Why so much camber on 200?

[jafo9]

My first 200 was a '11 LX. The last set of tires I had put on wore quite rapidly on the inside. I chalked it up to a bad alignment and had it realigned at the dealership. First alignment was done at a local shop. The damage was already done so they eventually wore to unsafe on the inside so instead of buying new tires I traded the car on a CPO '15 LX. I ended up buying it sight unseen and sent my wife to Atlanta to get it. I figured since it was a CPO or L-Certified that it would be cherry. Wife comes home with the car and the tires are also worn badly on the inside. So much that these tires probably have 5K miles left on them. Car has 24K on the clock. Now I'm fighting with the dealership as the tires are supposed to have at least half their life left per the Lexus specs. So my question is why do these vehicles have so much camber as to kill the insides of the tires, or am I just having a string of bad alignments?

 

[gaijin]

Camber spec doesn't seem excessive to me:

HTH

 

[mreedbmwm3]

They are just hard on tires. Same story here, my last set of BFG KO2"s only made it 35,000 miles due to excessive wear on the inside. The tire shop explained that the camber was set that way for travel up and down. I've had my alignment checked several times and they said it's good. Said "some vehicles are harder on tires than others.

 

[Utah200]

Sounds like you may have a tire squirrel issue. Those pesky little critters love to gnaw the insides of tires.

 

[TeCKis300]

Excessive camber is certainly possible, but toe is generally the tire killer. Factory alignment will settle so it's always good to get it checked early in the life of the vehicle.

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

My first 200 was a '11 LX. The last set of tires I had put on wore quite rapidly on the inside. I chalked it up to a bad alignment and had it realigned at the dealership. First alignment was done at a local shop. The damage was already done so they eventually wore to unsafe on the inside so instead of buying new tires I traded the car on a CPO '15 LX. I ended up buying it sight unseen and sent my wife to Atlanta to get it. I figured since it was a CPO or L-Certified that it would be cherry. Wife comes home with the car and the tires are also worn badly on the inside. So much that these tires probably have 5K miles left on them. Car has 24K on the clock. Now I'm fighting with the dealership as the tires are supposed to have at least half their life left per the Lexus specs. So my question is why do these vehicles have so much camber as to kill the insides of the tires, or am I just having a string of bad alignments?

You've got a bad string of alignments. Front Camber specs on our trucks is 0.13±0.75.

That's almost strait up and down. The real problem with alignments is that no shop is going to put anyone with experience on the alignment rack. It's not right, but it doesn't make financial sense to waste the cost of a certified mechanic on things like alignments, oil changes, or rotations. I remember being that kid decades ago, and being told, "just make the red blocks go green." And that was in a Toyota dealership.

There is an art and theory to alignments, I recommend finding a semi truck frame repair and alignment shop. Those guys truly understand all the aspects of alignment angles, and do it the old way, levels, measurements, and string.

Hopefully you can find a shop like that in your area, and let us know if they were able to help you. Or if you are ever by Savannah, Ga let me know, I'll align your truck for free.

 

[jafo9]

Thanks for the offer and the replies. Frustrating to burn through a set of tires prematurely based on poor alignment. I rotate every 10K. Maybe I should shorten that interval.

 

[Mogwai]

FWIW I was in a pinch and had the local shop do my last alignment (post Tundra install) so you can say things were a bit off when i dropped the truck off. That said... the 20yo alignment tech had no problem getting back to stock specs, truck drives dead nuts straight and tires do no appear to be wearing unevenly (K02s, though only 15k miles, have been rotated twice now).

Alignment numbers:
Total Toe: .18 (.09/.09)
FL Camber: .42
FR Camber: .46
L Caster: 2.57
R Caster: 2.50

Are you aired to 41psi cold? Surprised Gaijin didn't ask you!! Ha...

 

[jafo9]

I think cold is 36PSI. So 41 is recommended?

 

[linuxgod]

Depends on your tire size but IIRC 41 is recommended for the KO2s. If you're running P-metric tires (not LT tires like KO2s) then follow the PSI listed on the door jamb.

 

[gaijin]

I think cold is 36PSI. So 41 is recommended?

If you have a '15 CPO LX, as you state in the OP, then you're running P285/50R20 111V tires which have a recommended Cold Tire Inflation Pressure (CTIP) of 33psi F/R.

