time we realized that the rear wheels were out of alignment. (Both rears bad again). We are getting the wheels aligned plus 2 new rear tires. Is wheel alignment a known problem with Crossfires?

 

Very common for the inner sides of our Rear tires to wear out due to the camber
Camber alignment can be helped with this kit sold by Rob and Needswings
He is a trusted source of aftermarket products for our Crossfires for many years here

https://www.needswings.com/spc-adjus...ear-camber-kit

 

Thank you for the input. I ordered the replacement parts and will hopefully have everything fixed in the next few weeks.

 

I have read many of the forum Q+A and am seeking clarification on my problem with the rear tyres on my UK Crossfire.

I have always understood that excessive inner wear on the rear tyres is a problem on our cars, but I must admit I have never really seen any evidence of this issue on my car......until yesterday.

Both rear inner edges are excessively worn, to the point they will be illegal in a few thousand miles.

I have booked the car into my local tyre centre for two new rears and a 4 wheel alignment check .

I have checked the springs, shocks and they appear to be OK. Is there anything else that should be checked before hand or will resetting the alignment(s) be sufficient. Can all rear settings of Camber, Caster and Toe be adjusted?

I am aware of the camber kit(s), but have not got a clue how they work.

Cheers

 

I believe there is no adjustment for the rear wheels without the adjustable rear camber kit being installed

 

From the factory only toe is adjustable in the front and rear. The easiest after market adjustment kits for the Crossfire are replacing the factory suspension bolts either on the "A" frame lower suspension in the front or the upper center link that controls camber in the rear with "eccentric" bolts. It is an easy and rather inexpensive fix.
The cars are about 20 years old now and suspension bushings can be getting soft. On the rear the lower control had especially soft bushing. Replacing them merely requires the purchase of that particular suspension arm and they are not all that expensive.

 

Thanks for the replies.

What mileage would you all expect to get from your rear tyres with normal sensible driving?

 

Depending on how you drive it and the quality of the tire, 10k to 30k miles.

 

I am on Goodyear Eagles F1 and 20K with very sensible driving.

 

I bought and put the Camber kits in as suggested above. They work great, and they were able to now adjust the Camber. However, I now have a toe in problem. This is due to the fact that somewhere along the line someone damaged the toe in adjustment on the right rear wheel. We are working on getting the bolt out, and then replacing it, so the toe can be adjusted.

 

I put 22,000 miles on my rears, Hankooks Ventus V12, no problem, When the tires,all four, were put on I could not find a shop that could align the rears, one shop said they could and after doing the fronts said they could not and said no charge for the front alignment. When I replaced the rears after 22,000 miles the inner wear was hardly noticeable, maybe 1/32" and maybe the same over the wear bars.
I am looking to replace the fronts now just because they are old.
I do not race around though at my age.

 

FOr what is it worth, my SE (2007, all factory, 70,700 miles) eats a pair or rear tires in 14,000 to 20,000 miles.
The fronts last a bit longer, but I usually change all four anyway just to get it out of the way.

Our cars take curves REALLY well, but this is due to the setup in the four wheel independent suspension, it is hard on tires.
But that is the trade-off to obtain the capabilities of a sports car.

My Ford Ranger has just over 60,000 miles on a set of tires that I have not EVER rotated, and they are wearing very little and evenly - but the truck does not understand curves.

 

Two questions>
One: So the rear tires on a Crossfire do not get much mileage even if things are adjusted correctly?

Two: I got the camber kits and the rear tire cambers are now perfect. (I was wearing the inside of the tires out every 10,000 miles). But I still have a toe problem. One of the arms on the right rear cannot be adjusted. Someone along the way screwed up the bolt, and stripped the head. The only way to get it out would be to cut it off. The alignment guys set all the tire toes to match the right rear. Drives perfect, but what affect may it have on tire wear on the tires, knowing the camber is perfect?

 

Buzz, Come on, you are an experienced person in the way of the world; There are trade offs. You want great tire mileage, buy a family sedan and put all season touring tires on it. If you want a sports car to drive and act like a sports car, put sticky summer tires on it. They are trade offs. You just can't have everything. You want higher mileage from tires you need to get harder rubber in the way of high mileage all season. The car is what it is. My last set of tires lasted just a little over 4,000 miles, but I drive it like a sports car.

