Tire Wear

[jetfuel]

Originally Posted by Old smart

camber has no effect on wear.

...sorry could not help myself...but...this type of misinformation is not healthy in a tech site...


jetfuel

[eqwalker]

Is it just my lack of knowing about wheel alignment, or is it just ridiculous that there is not any camber adjustment?? I thought that all vehicles should be able to have wheel camber adjusted. I know that on Corvettes when the rear tires squat that is a sure sign that you need an alignment on the rear wheels (camber adjustment), or suspension parts replaced for it is not normal. I've noticed the smart squatting as well (as I have seen on about all of them) and also am seeing that my rear wheels are now showing "rounding" of the inside of the rear tires due to it. I was intending to have the shop adjust the camber on them when I put a new set of tires on so as not to prematurely wear them too. Comments?

[Quagmire]

Just a thought... As our cars are much narrower than the average car, does it stand to reason that we are experiencing odd tire wear because our cars don't always fit in the "tracked" area of the road? If travelling on a road heavily used by trucks, this becomes more evident.

[SmartDigger]

The car is designed to have the camber like it is.

[sunnyokanagan]

The rear camber on the smart does not change as the suspension ages. Nor does it "squat" from its fixed point when the car is loaded. Therefor, there is no need to adjust the camber.

It is set during construction at the factory and, like SmartDigger says, is designed into the suspension geometry by the car's engineers.

Oh... and P.S. yes, it affects tire wear. The rear rubber will wear out before the front. The tread wear difference on mine is about 10,000km - 6,000mi

2005 Pulse @ 70,000km - 42,000mi

[forestacademy]

smart rear wheel camber

See more info here