Diagnose cause of unusual wear

[B0ND]

I just recently bought my 89 325i and it had these wheels on it. The outsides has fairly normal looking wear, but the insides are pretty much bald. Here's pictures of the tires:
Front left

Rear left


The right side is pretty much the same. I'm guessing that it wasn't alligned correctly, is there anything else that would cause this sort of drastic wear pattern? The springs used to be Eibach pro, then the PO switched back to stock springs. I don't know if this was before or after the tires were put on.

[92 mtechnic cabrio]

dude. that's camber wear.

it's what happens when you lower the car too much, or any at all. You can't really adjust the camber on an E30 without camber plates for the front or slotting the rear trailing arms.

I just take the wheels in and get the tires on the wheels camber flipped so I can run on the otherside.

[B0ND]

dude. that's camber wear.

it's what happens when you lower the car too much, or any at all. You can't really adjust the camber on an E30 without camber plates for the front or slotting the rear trailing arms.

I just take the wheels in and get the tires on the wheels camber flipped so I can run on the otherside.

Thanks man, I forgot to ask though how much further I should go on those wheels. About as far as it takes to get it to a tire center? Or can I keep going a little ways?

[Brew]

Its probably caused more by a toe-out condition rather than the camber, but either way it needs an alignment.

[mattdk318i]

yea, Get your car aligned to take away some of that, I have the same problem with my F1s.

[erik325i]

It's a mixture of negative camber caused by the Eibach springs, and having the wheels toe-out.

-Erik

[arsevader]

Its probably caused more by a toe-out condition rather than the camber, but either way it needs an alignment.

No alignment on the rear on the E30. Only thing that is really shop adjustable is front toe.

[ZinRot325i]

Yeah my buddy's e30 used to wear EXACTLY like that and it was lowered with an H&R race setup.

I'm gonna throw the same setup in so i guess I'll have the same thing.
Also makes you blow front wheel bearings every 5 seconds.

[Brew]

No alignment on the rear on the E30. Only thing that is really shop adjustable is front toe.

No kidding, look at the pictures again- the fronts are the tires that are wasted. And although there is no factory adjustment on the rear, the alignment can still be out-of-spec, in which case you'll need to find out what part is bent and replace it.

[B0ND]

Thanks guys, I'll probably go get some new tires put on this week, thinking about getting the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires. I've read some really good things about those tires so I thought I'd give em a try. I'll probably wait a couple weeks before I get an alignment cause I'm wanting to put H&R Sport Springs and Bilstein Sport shocks on really soon and don't want to mess up a brand new alignment, might also be putting on some new CABs, not sure how bad they are atm.

[golde30]

I just take the wheels in and get the tires on the wheels camber flipped so I can run on the otherside.

isnt this dangerous? under hard cornering, the tires would have to roll WAY out to get any grip no?

[mattdk318i]

Thanks guys, I'll probably go get some new tires put on this week, thinking about getting the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires. I've read some really good things about those tires so I thought I'd give em a try. I'll probably wait a couple weeks before I get an alignment cause I'm wanting to put H&R Sport Springs and Bilstein Sport shocks on really soon and don't want to mess up a brand new alignment, might also be putting on some new CABs, not sure how bad they are atm.

Amazing tires. Im very happy with mine. When they rate it a 10 out of 10 for wet traction they mean it.
They are damn near impossible to break loose in the rain.
And tirerack has them pretty cheap too.

Matt

[B0ND]

Amazing tires. Im very happy with mine. When they rate it a 10 out of 10 for wet traction they mean it.
They are damn near impossible to break loose in the rain.
And tirerack has them pretty cheap too.

Matt

Just ordered a set of 4 F1s, thanks for the reinforcement on my decision!

[92 mtechnic cabrio]

isnt this dangerous? under hard cornering, the tires would have to roll WAY out to get any grip no?

yeah but I drive a convertible and I take it easy on the road.

I switch on important tires if I do anything that requires even a downshift.

but yeah, I wouldn't recommend it unless you're a pathetic poor bloke like me.