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Excessive negative camber?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Accessories & Modifications' started by zooracer, May 19, 2017.

  1. zooracer

    zooracer New Member

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    So new owner of 2009 with 87k mikes and just had all four tires replaced and an alignment

    All four old ecopias (not the plus model) were badly worn to the belt on the very inside of the tire tread

    With lots of tire life left on rest of the tire

    The alignment showed anywhere from 1.2 to 1.6 degrees negative camber on all four corners

    I know from experience with other vehicles in past that this can cause issues with tire wear just like I'm seeing with the old tires

    I am guessing there must be "crash" bolts/adjustable camber bolts for the front struts?

    What about the rear?

    Anyone else have this issue?

    Solutions?

    Thanks
     
  2. valde3

    valde3 Senior Member

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    Rear is not adjustable unless you use shims which aren’t recommended. But spec for rear camber is from -2° to -1° so yours is good.
    Front can be adjusted by loosening the knuckle to strut bolts. There’s some adjustment already and if that’s not enough Toyota will sell you camber adjustment bolts to get more. Spec for front camber is from -1°20’ to +0°10’.
    Were your toe in values correct? Toe out will cause inside wear as well.
     
  3. zooracer

    zooracer New Member

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    Thanks for the response

    Toe was good

    Actually toe in on right front

    But no toe out from the baseline measurement on the alignment machine

    I know this wear is from the camber

    Whether Toyota lists that as within spec or not...1.6 degrees of negative camber will cause this horrible tire wear

    1.6 is a LOT of camber

    I had a 2009 Honda Civic si and it had the same issue

    Honda issued a fix which was to bring your car into the dealer and they installed a different length upper control arm for the rear to get more positive camber

    The rear of the Civic was at about 1.5 degree negative

    I mowed through a set of Michelin pilot SS tires (not cheap) in a very short time

    Bringing the camber on all four tires to about a half a degree fixed the issue with the Civic

    I suppose I can do the bolts on the front struts and bring it to about half a degree and just leave the rears at the high amount of beg camber and rotate the hell out of the tires to get decent life out of them...

    There is no getting around the fact that high static negative camber kills tires
     
  4. 69shovlhed

    69shovlhed Surly tree hugger

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    metal shims work fine on the rear. Toyota wants to sell you an axle and that's why they don't like shims.