If you are running any other tire, then let us know what it is and I can let you know what the recommended CTIP is.

Not sure where all the talk of non-stock tires is coming from Unless, of course, I totally missed it

 

[Mogwai]

If you have a '15 CPO LX, as you state in the OP, then you're running P285/50R20 111V tires which have a recommended Cold Tire Inflation Pressure (CTIP) of 33psi F/R.

If you are running any other tire, then let us know what it is and I can let you know what the recommended CTIP is.

Not sure where all the talk of non-stock tires is coming from Unless, of course, I totally missed it

Whoops thought he said he was running KO2s but that was someone else.

 

[Cmab]

Just had allignment done after BP-51 and TC UCA install. It pulls very slightly to the right. How do these results look? I do not know why caster values are not included.

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

Just had allignment done after BP-51 and TC UCA install. It pulls very slightly to the right. How do these results look? I do not know why caster values are not included.

View attachment 1571001

Not bad. A little cross cambered to the right and almost no tow on the right, so that explains your slight pull to the right. Add about a quart degree of camber to the front left tire and even out toe and it will be almost perfect. The reason there isn’t a caster number is because they didn’t do a caster sweep. Love those those Total Chaos uppers, they are just so spot on.

Funny you posted, I was looking for this thread last night because I cranked my BP-51 preload to 25mm and also have TC UCAs. Was toe’d out about 1/64” on both sides, which made the truck wander. Brought my toe in 1/32” on each side and sitting about 3/32” toe’d in overall. It’s like an arrow down the road, even under hard acceleration and braking.

 

[Cmab]

Thanks for reply. You mean adjust left wheel a bit closer to current values of right wheel? With that it should run straight. Should I ask for caster sweep? Or no need?

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

Thanks for reply. You mean adjust left wheel a bit closer to current values of right wheel? With that it should run straight

Going a little more positive camber on either side will pull the truck that direction. So you have +.54° on the the right and +.48° on he left.

So the side with the higher +caster number is the side it will pull toward. Obviously the greater the difference, the hard the truck pulls to that side.

Factory spec is 0.13+/-.75

So you’re pretty out of spec in both sides, but it’s close, and the alignment tools that fit to the wheels isn’t perfect, and can even change from being fitted from one time or the other.
Then there is all the binding and rubber that is up and down the steering and suspension system.

So I would go back, and have the alignment fitted again, before changes, make sure that front right is still at a higher number than the left. If it is, bring that front right down to close to factory spec. That will make the front left the higher number, which mean more left caster, and then your truck will pull ever so slightly to the left. There is an art to this, and you’re close, so don’t make too make huge changes.

Then I have them even out toe. Just get that the same in both sides and within spec. Since toe is off of the inner toe rod, there is no excuse to not be able to set toe to exactly where you want it.

 

[TheComedian]

Maybe I am digging out dead treads but I think this one is maybe a good place to ask my stupid question of the day.
Is my camber too much (installed spacers two years ago but they shouldn’t change much?) or am I driving my KO2‘s too aggressive in curves in combination with their age and mileage?
Not sure when it started but I recognized this kind of use first time like two months ago and maybe it was already there before but I didn’t saw it…
Oh and running on streets at 40Psi

 

[wbates]

Trying to revive this thread I have a 2016 Land Cruiser and just did an Ironman FCP 1” comfort lift on it but seems closer to 2” of lift. Also about a month ago put BFG KO3’s in 285/65/18 on the truck. Had it aligned after the lift and it drives nice and straight now but the specs seem a bit strange. What do y’all think?

 

[gaijin]

Trying to revive this thread I have a 2016 Land Cruiser and just did an Ironman FCP 1” comfort lift on it but seems closer to 2” of lift. Also about a month ago put BFG KO3’s in 285/65/18 on the truck. Had it aligned after the lift and it drives nice and straight now but the specs seem a bit strange. What do y’all think?View attachment 3719057

Looks like all your alignment shop did was adjust the Toe, and left the Camber and Caster as is - i.e. out of range.

I'd recommend a do-over.

HTH

 

[linuxgod]

Yeah far too much camber and not enough caster on the passenger's side.

Did the lift come with adjustable UCAs? In particular if they are SPC UCAs the shop may have turned the cams are far as they will go but if the ball joint on the UCA is set incorrectly they won't be able to get you in spec.