Excessive tire wear due to negative camber

[FredT]

My 2008 XC70 chewed through a set of tires in just 20,000 miles and I think most of the chewing on the inside tire shoulder was due to a high negative camber setting in the rear suspension. If your Toe adjustment goes out in the rear suspension you are basically dragging the inside tire edge that leads to excessive wear and short tire life in just a few thousands miles. I checked new XC70's and they also seem to have a large negative rear camber. My rear camber is set to the maximum per VADIS specifications. No adjustment can be made to camber or caster. Why does safety conscious Volvo want our tires to wear rapidly possibly creating a dangerous tire condition?

FredT

[XCovlov70]

Hi FredT,

While our 2011 model XC70 has within the last 4 months been twice to the Volvo Dealer to have the wheels re-aligned on a special piece of 4x4 Tracking/Camber Alignment kit, which was cheaper with them than the price quoted by an independent garage who specialises in 4x4 Wheel Alignment, which came as a surprise!!

The first time was in March 2014 when I noticed as we got back from an overland trip to and around Morocco that the inside tyre shoulder of the (UK) nearside rear was significantly 'scrubbed away', then last month after we got back from another overland trip to Bosnia I noticed that the nearside front was going the same way, so back in 'Flamenco Red' went and the tracking/camber was adjusted again, while the errant tyre was swapped to the rear as all 4 are currently 'Directional' but so far have travelled 26,000 Miles.

Having said that the 2 rear tyres are on the limit as well as the having the 'scrubbed' section, and will be changed out for 2 new Nokian WR A3 M+S this coming Friday, while the 2 front have sufficient left for another overland trip before they will also be swapped out for another 2 Nokian WR A3 M+S.

I was told by the Volvo Dealer that the reason for the 'scrubbing' is down to the state of the roads and all the 'potholes' due to lack of maintenance and while it is not good and does impact on the XC70, the impact is even greater on Low Profile tyres as there is not much rubber between the outside of the tyre and the rim, so the impact force of hitting a pothole is much greater.

While I never encountered this 'problem' with the 08 XC70 we had which after the Pirelli Scorpion wore out and I went over to Kumho tyres and they were still good at 60,000 when it got chopped in for 'Flamenco Red', I know the road surfaces over here have deteriorated badly because of a lack of spending on maintenance even though the British Motorists are still paying for it to happen.
Sucks really!