JayG

I noticed that my car has a slight drift to the right on the freeway. I would not call it necessarily pulling, but it does not track straight.

I have tried it on several different roads and in different lanes to eliminate any road banking or crowning.

I recently had a alignment done and the castor is slightly different,7.9 vs 8.0
Camber is matched on each side and no toe in the front and a touch in the back. Camber is -.5 in the front and -1.6 in the back

There is also a vibration in the front and steering wheel on most roads starting around 80 mph
On smooth asphalt it is less pronounced, but still there.


I swapped out a different front wheels/tires and it still drifts to the right and still had a vibration starting around 80 mph

Any ideas how to correct the drift?

The right front tire looks like some odd wear
These tires have only 1800 miles on them. Of course, that included 1 AX and 2 track days (~180 track miles)
the right side of the tire is the outside

sweet victory

What's the manufacture date on those tires?

bcrdukes

I think what's more important is you need new tires.

Macster

You need a different alignment shop. That tire is seriously scrubbing.

Oil_Slickrick

Also check out the wheel for buckles and bearing for play. Something is causing the vibration and this will relate to the wear.


O-Sr

Sneaky Pete

Yup I would look at another shop. Question I have is are those track tires? And if they are why put them on the street?

Triple Black

That tire looks like it just came off the track.

dporto

That center tread wear is just bizarre...I have no idea how it could wear like that, but it looks like the outboard side of the tire is worn more than the inside...it's hard to believe there's any negative camber on that wheel...

JayG

Iit is a DD and they are street tires, Direzza Star Spec

Kind of, weekend before last was 2 track days.

It has as much neg camber as it can get with stock suspension, -.5 deg on the front


In any case, I am getting the alignment checked.

I need to figure out if I need to replace some parts, and if so, which parts need replacing

DTMiller

My fronts on the Miata used to get like that. I did an alignment that took out some of the understeer and softened the rear sway one spot and I have much more regular wear across the tread on the front. Not sure how much push your are getting but that might be the wear culprit.

Bubrubb

Jay,

I had the same issue this year with the Dunlop Direzza Star Spec ZII's.

They were only used for autocross, but developed a similar wear pattern because of the lack of negative camber on the fronts.

When you drop some tire pressure for AX, this center pattern tends to wear out like that.

Do you have another set of wheels/tires to put on the car? My best guess is that your tires are shot and the center portion is catching on portions of the road and pulling to the right. Our AX season tended to have a bunch of left handed turns that promoted scrubbing in the second half of the year. My right front wore out much quicker than my left front, just based on track setup.

JayG

Lots of left handed turns at Chuckwalla 2 weeks ago!
The tires are less than 2 months old and have ~1800 miles on them

Bubrubb

You actually have plenty of tread left, but that center portion is going to cause the strange feeling on the road/highway.

I found some success in swapping the tire mounts left/right. Have a tire shop swap the mounting on the wheels. The tread evened out nicely and I made it through the whole season.

Warehouse33.net

Those look like you just got off of the track today. If your alignment is good, I'm guessing you'll have to drive on them for a little bit to get the wear back even.


-Jason

JayG

LOL Maybe 250 miles since leaving the track.

I'm having the alignment checked tomorrow
Gonna put it in the air and check the drop links, tie rods and control arms as well for wear

The drifting to the right started before I went to the track and also had it aligned before i went to the track