Hello, first post on here!

2004 1.6 Street Ka (standard) approx. 48k miles. ~10kmiles/yr

My old dears Street Ka eats front tyres. In the past year its had 3 or 4 front tyres (2 were due to punctures but were worn badly) and again, the inner edges are worn. It had the tracking done a year ago but didn't feel much better to me, it seems to pull/ tramline a lot (in my opinion) for a std factory car, I just put it down to being a convertable, stiff chassis and shocks, no give in the tyrewalls, so it feels like a horrible ride, but there's defo something up.

Does it have adjustable camber on there? Is there anything else I should get checked?

Whilst I'm on the subject, the garage that replaced the tyre last time after the puncture said that these rims (I don't know if he was talking Ford in general or these specific rims) let air out and that they'd need to be sent away for a refurb @£50 a corner. That sounds bizarre to me and surely Ford would have recalled them all and sorted the issue. It was my mum that went there though, not me so they may have been trying it on. The other thing that made me think it was bogus was whenever I've fitted tyres in the past and had that problem I just clean the rim up and stick bead sealer on there (used to work in a garage).


So, what do you think? Is it something I've said, something I'm not aware of, or a combination?

My solution is to fit 15" rims with larger tyre walls to have the same R.Radius, this would make the car a bit softer to drive, absorbing bumps and reducing the likelyhood of the tracking/camber getting knocked out. However, trying to find some wheels with tyres that are legal for the same price of 2x 16" tyres isn't really possible, so it'll most likely be replace the tyres and have the problem again in X months time.

 

get the tracking double checked mate sounds like it's toeing out badly

you havent had the bottom arms changed at any point have you? as the street ka bottom arms are a few mm longer then a normal ford KA

 

No, but she bought it 2nd hand about 18months/2 years ago so it's possible it was done before. Don't suppose you know the part no? I gotta service it at some point in the next week or so so will have a proper look then

 

As said camber doesn't eat inner edges toe does, you are quite correct they are trying it on with a refurb to cure the loss of air, I've had brand new never used before alloys that leak slowly, bead sealer doesn't work 100% but is better than nothing and that helps.
I have in the past let tyres down and used my fave instant gasket Loctite 5900 squeezed into the gap between tyre and rim, 100% seal don't lose a drop ever.
Different tyres will have a dramatic effect on tramlining, esp with a light car such as this.
I now use HANKOOK VENTUS EVO V12 K110 tyres zero tramlining, better than F1 ps2 so3 etc in every way, esp price, would be worth a go, but I would take it elsewhere for the tracking next time.
tabetha

 

I'd just like to clarify, camber does eat the edges, camber is the angle that the wheel sits relative to the hub, or vertical (dependant on application).


I just had a look at those tyres, not much good for my old dear as she drives all year round and according to black circles aren't much cop in the cold/ near freezing, thanks for your advice though. I'd give bead sealer a go before loctite stuff, I've not looked into that yet- I'd want to know it wouldn't cause any problems to the tyre, e.g. causing it to split as it cures (it may be made specifically for tyres but I'm in a rush and don't have time to check right now! It could be a gasket paste for all I know, lol.)

Is there an online manual anywhere with diagrams etc (Like ETKA for VW), I'm not that familiar with Fords.

Cheers.

 

After some 25+ years modding anything that moves inc track cars I know what camber is, and it most certainly does not eat edges, the reason being the tyres have flexible sidewalls, resulting in even pressure over the contact face of the tyre to the road, read herb adams how to make your car handle book, don't have to trust him but F1 teams have for years, you may know better.
The reason why the TOE is killing the inside edges is because it is the FRONT of the tyre being effectively scrubbed against the road, so this bears the brunt of the wear.
Just think if camber did the tyres in you'd have no coaches or be able to take passengers as suspension travel would induce more negative camber killing the tyres, and the few cars that have POSITIVE camber also kill the inside edges when the tracking is out, which of course goes against your theory.
Lastly blackcircles, who I used only two weeks ago to deliver these exact tyres.
If they can use them in the us and canada where temps can be MUCH lower than ours there is no problem, read the tire reveiws.
As the uk has not cottoned onto winter tyres, and summer tyres but instead remain with all season tyres there will always be problems with tyre compounds becoming harder at lower temps, winter tyres adress this problem with different compounds.
I've driven in excess of 2000 miles on the hankooks, they are no different to most in the severe cold, but better than a few others.
I think when people see "summer tire" written they assume it doesn't do winter, not true, a summer tire will do winter, obviously not as well as a winter tyre, same as winter tyre in summer isn't best.
I have not found a problem certainly down to -3C, the uniroyals did suffer until heated a bit, but not these.
I think a lot of the problem is what each means why winter, over here it is around 0C, to a tyre maker making tyres for siberian trucks it is up to -70C.
They are happier above about 5/6C but certainly not dangerous below it, can you name one person in the uk who has summer tires and winter tires and changes around as need ?
tabetha

 

Would just like to add my thoughts , about the same as tabetha's , as someone who like tabetha has been in the motor trade , and racing , who now lectures in motorsport engineering and is no youngster at 43 , Camber or at least excessive camber will not eat the inside edge , it will wear the tyre more on the inside than outside but only half as much in the centre , you can ussually tell excessive camber to excessive toe as with toe the tyre , as tabetha says , is scrubbed across the road surface and so 99% of the time will show "feathered" tread edges , with excessive camber the tyre has no feathering .
I would always do a full 4 wheel alignment including castor and camber to check for any issues , as even an incorrect amount of caster can cause the car to feel unstable as one wheel has more self centreing effect than the other and can cause the camber chasing action to take place .

 

OK thanks.

Anyone know what happened to my reply I wrote last night at midnight? Was there a problem with the forum? I assume a moderator hasn't deleted it as I've not had an PM to say so?