Uneven wear

[JAYh]

Okay, after two solo-II events and about 100 miles of street use, my Azenis are now noticably unevenly worn towards the outsides... (Note that I rotated them front-to-back between the two events.)

What's this telling me? Front pressures are too high? Too low? I'm driving them too hard?

Or is it time to get some camber bolts and bump myself out of the stock classes forever? :D

- J

[MiG-29 Foxbat]

Breaks your heart to see it doesn't it? The Azenis already comes with a much lower tread depth on the edge.

I jacked up the pressure at the last PITL event and got good wear, but this might not work too well at WOSCA where the lot is so dusty. (I find that lot very tricky, but I love it.)

[Logan]

I'd go to a good alignment shop first, you might have lots of negative camber available while still staying "stock".

stock settings on my year protege allow up to 1.85 deg negative in the fronts.

[JAYh]

Well, it's not "supposed" to be adjustable (stupid cheap "econo" car...) Unless they know some tricks...

Maybe I'll just shorten my strut tower braces and pull it in that way... Unless that puts too much strain on other parts of the chassis?

- J

[Marsh]

Jay, you can also toe out a litte. Run a couple pounds of extra pressure as well. Are the Azenas directional? Or are they "inside-outside" specific. If they're directional, you can pull them off the rim and turn them around. I've done it with summer tires before.

[J.C.]

Originally posted by Logan
I'd go to a good alignment shop first, you might have lots of negative camber available while still staying "stock".

stock settings on my year protege allow up to 1.85 deg negative in the fronts.

Wow I had no idea you could get that kind of camber out of the Protege. :eek: Is that for all Protege's or just the Mazdaspeed?

[Logan]

I think it's for all 3rd gen protegés!

[J.C.]

Damn that's impressive.

[ice/solo racer]

The azenis are a "this side out"tire so flipping then around doesn't work.Higher pressures may help with the shoulder but your simply masking the problem-need more camber/better roll control.
Adding toe out will help the car turn-in better but will increase tire wear while street driving much more so than driving around with more - camber
Remember that the more grip the tire has the more the car will roll,so making no changes will wear the outsides more relative to the other tires you've used.
I ran azenis all last season,my car is light and has decent roll controll and 2.5degs -camber up front,but the rear is 0 with a solid rear axel.I rotated the tires every 2 events and at seasons end the tires looked as new with 2 drivers(no street driving however).My pyrometer had pressures in the low 30's up front and about 28 in the rear cold(car is RWD)

[JAYh]

Well, the car is on completely stock suspension... Which is 160 000 miles old, so ya, it rolls quite a bit. As evidenced:

http://members.rogers.com/jayhtemp/17A03/Action/Dsc00074.jpg

I have NO swaybars or anything adjustable on it, so I'm sort of stuck with the roll until I shell out some major cash. That's why I think a simple camber adjustment is the way to go right now.

I still haven't quite figured out what pressures to run these things at - this photo has them at 42 / 36 cold, which I'm guessing is fairly high for them. (Still about 5 PSI lower than I kept my old all-seasons at!)

- J

[MiG-29 Foxbat]

Jay, try turning the car the wrong way before the turn. I've found this causes the car to turn with less roll and temporarily appears to lower the CG.

My 225 Azenis are stamped 51 psi max., so I'm sure they'll go easily to at least 60 or 65, but performance will start to drop off as the contact patch decreases.

Raising the pressure in the back will make that end more loose, and take stress off the front tyres. (There is another school that says the opposite, but try it.)