jcarver1112

Hey all looking for some input from other xb owner. I just put new wheels and tires on by xb and in hopes of saving a nice set of tires I figure it would be worth putting this out there.

I noticed my xb has a camber when turning but not when the wheels are strait. Is this normal? It looks something like this.



I ask because I had unusual wear on the corners of my tires. It looks like the tire may have been under inflated but it never was. Both front tires wear equally on both inside and out. The curious part is my buddy also has an xb a couple of years older than mine and he pointed out the problem to me before I even spotted it. Both of our alignments have been properly done but we still see this wear? Any ideas?

Here is the picture of one of the corners. All 4 tires did it because they were properly rotated every 5k.



Thanks all in advance. I hope me an my friend aren't the only one's seeing this.

GDubya

ALL modern vehicles utilize (negative) camber on the front wheels to enhance steering/cornering tire contact/traction. This has nothing to do with toe-in misalignment. Cambering incurs a subsequent increase in edge tire wear.
With the straight axle on our xBs, there's no way to mitigate the slight negative chambering that's OEM-designed into our vhicles. So we also have rear chambering tire wear, which is also additionally increased by lowering. Faithfull rotation only yields consistent wear in all 4 tires. Lastly, increased wheel width increases said chambering/wear.

This is why Aggressive Fitment equals (less acknowledged) aggressive tire wear...

xseveredveganx

I'm also kind of curious if it has to do with the caster. I know I have a lot of caster in the front.

jcarver1112

Thanks for the reply. So if the camber is normal what would cause excessive wear like this? I don't have a toe-in misalignment problem as it wears both equally on the inside an outside of the tire. Also I don't see any wear problem on the rear end whatsoever.

2010SWxB

Yes it is perfectly normal. These cars have quite a bit of positive CASTER in the front suspension. Makes the front wheels CAMBER(outside wheel negative/inside wheel postive) slightly when turning for improved handling. Also good for straight line stability.

2010SWxB

Wear on inside and outside edge of tires is usually underinflation. What psi are you running?

jcarver1112

Thats the part I was really thrown off by. I am religious about car maintenance. Its checked weekly and has always been 35-40 for the fronts. My buddy doesn't check his quite as frequently but he runs 35 and has the exact same problem.

2010SWxB

When are you checking your tire pressure? Best time is first thing in the morning before temps rise/before car is driven. My stock Goodyears had some of the same excess wear on edges after 40k but nothing like your pic. Your tires look way overdue for replacement from the looks of your overall tread wear. How many miles on them?

jcarver1112

Early in the morning before its been driven that day. The wear is noticeable after about 5k on the tires. In the picture they had about 50k on them, so yes that's a bit over what they should have had. I guess in my mind I expect the tread on the flat portion to be worn nearly flat before the corners started to look like that.