I know what toe, camber and caster all are so i don't need that explained. what I want to know is this:

how does a tire with extreme wear from improper toe-in look? Is it any different from extreme toe-out? improper negative camber? positive camber?

Reason I ask is this. 7500 miles ago i bought 4 new tires and had a 4 wheel alignment done. Today I did a tire wear inspection and to my horror, found both rear tires to be bald? They are worn somewhat evenly, but still worn more severely on the outside than the inside. there is some cupping of the tread, but there isn't much of it left. In my mind, that would seem to indicate a toe problem.

Fronts look brand new.

I have not hit anything more serios than a pot hole and none of them seem to stick in my mind as big enough to knock BOTH rears out. especially considering that I would have most certainly hit the same thing with the front as well.

FWIW, the car drives pretty well but the rear end might seem little bit loose. It's kind of hard to tell exactly since the roads have been wet or snowy for at least a month and a half now and, as I come to find out, the rears are bald. so it would be difficult to point to an alignment problem as the cause of the rear being loose.

Here are the specs:
99 Honda Accord coupe, Eibach prokit and koni yellows set at about half-stiff, 205/60/15 Dunlop Sp sport A2 on an OEM 15inch rim. Original tire size was 195/65/15 but overall diameter change is about .3 inches. I typically run 38psi in all 4 tires. at least 90% of my driving is highway and this set have NEVER been raced on.

 

bizump

 

Too much negative camber would wear out 1/2 to 1 inch of the tread on the inside edge, too much positve camber would do the same on the outside edge. If both rear tires are wearing the same with more of the wear on the outer edge, but heavy wear all across tire, the alignment was done improperly. The rear was set with too much toe in. I would get this checked at another align shop and then go back to the first shop and talk tire wear due to bad alignment. Bill

 

thats pretty much what I figured it was, Im just looking for some second opinions.

I had it done at goodyear so I may take it to a different GY place since they should look at it for free

 

Sounds like too much toe-in. I had this same problem on the front of my car. Had Les Schwab align it after I put a brand new set of snow tires on, 3 weeks later the fronts were down to the treadware bars.

Took it back and pissed and moaned and finally got them to replace the tires, and refund my alignment costs (their tech was being an *** and said he "refused to touch the car again because there was too much downforce on the front" (yeah, i was saying "WTF?" too)).

Took it to a local guy, paid a little more, but he got it spot-on perfect and it's been great all winter. So, in short, I won't be taking my car to Les Schwab again unless I have a deathwish (during the period the tires were bald my car hydroplaned like crazy all over the road)


[Modified by M-EJ1, 10:19 PM 3/6/2003]

 

Oh I'm definately going to cause a scene if they don't replace the tires for free