Date:         Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:38:55 -0700
Reply-To:     Keith Hughes <keithahughes@Q.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Keith Hughes <keithahughes@Q.COM>
Subject:      Re: Front tire wear
In-Reply-To:  <BAY0-PAMC1-F11XVna10000a9e7@bay0-pamc1-f11.bay0.hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

> Date:    Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:39:20 -0400
> From:    "Jack R." <jack007@COMCAST.NET>
> Subject: Re: Front tire wear
>
> William,
>
> My 84 has the same issue, and when I brought it in for an alignment last
> year after changing the front PS rack,
> they indicated that the negative camber was 1.5 degrees out of adjustment,
> and could not be corrected beyond that without some major front end work.
>
Vanagons should not have "negative camber" unless fully loaded, and then
only 1/2°.  So if you're saying you *have* 1.5° negative camber, under
normal load, then you do have some problems.  Unless something is really
bent, only ball joints, control arm bushings, and camber adjustment
affect camber (well, or wheel bearings just about to fail).  These are
fairly easy to check.  Also, I'd make sure your alignment shop *knows*
vanagons.  When the camber adjustment gets nocked out of whack, it will
always go negative - thats the normal state if you loosen the locking
bolts.  When you take a vanagon with a loosened camber adjuster into
'jiffy alignment', the 18 yo "tech" will almost always look at the
massive negative camber and say "Whoa! no way to adjust this!".  BTDT -
you have to tell them to go ahead and try anyway, because there is a
great deal of adjustment range on Vanagons, much more than most vehicles
I've seen.  So if your ball joints and bushings are OK, it should be
alignable.

As for tire wear on the edges of the tire - greater wear on the inside
and outside edges is normal, especially if you don't rotate regularly,
.  Vanagons have > +4° positive caster, meaning the bottom ball joint is
closer to the rear of the van than the top one is.  Since the tire
rotation axis (left/right)  is the line drawn between the centers of the
ball  joints, and that line is not vertical, whenever  you turn the
wheels,  the camber  changes (i.e. the wheel tilts), so some additional
wear  on the inner/outer edges is expected.  If the wear is greater on
one edge than the other, or if there is cupping or feather edging as
well as wear, or you have really significant wear, then you have
inflation,  or alignment problems.

Keith Hughes
'86 Westy Tiico (Marvin)