I have 38 K on my car. The orig (conti) tires are worn out on the outsides but the middle / insides have alot of tread. Is this a normal wear pattern, or something that can be fixed (example through wheel alignment) for the next set? Thanks.

Hi,

You are doing good if you got 38K on you Conti. I only got 20K on mine before the outside tread was worn down to the plys. I will send you via e-mail a procedure you can look over to see how to correct the problem.

Good luck-

Steven---

I would be interested in knowing the procedure to adjust camber on the front wheels of the V70XC (mine is a 2000). I have tools to measure toe and camber, but how can I get more negative camber on this car?

Hi Dave R,

I will e-mail you a copy of my V70 XC camber adjustment procedure. It is not hard to do. Other readers of this sight have receive a copy and found it informative.

I have no special equipment for measuring the alignment. I did it through trial and error (i.e. I first did a front-end alignment then adjusted the camber and did another front alignment).

Good luck,

Steven---

Steven,

I got your information. That was great, thank you. I think your procedure is a litte beyond my skills. For example, measuring the alignment. I will take it to the dealer for alignment (which I need anyway) and tell them to adjust the camber and see what they say.

Did your tire warranty cover anything for you?

Hi,

Glad to see you got my camber adjustment procedure. To answer your question: Continental should pro-rate the tire life and most likely give you some type of discount on your next purchase. If you liked the tires you may want to try that.

As for the dealer adjusting the camber: This is a no go. Volvo stated that the factory setting is not adjustable. All you will get from the dealer is a tow alignment and an excuse. The best ones I always here are "you drive the car too hard" or "it is the tires".

If you have 38K on your Continental, I would recommend that you reverse the tires (i.e. re-mount the outside on the inside). You might get a few thousand more miles if your outer tire wear is not down to the plys.

I have gotten in the habit of cross rotating the tires. The continentals on my car will allow me to do this. However, some radial tires can not have the tire rotation direction reversed. You can easily identify this by looking at the tire side wall and looking for a Big arrow showing a rotation direction or see the word rotation.

Anyway, Good Luck. If you have any questions let me know. I will see if I can answer it.

Steven---

Steven,

Do you think re mounting the tires will lead to problems with the pressure build up in the viscous coupling? I have heard that something like that happens when you use different sized tires (for example when you replace only one out of 4).

Also, if you cross rotate, are you talking about removing and remounting every time? After all, the outside will always be the outside.

John

Hi John,

You're first question:

> Do you think re mounting the tires will lead to problems with the

> pressure build up in the viscous coupling? I have heard that

> something like that happens when you use different sized tires (for

> example when you replace only one out of 4).

The viscous coupling is not the issue when it comes to different size tires. The issue is the transfer case (i.e. the gearbox that connects the Trans-axial to the rear wheels, the viscous coupling is between the transfer case and the rear differential). When you have different size tires (between the front wheels and rear wheels) the wheels turn at different rates and can burn up the gears in the transfer case. An expensive repair. If in doubt buy a new set of tires. However, if you do have some life on the tires remount (outside inside) and put the 2 largest tires on the front and the smallest on the rear.

> Also, if you cross rotate, are you talking about removing and

> Remounting every time?

I would recommend to remount (outside to the inside) once and do a cross rotation where you take the front left to the right rear. Take the right rear to the front right. Take the front right to the left rear and take the left rear to the left front. And keep this pattern up until the tires are worn out.

Steven---

Try 75º - camber. All recent Volvos seem to recommend neutral camber. From my experience . 75 to 1º - camber offers the best performance and tire life.