2006 Vibe alignment and excessive tire wear

[Widetrack455]

I am a new owner of a used 2006 base model FWD Vibe with 52K miles. The car is is good condition and I purchased from the previous adult owner in June of 2010. The car had newish Fusion stock size, properly inflated 205/55/16 tires on OE steel wheels. All four tires showed cupping on the inside edges and the vehicle made excessive road noise. I cross rotated all four wheels to reverse rolling direction and the noise reduced to a more moderated level.After a rain a couple of weeks ago I was able to see the dried tire foot prints of all wheels on my garage floor. The impact was very dramatic. All four wheels clearly showed what appeared to be excessive negative camber. I took the car to a trusted alignment shop in Boulder, CO and the alignment readings were within spec except for the RF toe.The Primary angle specs. in decimal degrees.FRONT Left Right Actual Spec Actual Spec Caster 2.91 2.03 to 3.53 2.84 2.03 to 3.53Camber -0.70 -1.32 to 0.18 -0.77 -1.32 to 0.18Toe 0.03 -0.10 to 0.10 -0.12 -0.10 to 0.10REARCamber -1.21 -2.20 to -0.70 -1.79 -2.20 to -0.70 Toe 0.13 0.00 to 0.26 0.02 0.00 to 0.26 Given my tire wear issues I had the shop install camber bolts in the front to correct the negative camber as close to zero degrees as possible. The camber bolts allowed the front camber to be adjusted to:Left Front -0.19Right Front -0.17In addition they adjusted the toe into spec.Right 0.01Left 0.01I was unable to have the rear camber and toe adjusted at the shop because they wouldn't be able to get the shims until the next day. I purchased and installed the shims the next day. By my calculations my rear camber and toe should now be Left RightCamber -0.71 -0.68Toe 0.12 0.14The car now drives much more quiet than it did before. Time will tell if tire wear improves. I used Specialty Products camber bolts and 75800 shims.The attached pics of my car's foot print on my garage floor were my clue that something needed to be done. A vehicle that is tracking on only 1/3 of the tire foot print can't be safe or kind to your tires.I'll attach the other three tire foot prints in additional posts

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[Widetrack455]

Second pic

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[Widetrack455]

3rd picThe rear pics are not as clear

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[Widetrack455]

4th pic

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[star_deceiver]

Must have been a handfull in the rain!!!

[Widetrack455]

Nope, it drove straight, didn't pull to one side or the other and didn't seem to be out of balance. It was just wearing the tires out at an alarming rate. These cars must be the tire company's best friend! I can only attribute the excessive tire wear to worn out jigs in the factory or lack of adequate quality checks and overly generous factory alignment tolerances. Maybe I'm being too critical but I don't think so. Sure would be nice if one of the manufacturing operations engineers happened to read this and commented?

[vibedrivermatt]

wow pretty cool! i've got some of those SPC shims too, I wanna fix my rear camber/toe because its off on my car too just haven't got to the job yet. Thanks for sharing.

[Widetrack455]

Here is a tip that might help with installing the SPC shims. Try using a Dremel with a thin cut-off wheel to cut the shims. I used a very sharp set of diagonal cutters and still broke the first shim. Had to glue it back together before installation. Used a Dremel on the second shim and was done in a minute. The SPC shims are multi-use for both the Vibe/Matrix as well and other vehicles. When used on the Vibe/Matrix you have to open the ID of the shim 1mm. This is a PIA but was much easier using the Dremel with a small sanding drum. Initially tried using a small grinding wheel on the Dremel but it is harder to control and melts the SPC shim a little. Buy or borrow a Dremel tool and it will be much easier. My base car doesn't have abs so installation is simple. Took me a little more than an hour on the first side and 10 minutes on the second side after figured out the Dremel was the tool to use. Hope this helps. Those plastic shims break easy....be careful, follow the directions and it should work out ok.The car is driving much quieter now that I have 400 miles an the new alignment. Time will tell if the camber bolts and shims solve the tire wear issues.

[Widetrack455]

6000 mile update:I now have 6000 miles on the new alignment. Tire wear is greatly improved. Road noise from my previously cupped tires is much improved and tolerable. Snow traction has not been a problem here in Colorado. All four tires appear to be wearing evenly and flat across the face of the tread. This is a different car now, much more pleasant to drive with out all that road noise.

[Widetrack455]

11,000 mile update.Tires wearing great. No unusual wear patterns other than the initial cupping caused by the out of alignment condition that was corrected. I believe that I will get the full rated mileage out of these tires. Without the camber bolts and rear shims these tires would have been toast in just a few thousand more miles. The big benefit however has been a much more quiet enjoyable ride!