I have owned and driven two 65 darts. Both of them suffer from excessive tire wear on the inside of the tread and I can't seem to remedy the problem. One of the cars is gone but the one I still have has all new tie rod ends, adjustment sleeves, drag link, idler arm, and all bushings. After replacing everything I took the car to a reputable shop and had them align it but still the tires are getting trashed within 10,000 miles. Can anybody tell me whats wrong or perhaps what limits to have the suspension set to in the future. Thanks

Too much negative camber. What did the alignment shop set your camber to?

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

I would concur. That, or possibly a toe-out condition. If the "alignment shop" is like most these days, they probably don't even know what camber is. ..."we just set it where the computer said to, kyut kyut".

There's one alignment shop around here that turned out customers for over a year such that you could see one tire leaning over at the top and tucked way in at the bottom. This didn't even throw up a red flag for those idiots. When the car drifted to one side and wore tires, they'd say "shazzam, you need a front end rebuild". Turns out some kind of calamity had happened to their equipment and they were too stupid to even realize it threw the calibration "out of orbit".

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

This is what the shop put the tires to, listed first by side, then overall. So how screwed up is my alignment and where do I want it. thanks.
Left Front
camber .9 degrees
caster .2 degrees
toe -.01"

Right Front
camber .1 degrees
caster 1.5 degrees
toe -.00"

Total Front
cross camber .7 degrees
cross caster -1.3 degrees
total toe -.01"

For a basic stock-type upgrade, I would do these specs:

Camber = negative 0.2-3 degrees, matched on both sides
Caster = positive 1 degree, matched
Toe = 0.05 - 0.10" total (add both sides)

Has the car been in a wreck? What is the ride height? Reset or check that before alignment.

These are not stock. They or you should be able to look up the stock specs and they work fine too.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Thanks for the numbers. I will work on getting the car straightened out. At the time of the alignment the ride height was set according to the plymouth service manual. Regarding wrecks, none that I know of, only slight body damage. If it has been wrecked it was only 10 mph or less.

I recently upgraded my 64 Dart to later UCA & Disc brakes. Took my car for alignment and they don't go back that far in years with the computer systems they use now.
My question is, what body & year would be the closest match for true alignment?

They set mine with 76 Aspen specs, now it pulls to the Right. Have to go back to get it reset.

Find a shop where they know how to use a brain and not just the computer. If your car pulls, they didn't align it correctly (provided all your front end components are good). See specs Lou gave above.

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!