Hi all,

If I happen to neglect any proper message-board etiquette here, you'll have to excuse me, as this is my first post in this forum.

That said, I have a question for the pros. I brought my 96 GS-R 4dr to the shop the other day for an alignment. (1) my car seems to be pretty squirelley...especially on a road that might be slightly contoured and (2) the inside edge of both front tires are abnormally wearing down.

However, these guys claim the alignment wasn't bad (on the front) at all. On top of that, they also said there as no camber adjustment for this vehicle. Does this make sense to you? Is it possible that my struts are worn to the point that this vearing and tire wearing is causing the problem?

The car doesn't bottom out...and the damping seems to be right on. So I just don't know. However, simply eyeing the front end of the car from a distance, you can see the tilt in the wheels.

Everything seems nice and snug underneath too. Bearings are fine.

Any ideas? Is there really a camber adjustment and this shop doesn't have a clue what they're doing??

Thanks!

-Chris
96 GS-R
Rockville, MD

 

Wow, an intelligent first post with an actual question and punctuation. Congrats!!

Let me ask a few questions to help you a little better. How many miles do you have on the current suspension set-up? Is it stock?

As far as the alignment goes, you would have to buy a camber kit to get adjustment. BUT camber does NOT cause abnormal wear on its own. Toe is the cause of extreme tire wear, and toe is adjustable. I would have them give you a printout of the alignment and compare it to the factory settings.

Also, just because it's within spec, doesn't necessarily mean that the set up is optimal. I ran into this at a suspension shop once. If the toe is max on one side, min on the other, it can still cause wear even though it's within spec. Are there any other shops you could take it for a second opinion?