ok i live in northern va area and i justttt picked my car up from sterling mini for some work done under warrentee anywhooo they said my tires are at 5mm and would need to be replaced at 2 LIKELY but im attributing this to the camber because i had my car lowered on m7 springs so what im asking is ive had these new rims and tires since last october. so is that really worn for tires a year old is an alignment what i would need to have done likely and how much am i probally looking at spending ALSO my M7 springs are rusting creating a chirping sound from the rear ....is this dangerous ?

 

Lowering springs shouldn't have much effect on the front tire wear because it wont change the camber or toe enough. The springs will definitely give you more negative camber in the rear though, and you should get it aligned to correct it. If your car is an '05+, you will have an adjustment built in that may get it back to, or near OEM specs. If it's older than that, you will need to get some adjustable lower control arms to correct it.

Take a close look at the tires, and see where the wear is. If it's pretty much even, then I would just wait and get new tires when they wear out. Rotate them often also...

 

-rotated once already
-car is an 05
-front tires are fine
-rear have negative camber which you dont even need to look hard to see .

so with that said the built in adjustment ...where is that lol and what does it look like does it have a name so i can look up some how to ....btw i know i sound like a dork but thanks lots for the help ....


any idea about the slightly rusted springs ?...does that sound normal or much of an issue ?

 

The adjuster is on the outside of the rear lower control arms. There's a pic of it here.

P.S.
The springs shouldn't rust if they were coated properly, but in north VA you probably get a bit of snow/ice and the en salted roads, so that may be a contributing factor. Anyway a little rust isn't going to hurt them...

 

It's the build date, not the model year, check the build date that will tell you what you have and don't have. Anything built Jan 05 or later is good to go. How often do you rotate the tires?

 

even with the facelift 05-06 you only have half of a degree to adjust. that's not very much to work with

 

fyi about 65-75 bucks for alignment in these parts. i had -3.0 in the rear after lowering an inch. you might want to consider some camber plates and a performance alignment....or (here comes the slippery slope!) how are the shocks/struts holding up? if they're ify it may be time for coilovers.

 

nah, before you start thinking about the struts or upgrading to coilovers get some adjustable lower control arms, they have a much more adjustable range that will get you back to OEM spec. and springs rusting isnt common, the finish should be resilient enough to withstand the elements.

 

thanks for all the help guys . and im not sure when my build date was how would i even find that out. All i know is that its an 05 and i looked at my springs and the rust was VERY minor not much at all and yes we had a few ice storms and lots of salty roads in my parts this past winter i think that wouldve contributed however i think i may just lift the car scrub them down and spray with rustoleon or something ( good/bad idea ? ) but yeah the mini tech said the shocks and struts are fine and i rotated them at about 6 months

 

well if all you want to do is get rid of some negative camber in the back, an alignment and glnr's suggestion will get you there. the alignment would also tell you what's going on in the front....if you're whack there (it doesn't sound as if you are) or, if you want specific or more aggressive camber then you could get some fixed camber plates and be done. good luck!

 

Open the bonnet. On the RHS above the wheel arch (i think, too cold to go outside and check) there should be a lil plaque that says the colour of the car eg "Astro Black", then next to it another plaque that says build date eg "October 2006"