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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
I have a 2012 SRT YJ, with Mopar lowering springs and front/rear strut braces. I have 21100 total miles and with that about 10K miles clocked with the lowering springs in service. My car is a DD. And I also run the Goodyear F1's, staggered. Front tires, ok...Rear tires...not so ok. The rears have worn quite a bit on the outside...inside, not so bad given the mileage and duty. The outside tread is riding on the wear indicators. Inside tread, not so much, probably 2 or 3/32's left on the in-board sides. I'll post up some pics in a bit showing the rear tire wear patterns.

But, it seems I need a smidge of negative camber to even out the rear tire wear patterns. So, I ordered a set of Eibach rear camber bushings for the rear control arms, part number 5.66050K.

Anybody else in CT world install these bushes? How do they hold up, durability wise, daily driver duty cycle? Any issues at all with these, besides once they are pressed into the control arms, rear camber adjustability is nada....
 

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Camber bushings

I installed rear camber bushings when I lowered my SRT8. I let it settle for over a month before I did a 4 wheel alignment. No problems here. Some people say "you don't need them".

I did it because I know better. Add them while the car is on the rack, Better to do it now then later.

It will be up on the rack next month for a Eibach rear sway bar install. I will double check everything again.

Good luck with yours ! :icon_smile:
 

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I've had them as well as the front adjustable UCAs on my car for about 18,000 miles now with a bit of track use and I've had zero problems. You'll be fine. :)
 

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Discussion Starter · #6 ·
Here are 2 photos of my rear tires. Wear pattern is "somewhat" evident. Tires have 21,200 miles on them. Zero burn outs, no abuse whatsoever....

After talking with Speedlogix and Eibach, I'm thinking about putting off, for now, installing the rear alignment bushing kit. Eibach advised that it is quite probable my rear alignment, after the lowering springs were installed, may have had too much positive toe dialed in to help compensate for increased negative camber as a result of the lowering springs. They suggested dialing back some toe towards the negative side and monitor wear, after new tires are installed...getting this task done this coming week.

One thing I didn't do, my fault....was after I had the springs installed and after they settled in, I didn't take the car back in for a second alignment... This too may be a reason for the increased outside wear on both rear tires.

Front tires are fine...no issues there.

Updates to follow....



 

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Well, I'm glad I found this thread. I can't wait to find out your fix and results. I have the EXACT same issue as you (also a '12 SRT). Except for one thing. My car is bone stock suspension-wise... My rear tires are worn about the same, if not worse than your tires in the pics. But, they're worn in the exact same way, center to outer edge. What's worse is that I only have 11,800 miles on my car. Proper inflation always, no burnouts at all, just a little tire spin on semi-aggressive launches. I know these car have a good amount of negative camber from the factory. So, anyone would have thought the inner edge would wear out first. Obviously not so. This had me puzzled. But, just as it was explained to you, the only other thing it could be was toe issue. However, I didn't think that toe adjustments were possible on the rear suspension of these cars. I'll be happy to learn that they are.
So, again. I can't wait to hear what you find with your rear suspension adjustment/alignment, and what changes are able to be made...
 

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Discussion Starter · #8 ·
Well, I'm glad I found this thread. I can't wait to find out your fix and results. I have the EXACT same issue as you (also a '12 SRT). Except for one thing. My car is bone stock suspension-wise... My rear tires are worn about the same, if not worse than your tires in the pics. But, they're worn in the exact same way, center to outer edge. What's worse is that I only have 11,800 miles on my car. Proper inflation always, no burnouts at all, just a little tire spin on semi-aggressive launches. I know these car have a good amount of negative camber from the factory. So, anyone would have thought the inner edge would wear out first. Obviously not so. This had me puzzled. But, just as it was explained to you, the only other thing it could be was toe issue. However, I didn't think that toe adjustments were possible on the rear suspension of these cars. I'll be happy to learn that they are.
So, again. I can't wait to hear what you find with your rear suspension adjustment/alignment, and what changes are able to be made...
I'll post up new alignment results tomorrow. When I did the Mopar spring drop, I didn't notice any unusual wear with my rear tires. I did the drop at 10,100 miles. Tires were worn but no where near history, no abuse and usual maintenance regiment performed. Fast forward 10K, vehicle dropped with the Mopar springs and the rear tires are pretty well shot....Again, I didn't have the 2nd alignment done. This may be an issue as well as I noted earlier.

