Michael
LVC Member
The inside edge of my front tires is wearing excessively, although the dealer aligned it about a year ago. Is this a common problen on these cars, or does it just need a new alignment ? I keep the pressure at 30 psi. Thank you.
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2000 Continental alignment question.
- Thread starter Michael
- Start date
While highly depatable the door sticker really only applies to the exact same tire as was original to the car. Which even among the same model there are differences for example symmetries some are 35 psi max some 44. I know because the shop that ordered my dads ordered 1 kind when the front went another when the rear. I've asked around and heard oh the white walls have the lower pressure. Too bad since all 4 are white walls and 2 are 35. Usually 75%-80% of max cold is a good starting point. On the conti's they also call for a 2 psi spread front to rear, this I do maintain on vehicles as I alter the pressure. Also you may want to make sure your wheels are on the correct side mine specify on the center of the rim right or left side. With inner tire wear that is a suspension componet most likely assuming they aligned it correctly. If you look on a printout there is a "good" range which if it falls withing is considered aligned. Often if they wanted they could get it closer to "perfect" often they won't or if questioned explain away why its unnecessary. I had a monroe tell me my pull and wheel cocked to side was due to the tires. Odd since the old and new set of 4 V rated oem size properly inflated tires both somehow exhibited the same problem Gary said yep. Though he was proved wrong a month later when we brought it back for re-alignment and they found there was a slightly bent tie rod was the cause. It also was not even close to recent but the manager said was at least a good year old (longer than we had owned the car). It was fairly mild and they had overlooked it multiple times. Also you may want to have them make sure that you don't have a "out of round" tire where basically a belt has shifted and is causing a pull or similar problem.
American Air-1
Well-Known LVC Member
Thats a pretty common complaint for the '95+ Conti. When I used to work for Ford/Lincoln, I would put the alignment as close to "perfect" as possible. This, along with tire pressure in the 35 area would bring good results. Remember, the heavy engine & transmission is up front and the front tire pressure needs to be fairly high.
Theres not much adjustment in the front for camber, so sometimes you have to move the subframe around to get things right. Who knows whether the alignment tech even knows how to do this, or even cares.
In my opinion, thats one thing thats wrong with American cars. They have very wide specs for the alignment. Even if the aligning tech put it "In Spec", it won't be good enough for good tire life on that vehicle. It needs to be as close to perfect or "Nominal" as possible.
Did you get a printout of the alignment?
Theres not much adjustment in the front for camber, so sometimes you have to move the subframe around to get things right. Who knows whether the alignment tech even knows how to do this, or even cares.
In my opinion, thats one thing thats wrong with American cars. They have very wide specs for the alignment. Even if the aligning tech put it "In Spec", it won't be good enough for good tire life on that vehicle. It needs to be as close to perfect or "Nominal" as possible.
Did you get a printout of the alignment?