When your suspension turns into a tyre lathe

[BMWTurbo]

WTF are you doing running that much camber on the rear?

Assuming this was directed at me. BMW TA geometry - no adjustment. I've since fitted eccentrics and managed to get it back to 1.5 ish on each side.

[Gammaboy]

WTF are you doing running that much camber on the rear?

Lowered semi trailing arm rear suspension without camber correction at a guess.
Edit: should try reading page two before posting...

[dat2kman]

Running 32 psi in tyres, hit a kerb in a parking bay, for toe outedness, without realusing, bit of sik neg camber.
500 kilometres later, this will happen.

[TurbostyleR]

A bit of an update on this. I got around to taking out the coilover and for all intents and purposes it looks straight, so now I'm wondering if it could be something else that has changed the wheel to camber into the actual suspension.

Anyone got any ideas?

[Roadsailing]

A bit of an update on this. I got around to taking out the coilover and for all intents and purposes it looks straight, so now I'm wondering if it could be something else that has changed the wheel to camber into the actual suspension.

Anyone got any ideas?

no but whatever you do don't post a picture or anything.

[Imposter Forg]

strut top?

[StupidFlanders]

It actually looks like inner edge wear from a very poor alignment to me, if it was an adjustable spring perch that did this I would expect to see different markings on the tyre. plus if it was touching bad enough to wear to the belts you would know as soon as you drive out the driveway as you would feel a massive pull.

This. ^^^
Seen it plenty of times with cars that have had shit alignment. Theres never any rubbing, they just wear done through the canvas and fall apart. If it had been rubbing there'd be rubber everywhere and wear marks on the coilover. But you probably have this now from the s15 wheel rubbing.
Ive had this happen on my vs with coilovers, put a different offset rim and the the spring seat nut gouged the sidewall, thankfully not all the way through. Rubber spray all over everything.

S15 rims have a pretty high offset, had that problem with my 180 with coilovers, had to run a slip on spacer also.
Id say nothing is bent, and just needs new tyres and a good alignment.

[Moss]

Were the two strut to knuckle bolts a touch loose when you removed the strut or the camber adjustments there different side to side?

I've seen S13 setups move here, even with the bolts and nut loctited in place. The result would be a sudden change in camber (usually caused by hitting a pothole, ripple strip, sudden change in surface heights at speed, basically any shock on the wheel) which would result in excessive negative camber, wheels suddenly fouling on the coilover body, then wearing through a tyre. In one certain case, the bolts were still tight when the change happened. Similarly if the top camber plate nuts come loose.

[hrd]

that sidewall damage looks consistent with being run on excessively low pressure too long.
by the time you can visibly see a semi slick looks low on air, it is pretty much dead flat. The stronger sidewalls don't visibly deform anything like as much as a normal road tyre as pressures get low.

[TurbostyleR]

Actually I think you're correct hrd. I hadn't driven the car in months and there are no real visible rub marks on the strut. There is no rubber spray inside the wheel well that I can recollect and I don't remember the car pulling to a side as I was driving it. I do remember it handling a bit funny though. I bet if I refit the strut and grab my other wheel it won't hit at all.

I'll try this and report back my findings.

thanks

[TurbostyleR]

Confirmed hrd is correct.

Put the strut back on the car, took the other wheel off and put it on and it didn't foul at all. In fact it has about 10-15mm of clearance.

I noticed that when I was putting on the wheel that the tyre felt flat. Confirmed it was with 5psi air in it. I thought I better measure the rear tyres, yep 5psi in each of them... Fuck I feel like an idiot, but when you only drive the car 3-5 times a year it gets like that.

Thanks for the help peeps.

[hrd]

think about replacing those tyres - if one popped the others that have been run on 5psi may not be far behind.