Weird yours shows the similar wear patterns even though you have stock suspension and ride height. If I were you, I'd take it into your dealer and have that alignment checked. And I would pursue that under warranty. My dealer did tell me that these vehicles, LX and LC can be a PITA when it comes to alignment, and that is stock....

Yes, you can adjust rear toe but not rear camber, no provisions for rear camber adjustment.

Tires? Many report the GY F1's don't wear well. But they are a performance tire and I drive mine all seasons as a DD. I doubt 4 season duty cycle has much to do with increased/rapid wear but it may...

More in a bit...
 

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I'm curious to know how the alignment shop is going to adjust anything on the rear, there is no adjustment with the factory parts. Nada. That's why the Eibach (SPC) camber bushings are needed.

Feathering of the tires would be caused by toe. Wear like you're seeing would be caused by camber.

The only actual alignment adjustment our cars have from the factory is front toe. Anything else requires aftermarket parts to allow adjustments to be made. So, as I said, I'll be interested in hearing how your alignment shop performs an alignment when there's no adjustment.
 

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Discussion Starter · #11 ·
I'm curious to know how the alignment shop is going to adjust anything on the rear, there is no adjustment with the factory parts. Nada. That's why the Eibach (SPC) camber bushings are needed.

Feathering of the tires would be caused by toe. Wear like you're seeing would be caused by camber.

The only actual alignment adjustment our cars have from the factory is front toe. Anything else requires aftermarket parts to allow adjustments to be made. So, as I said, I'll be interested in hearing how your alignment shop performs an alignment when there's no adjustment.
Not sure about the adjustment capabilities. The 2012 service manual I have, section 2 shows differently, e.g. adjustments possible. Rear toe adjustment is possible. We'll see what happens tomorrow. It should be fun.....:read::phone::beer_yum::grinbiginvert:
 

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Not sure about the adjustment capabilities. The 2012 service manual I have, section 2 shows differently, e.g. adjustments possible. Rear toe adjustment is possible. We'll see what happens tomorrow. It should be fun.....:read::phone::beer_yum::grinbiginvert:
Does it show an eccentric bolt? There is a "toe adjustment link" which...isn't adjustable itself. :lol: Would need an eccentric bolt or adjustable bushing to adjust the toe.

What does it say the process for adjusting rear toe is? This is the first I've heard/seen of a way to make those adjustments, maybe they finally changed something for 2012+ to make it possible.
 

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Nevermind, I do see toe is adjustable via eccentric bolts. It's just been camber/caster that aren't adjustable using factory parts. My bad.

That said, the wear you're getting looks like camber and not toe.
 

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Discussion Starter · #14 ·
Yes, camber is an issue and still is. Here's the strange part...sitting at the shop right now. New tires on, mounted, balanced, no problem. Onto the alignment rack, set it up and checked exisiting numbers. Camber RF and RR are off. LF and LR ok....no idea why this happened. It looks like Chrysler/Dodge has a bolt kit for the front that can adjust camber and caster. For the rear it looks like my Eibach bushes will be going in. It's lunch time now so more later....
 

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Discussion Starter · #15 ·
Here's the camber before settings.