Bad toe settings will wear tires out faster than camber, it will also cause the car to not track correctly. How fast the tires wear depends on how far out the toe is and your statement about the guys set all the tires to the one you can't adjust doesn't make a lot of sense. CUT THE BOLT HEAD OFF AND SIMPLE GET ANOTHER BOLT. They can be had at any place that sells metric bolts. Just for your info I run no toe on the front tires. They point straight ahead and rear toe is like 0.1 to 0.2 degrees toed in.

 

I used a rear suspension from Rudy and my rear tires last a long time can say how many miles but
all 4 tires were installed in 2022 and still look New, I just installed this suspension on my V8 , will do a 4 wheel alignment next week
with all the control arms replaced with adjustable arms i get the most from my rear tires jim

 

Jim, those control arms are made by THE CAMBERKING. His name is Jim Wong and his shop is in Plantsville CT. Good workmanship with quality materials.
Is the center upper most control arm curved, similar to OEM so as not to hit the sway bar linkage? I made my own in the rear using chromoly tubing and with Aurora rod ends on the Limited which is also lowered about 1.4 inches on a H & R set up.
He makes a camber control arm for the front also, but I do not really like it as it moves the caster adjustment along with the camber. I've returned the control arms to him, now I'm trying to get a refund.

 

No it is not curved and not lowered but works great. I do check them after weekend of racing, in 3 years only one loosened ,
i just switched them to my V8 and put the stock suspension back on the v6, so far do not see any access wear on the tires.
on the front i used the adjustable bolts i think needswings has both the arms and the front bolts. jim

 

zip439,
Just saw this post after I purchased Jim's front upper control arms and also noted a 7/8" offset of the outer mount point (ball joint) which suggests added caster. Did you get your money back? I haven't mounted mine, yet, and am in dialogue with Jim about this issue and why he makes them this way. I need to understand. I'm on H&R lowered springs and the "popular" camber-adjustable bolts for the lower arm didn't get me within factory setting (probably intended for age-related sagging, not lowered springs). Who else might have a solution for -.07 camber outside factory range (-2.2 total) of -0.9 to -1.5 degrees?


Thanks,
Ron

 

Ron, I returned the front upper control arm to Jim . He never made me a set I suggested nor did he return my money. His response via email is good, but he doesn’t act or return your money.

Using his upper control arm will require adjustment of caster. I never put CamberKing upper control arm on my car, just returned them. The set he sent me wasn’t what is pictured on his website; I got a set where the end of the horizontal tube that mounts the bolt to your car was one large diameter from end to end. It did not taper smaller at the ends. I did not like that either.

My car has H&R sport (lowered) coil springs, H&R shock absorbers and H&R sway bars in the front and rear. This is on my Limited. My SRY6 is different. I want a set up where the upper control (camber) is adjusted in and out. That should keep caster and toe pretty close, but CamberKing setup changes everything so making adjustments for a weekend event becomes a real job rather than one simple adjustment. I also have the Kmac adjustable bolts in both lower A frame bushings.

FYI On my car I run with no toe; the wheels are pointed straight ahead, caster is about OEM recommended and my camber runs -1.8 both left and right on the front. I have a little over 15000 mi on front Michelin Pilot Sport 4S and they still have plenty of tread depth nor are they wearing thin on the inside.
Try running your car with zero toe and get the negative chamber as low as you can. Then just watch the front tires for wear.

Someday when I’m bored and feel wealthier than I am I’ll fabricate an adjustable upper front control arm that just moves inboard and outboard, but until then I’ll run with what I have. I made my rear set up with chromoly tubing and Aurora end fittings.

PS. If you want to just set the alignment once and forget it CamberKing arm will probably work. I didn’t install it, so I’m not 100% on how much it affects the caster and toe. Once you get the camber down to -1.2 then you will need to adjust caster and finally toe, but once that is done(assuming you can gat it all to within specs) you shouldn’t have a need to adjust again. I wanted to be able to adjust camber at weekend events and then go back to a street set up without all the bother of going thru caster and toe each time.

 

Just a note : those control arms are made by THE CAMBERKING. His name is Jim Wong and his shop is in Plantsville CT. they are
not by me,, amx1397Jim,, Rudy made mine in 2010 and i have swapped them car to car jim