So the tires just wearing down in the front, it goes pretty straight considering I've never used manual steering just on slanted streets it moves

The outside of the tire is gone and hard, the insides are soft and lots of miles to go.

My dad told me rotating bad tires on the back (worn funky) can be dangerous on a rwd car and that rwd needs best in the back and fwd needs the best in the rear or something.

I'm thinking bout putting these old SA wheels on (Same as mine) the tires are newish but have not been driven on much in 3 years at least, they arnt cracking or anything... my front tires sidewall has cracks

I see a good bit of neg camber in the front, why would the outsides wear? I thought neg camber caused the insides to wear.

 

go bring your car to an allignment shop and buy some new tires... thats about all i can think of.

 

i would check out all the linkage in the front and make sure everything is in good shape. i would also get a front and rear end alignment..for sure. and new tire's wouldent hurt eather. after the alignment of course.

:AA:

 

rear end alignment? know something I don't?

 

rear end alignment isn't really necessary. you either have a toe issue or camber. my thoughts are too much toe in or too much positive camber. definitely take it to an alignment shop. if i was still in the suspension class i'd do it for you

 

Yeah the suspension appears to need work. I just don't got the tools to fix it

Oh man today it bottomed out baad in the city, why would they put a dip in a 35 lol.

The rear tires are worn fine, the fronts appear to be balding quicker and quicker its now the outer 2" of the tire thats worn down...

 

more than likely its your toe. the rears should be good since its a straight axle. my teacher should let me bring my car in next week, maybe i can take a look at your car... i know its kinna far to get to hayward from sj

 

hmm your 70 miles away like a 50 min drive.

 

If one has the car aligned with old worn tires, then it will be out of alignment with the new ones. Install new tires on the front, then head straight for an alignment shop.

Has there been any suspension, steering or bushing work done on the car? Is the rear of the car sitting low or are you carrying excessive weight in the hatch? Are the rear springs collapsings?

 

How does that work?

 

Because the old tires have worn in at a specific toe, when you set the car to rest its weight on the wheels, the shape of the tires will cause the car to sit at the measurements it roughly wore into and so when you correct the alignment and then put a fresh set of tires that are level rather than worn unevenly it will move the alignment out of order because the car is now sitting on four level tires rather than four tires that were worn at a slant.

Make sense?

 

no the cars a pretty stock 85 GSL.

The shocks/struts seem to be worn out, or maybe the springs too. It drops to the ground pretty easy, as far as I can see that'd induce more neg camber on the front on hard corners (on hard cornering if i hit a slight dip or bump in the corner the front end goes out of line a few inches so its loosing traction)

I was going to have a shop my dad worked for change the suspension stuff but I can't afford it all yet >_<, front and rear of it all costs like 430 bucks

Should I buy new tires first, this appear to be pretty old then should I replace the front suspension then the back then get it aligned?

I can't do it all at the same time, but I think I should do front shocks/springs yeah cause if the springs are weak wont it ruin the new shocks

 

I suppose if the tires are really messed up and the suspension components are really worn, there might be some influence, but I find it hard to believe it makes a measurable difference if the suspension is in good shape. And if the tires are feathered or cupped, as opposed to worn excessively on the inside or outside, then I don't see how it would make any difference at all.

Now I can understand that you would want to replace the tires after the alignment if something was way off because you may not have even contact between the road and tire afterwords, which would make for dangerous handling until the tire wore down to match the new alignment.

 

If the suspension parts are worn out, the car can be dangerous to drive. The same can be said for the tires. Especially if you drive it like a sports car. Ideally, save up and fix it all at the same time.

 

To me your issue just sounds like your running to much toe up front...

 

agrees with driftking* +1

 

weird, i did this and the car is streight...oh well.

:AA:

 

If the worn tires aren't level across the tread face, then the tire itself cannot set level and the alignment would be adjusted to make up for that. Installing a fresh set of tires will throw that adjustment off, no matter how minor the difference might be.

Excessive toe in is generally due to any of 4 factors, tie rod adjustment is out too long, tension rod adjustment is too short, camber is too far out at the top and/or the rear of the body sits too low, front too high. I doubt caster will even be a factor even though it can be related to caster. To begin narrowing the list, measure all 4 wheel well arches from the center to the ground. They should be within 1/4-1/2" of each other. After turning a corner, does the steering wheel return to center on it's own or with very little effort. A couple other items to check is the wheel bearing preload and ball joint wear. These items rarely wear at the same rate nor will they present the same wear pattern on both tires.

 

I'd say no on the new tires first if you're doing everything piecemeal. The reason is you'll start wearing the outsides of your new tires out if you haven't fixed the cause first.

If the existing tires will last (and you're not having drivability problems), and you're pretty sure the suspension's in bad shape, I'd do the suspension first. Then save up to do the tires and alignment at the same time.

Just to verify the toe's out (really sounds like toe in, as others have mentioned), get a buddy and a tape measure, and you can get a rough idea as to how badly the toe is off by measuring the distance between the front side of the front tires and the rear side of the front tires when the vehicle's parked facing straight ahead. The measurements you get should be pretty similar if all is well (maybe an 1/8 of an inch less measured on the frontside than on the backside). Note that the measurements you take will be fairly low down on the tire because everything in the engine bay will keep you from doing it at the mid-point of the tires (get as high as you can without the tape measure hitting anything though), but it's a good free way to start.

 

put the front tires on the back and the back tires on the front and get an alignment. then get new tires for the back.

 

stock suspension always wears the outside of the front tires first if you corner hard....

 

I have more oversteer then understeer so I think the bald tires in theback would be a bad idea

j9fd3s, that makes sense considering i corner hard

What suspension upgrades should I do? I was thinking of getting RB Springs and not sure on what shocks but I dont care for that adjusting crap.

 

you= no$$ with front end problems

putting the good tires on the front = you can get an alinment

you can switch the tires back after that if you wanted to.

 

your toe is outta wack. i've seen that with too much toe toe out, or too much toe in on my repu (stock front toe setting is 1/4" toe in!)

 

I have a mount on my steering rack that is sloppy and thats giving me slop in my toe-in
But on top of that, the car is set to 1/4 degree POSITIVE camber.....
RE-Speed camber plates here I come.

Lotta bay area first gens. I only spot a handful up here in Marin.