LF: -1.3 deg
RF: -2.2 deg
LR: -0.8 deg
RR: -1.5 deg

Not sure why right side camber is out of spec and not the left. Toe and caster both sides, ok, within spec. After some discussion and "numbers crunching", we decided to forgo the Eibach bushings or trying to move cradles around...We decided to go with Dodge front camber adjustment bolts and a rear camber link that has a +1mm offset that will take out 0.5 to 0.8 camber, which will bring the RR camber into line with the LR camber. Parts ordered were 2x 5134117AA bolts and 1x 68241572AB rear camber link.

Another reason we decided to go with factory parts was in order to press in the Eibach bushings a special die press set is needed and a close quarter C-clamp tool (reference SPC Alignment website). Plus we felt it was too risky and time consuming to try and press in the Eibach parts. Without the proper die set, the bushing body may become damaged when trying to press it in. Also, once the bushing is pressed in, its pressed in and if you're not accurate with setting the tick marks on the bushing face correctly, chances are the camber may be off after everything is put back together. And if that happens, more time = more money to disassemble and try again... at $115/hour that may end up becoming a costly proposition.

My parts should be in later this week and its back to the dealer for the alignment. More to follow.

One other thing too...a loving hug goes out to Dodge for going el'cheapo on the plastic wheel center caps. Trying to remove them from the YJ wheels netted 2 busted caps (both on the front wheels -- the clips on the back side that hold the tension spring in place cracked and snapped rendering the cap itself worthless... They were replaced under warranty. Part number for reference for the Dodge wheel center cap is 1SK35SZ0-AA.
 

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Discussion Starter · #16 · (Edited)
An Update:

I received my parts and visited my dealer this past Wed. Put the car on the alignment rack, set up the system and behold the rear camber, both sides was within spec...both sides are -1.2 degrees....weird. The only thing we could come up with to explain this was maybe during the tire changing process, with the car in the air for a while with the suspension drooping and not driving it afterwards (before the alignment) may have not given the suspension enough time to settle itself, causing the cambers to be off...who knows? But anyway, the rear seems to have sorted itself out.

The front...not so much. The right front camber was still off at -2.0 degrees. So in went the Chrysler front camber adjustment bolts (right side only). They brought the RF camber back to -1.8 degrees, within spec.

Final camber numbers:
LF: -1.5
RF: -1.8
LR: -1.2
RR: -1.2

Mopar's claim to using their lowering springs with alignment coming into spec is not necessarily true, at least in my case.
 

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This post gave me lots of insight in what im trying to do.

My Right front camber is currently at -1.8 :(

I wanted to get it closer to 0, if not +0.5 to prevent inside tire wear. I cant imagine those chrysler adjustment bolts would help for any more that +/-0.3 right?
 

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This post gave me lots of insight in what im trying to do.

My Right front camber is currently at -1.8 :(

I wanted to get it closer to 0, if not +0.5 to prevent inside tire wear. I cant imagine those chrysler adjustment bolts would help for any more that +/-0.3 right?
-1.8 is spec for your car correct?

I dont see the need to change it -1.8 should not give you excessive tire wear.

Performance cars ,generally speaking, run negative camber to get better handling.
 

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Unfortunately for me, the right front tire is wearing the inner inch at an accelerated rate with that -1.8 camber. It is a little strange as the camber on the left front tire is at -1.4 to -1.5 and inst wearing as aggressively. I've had an alignment done at a reputable Dodge dealer and was found to be within spec.

I find it really odd that my right front tire is within spec and wearing like this. Ive even rotated the right front tire with the left front and found that it is starting to wear in the same manner.

Anything else that I could to do do resolve this? I was thinking maybe the Eibach upper control arms so that I may get my camber closer to 0 since the bolts only do so much.
 

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According to Hotchkis, anything less than -2.0 Camber will not greatly contribute to tire wear and doesn't have to be corrected.

My Scat Pack with Hotchkis springs is:

LF: -1.8 Camber
RF: - 1.7 Camber
LR: -1.0 Camber
RR: -1.0 Camber

Perfect front tire well. With outside tire wear issues, I would suspect the toe is off.

Toe can really wear out tires quickly.
 
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