I tried to get my 1980 model aligned because it was severely wearing out the insides of both front tires. The alignment shop said it could not be fixed by normal alignment because it needed to be shimmed instead. Evidently the normal type of aligning (toe in & toe out) was ok.

Can someone tell me how and where to shim so that the tire has more weight in the center rather than on the inside?

Thanks in advance.

 

I read the manual talks about lossening the four bolts near the top of the struts to adjust camber and caster. Maybe I just need to tell that to the alignment guy.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

If the tires are wearing really fast, I'd bet it's the toe. Get another one of those free estimates from another shop...or bust out the tape measure, toe is easy to check yourself.

 

Thanks, I see what you mean. Fast wear would be toe problem rather than camber.

After the alignment shop said they couldn't help, I started doing toe myself. I measured forward side and rearward side. I tried zero toe in, and quarter inch toe in, with fresh tires each time, and the results where the same. I was making measurements with car on the ground and settled (rolled forward & back) because I noticed it was different when the car was in the air. I just read that the manual recommends almost half an inch toe in. I'll try increasing to half an inch and see what happens.

 

toe doesnt wear evenly.. camber wears a nice even smooth wear on either the inside or outside of the tire... toe wears in a diagonal patern.. the strut thing is the proper way to align the camber and caster.. i just aligned my car yes i did it myself on a brand new hunter lazer machine.. you should take it to sears they all have the lazer machines now.. and can give you a print out of the measurements.. if something is way out its probably a bent part..

 

and as far as i know.. you shouldnt have to shim it .. whatever place told you that was just trying to get money off you.. i wouldnt even know where you would put a shim.. maybe they meant a wedge.. anyways.. if they dont give you a printout with the specs on it i wouldnt let them touch your car.

 

I have a question about the four studs at the top of the struts. The 4 holes in the body are not much bigger than the studs at all, leaving very tiny adjustment if any. Is this indeed how the camber/caster adjustment happens, by moving the studs around within there holes in the body, and then re-tightening? Or is there more adjustment available?


When I was adjusting toe myself, I noticed that if I set toe-in too much, it would tend to dive if I barely turned the wheel. So I decreased toe-in a little to where I could let go of the steering wheel and it would track perfectly straight and not want to dive left or right if I barely turn the wheel. I don't remember the measurement now. But again it still wore tires on both insides.

Thanks again for the advice.

 

you have to drop the strut and rotate it.. there is an arrow on the strut mount.. you take all four nuts off.. drop the strut and rotate it.. you have 4 different chances.. you try all four until you get the best numbers.. if you still cant get anything then there are aftermarket options like adjustable camber plates..

 

More info on the strut-top mount positioning here: https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generation-specific-1979-1985-18/marking-triangle-front-shocks-466824/

 

The factory manual also states you can remove the strut and actually insert a spacer-plate onto the 4-bolt mounting block to change - effectively, the length of that strut. The parts book lists these spacers. The manual further recommends no more than 2 spacers per side. I don't know if this would be considered "shimming"? Its designed to match the ride height on both sides of the front to match each other-
Stu Aull
80 GS
Alaska

 

Swirve- Diving unexpectedly into corners is a symptom of excessive toe-out, not toe-in. Are you positive that you don't have it backwards? Toe-in means that the measurement at the front of the tires will be the shorter of the two. Sounded weird, so I thought I'd ask. good luck.