Fordnatics List Archive

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: (email redacted) (Brian Kelley)


Warwick Tobin writes:

>One of the front D40's wore down to the threads on the outer shoulder,

The problem with your car is painfully obvious.

1. Have you read Skod's BTPP? He makes it _extremely_ clear that you
need more negative camber when driving agressively and that's
exactly the problem you have. Get it, read it, live it.

You don't just ask for "as much as you can get" when getting an
alignment. What if that guy gave you -3 and you wore the inside
shoulder off? You'd be back wanting them to buy you a set of tires,
right? You probably got a stock alignment and perhaps a little
more.

You have to be specific. If they don't think you know *exactly* what
you want, they likely aren't going to give it to you. You don't just
ask for "as much as possible" because what is great for one person is
definitely too much for others.

I do my own alignments. It's been quite some time since I had one
done at a shop. And the last time I did, I watched them every step
of the way.


>This is what the guy was talking about when he told me that my tires
>wouldn't balance.

Let me get this straight. You're showing cord and you're worried
about getting the tires balanced? Please don't tell me you're
considering just putting Shoe Goo over the exposed cord and running a
track event at Charlotte... At least replace them before the
steel belts get exposed and start to rust.

>The reason I wanted my wheels balanced is because I get a nasty vibration
>from 70mph on up that shakes the entire car.

I'll bet you do. You've got cord showing and you're worried about a
vibration?

>I got up to 100 mph on the highway the other day

Please post a message to the list when you blow out one of those
tires and are parting out your 'stang.


>Sometime soon I'm planning to buy Eibach springs, Koni struts/shocks,
>camber/caster plates, and new tires (Bridgestone RE71's). I'm sure this
>will help prevent uneven tire wear significantly.

Good idea, but too bad you didn't get those components first (as Skod
makes rather clear in BTPP). They will do a lot more to make a
Mustang handle than 17" wheels.

Seriously, spend some quality time reading BTPP and make a decision
regarding how you're going to get more negative camber. It is difficult
for me to make a very accurate camber recommendation without any data
on what you've been running. Generally, it sounds like you should
be running around -1.5. As a rule, a given car will need more
with a big tire on a small rim and less with a smaller tire on a
bigger rim (which is the case with your combo). Once you replace the
tires, you should watch the tire wear *very* closely (measure it!)
and adjust the camber as necessary.

Brian



- ---
(email redacted)
Not speaking for Ford and not using Shoe Goo.

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: Eugene Y C Chu <(email redacted)>

Brian Kelly replied to Warwick Tobin about his tire wear:

>Warwick Tobin writes:
>
>>One of the front D40's wore down to the threads on the outer shoulder,
>
>The problem with your car is painfully obvious.
>
>1. Have you read Skod's BTPP? He makes it _extremely_ clear that you
> need more negative camber when driving agressively and that's
> exactly the problem you have. Get it, read it, live it.

It's not just static negative camber, but as Scott mentioned, the
steering axis inclination angle of the Mustang (and most passenger cars)
automatically moves the negative camber of the tire to positive camber
rather quickly as you turn. One very effective fix for this is to add
positive caster by moving the upper strut mount back. Since the stock
Mustang mounts don't allow this, you need something from the after
market. This will be about the 5th time I publicly gushed accollades
about a product, but I found the Global West McCastor kit to be the best
and most cost effective addition to any late model Mustang. It lets you
adjust your struts for more caster (and camber, if you want) so the
tires have much more dynamic negative camber when you're turning but use
less static camber. It also forces the tires to go straighter when
you're not turning for more straight line stability. Of course, the
other benefit is that your tires last a lot longer. Mine has already
paid for itself a few times over in tires saved. There are now a number
of sources for devices like this. The GW version is probably the most
heavy duty, but the Central Coast Mustang's version adds an inch of
strut travel for those who also lower their front ends by that much.

This idea has worked so well that Ford changed the upper strut mounts on
Mustangs in 1990 for more caster. If they'd only done so in 1984 when
Doug Nordin introduced them to the CHP and Ford. I think Ford must have
been in collusion with Goodyear or something.

A good set of alignment specs for street use would be:

caster: +3
camber: -1.5
toe in: 1/32

Doug actually recommends different values for each side for race cars,
but I don't remember what they are.

eyc