2008 Hatchback Rear toe in/out question...

[Neinris]

Aloha everyone! I have a 2008 hatchback which I’ve lowered with Tein’s lowering springs. Lowering obviously caused the wheels to camber, more significant in the rear than the front. I see that the rear tires have some significant wear on the inside, and it’s been almost 3000 miles since I lowered her. I was thinking though that the rear are only slave tires, doesn’t do much work compare to the front ones, and shouldn’t wear as much. So I was wondering if lowering also caused the rear to toe in or out which is contributing to the wear. What do you guys think?

[myfirstyota]

I wouldn't think lowering springs would affect toe or camber too much on our cars. There is no adjustment for camber or toe other than shims behind the wheel bearing. I was under the assumption the rear tires should sit pretty close to 0 camber and 0 toe.

[Neinris]

Thanks for the reply. I’m just trying to get another opinion. I thought maybe the rear toe changed since the car sits lower now, and the rear axle frame mounts inward to prevent side to side movement. I’m gonna put washes as shims for the top two bolts of the bearing mounts, just have to make sure they’re the exact same thickness, or it’d really mess up the toe alignment.

[JimKellyfan]

yeah, you have 4 bolts accessible from the outside, behind backing plate if the same as mine. I have a small shim from Napa in two of my four bolts on one side or the other, forget which side by now. Last time I needed to adjust my alignment was 2013, still in spec, gonna check it again this year, changed tire size. 195/55/16. The shims are available as a box of shims from Napa, I went thin, so I can add multiple if needed, but only had two. Easy to change., I would suggest thread locker on the bolts, and torque to spec or a tick past it. Shims placement will change measures appropriately.

[Neinris]

yeah, you have 4 bolts accessible from the outside, behind backing plate if the same as mine. I have a small shim from Napa in two of my four bolts on one side or the other, forget which side by now. Last time I needed to adjust my alignment was 2013, still in spec, gonna check it again this year, changed tire size. 195/55/16. The shims are available as a box of shims from Napa, I went thin, so I can add multiple if needed, but only had two. Easy to change., I would suggest thread locker on the bolts, and torque to spec or a tick past it. Shims placement will change measures appropriately.

Thanks for the info! Any pics? Shims placement can also affect toe, so I'd have to be careful.
I'm currently sporting 15" wheels wrapped with 185/60s, speedo currently indicates slower than actual speed (actually going 2+ mph than indicated). I believe my speedo/transmission is matched with the base model with 175/65 R14s. I want to switch to 16X8 +25 (yes it will poke a little bit), but I want to fix the tire wear issue first. I think 195/55 R16s are too big, so I'll go with 195/50s, which will at least match the current speed I'm putting out. Verified through link below:
http://www.rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp
When I finally swap the engine and tranny with an xD, the speedo will indicate correctly.

BTW, I met Jim Kelly when I was still in High School, I used to play football, for a field trip once, we went to his local tv show. :thumbsup:

[Neinris]

I still think my rear wheels have toe issue now that my car is lowered. I stumbled upon a very old thread, I wonder if doing this would fix it a little?

https://yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23911

tmontague mentioned something about toe in his post below:

https://yarisworld.com/forums/showpost.php?p=796102&postcount=255