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School me on the 8s limited slip

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Old 03-21-2011, 06:25 PM
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School me on the 8s limited slip

I have a set of tires with only 1000 miles on them and they are visibly down on tread. Like a good quarter worn. Whats going on here? I don't track the car, i dont pop the clutch...It seems to be all these little wheel slippages, all between 0-10 mph, wheter its gravel, sand, or just letting out the clutch to back out the driveway where just one rear tire slips. The right rear always has less tread than the opposite tire. I thought the LSd was supposed to prevent this? Or is it because of the type of LSD. Would a viscous type like in the 350Z prevent this sort of thing?
Old 03-21-2011, 06:31 PM
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maybe you mixed two sets if tires?
are the tires wearing out unevenly?
Old 03-21-2011, 06:48 PM
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^^no uneven wear im talking just about amount of wear--on the rears only. The fronts always look new. I'm curious as to why a car with no power and an LSD has such terrible tire wear.

I DEFINITELY shoulda got the R3 just for its traction control. Not because I'm afraid of losing the back end but for its ability to contain tire wear! Coulda saved prolly 5K in tire wear over the life of the car---or enought to buy the R3 in the first place.
Old 03-21-2011, 06:54 PM
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Originally Posted by Beefy98
I DEFINITELY shoulda got the R3 just for its traction control. Not because I'm afraid of losing the back end but for its ability to contain tire wear! Coulda saved prolly 5K in tire wear over the life of the car---or enought to buy the R3 in the first place.
How much are you spinning the tires...little chirps or outright screams? I've got an R3 and still get a lot of tire chirps anyway :>
Old 03-21-2011, 07:00 PM
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The guys at Mazmart would be able to answer your questions and offer help.
Old 03-21-2011, 07:14 PM
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That's some abnormal wear, are you sure you're blaming the right component again?
Old 03-21-2011, 07:41 PM
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Originally Posted by bse50
That's some abnormal wear, are you sure you're blaming the right component again?

If you're referring to the crap Bilsteins they WERE blown---just like I originally stated. Everyone else was wrong.
Old 03-21-2011, 07:47 PM
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I was just saying that it your wear is out of the ordinary so you should double check what to blame for it.
Old 03-21-2011, 08:07 PM
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My tires were at about 50% at my 12k checkup which was actually 11750 on my ODO. How many miles were on this when you got it? Perhaps someone did a massive burnout before you picked it up? Just a thought.

The Bridgstoned RE050 whatevers that come on the R3 are crap. I loose traction after engaging into 2nd, or in 1st for that matter, and my *** wobbles a little. That could lead to tire wear due to the lack of traction these POS tires have...

I would say, based off my understanding, that nothing you mentioned would have caused this tire wear.
Old 03-21-2011, 08:52 PM
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^^well even if they are crappy isnt the traction control putting the lid on wheelspin? Are u switching it off?

Can we get back to the LSD guys? Why does one wheel spin all the time at low speeds and on loose surfaces? Does the 8s LSD only "lock" at higher speeds and/or on non-loose surfaces?
Old 03-21-2011, 09:06 PM
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If your struts blew out, your alignment is probably messed up? That would be a really good reason for odd tire wear.
Old 03-21-2011, 09:55 PM
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Ok, I have an angle for you.

I've got a 07 6spd auto GT, and with that it has sport suspension, limited slip, traction control, and 18 x7.5 Enkei's 38 offset which makes total track 24mm wider on Kumho SPT's.

Everytime I'd turn right and floor it the right wheel would pulse with traction control going off.
The rears wore twice as fast as the fronts, but made 20k with rotation.

I aligned it to take some camber in the rear out, but after a spin the alignment was still fubar.
I put hankook Ventus V12's on which are stickier, but I'd still lose traction on right turn.

Final solution! I had it realigned to about -1.7 camber in the front, and -1.65 camber in the rear. Also, they had to lower the front left caster to about 4.5 - 5.0 instead of like the right side which is 6.5 to get the camber on the left.

I've got 225/40r18 Hankook's Ventus v12 with 46 psi hot in front, and 43 psi rear (yeah, it needss at least that much), and I can't get any rear slip from power, only slinging it into a little oversteer. The fronts are wearing right with a little more on the inside edges, since that's where the heat is suposed to be, and the rears are wearing a little slower. That's the opposite of before aligned.

All I can say is my 8 is hooked up, and I'll have pics of the track next week.

My 8 had as much as -2.3 rear camber, so get rid of all that neg camber, and your rear tires will roll perpendicular to the road for real traction.

One more thing. Everytime I'd measure the suspension height, all the sides were different. Maybe those two different castors up front actually balanced the suspension by lowering the left castor would mean pulling the wheel back and up slightly.

Anyway my measurements are 14- 1/4 inch both fronts, and 13-3/4 both rears measured the right way, center hub straight up to body lip, and the suspension has never been apart for any mods.

Last edited by REDRX3RX8; 03-21-2011 at 10:13 PM.
Old 03-22-2011, 03:53 AM
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Originally Posted by Beefy98
^^well even if they are crappy isnt the traction control putting the lid on wheelspin? Are u switching it off?

Can we get back to the LSD guys? Why does one wheel spin all the time at low speeds and on loose surfaces? Does the 8s LSD only "lock" at higher speeds and/or on non-loose surfaces?
If you don't drive like an idiot the traction control doesn't come on during simple driving. It even reacts too late during corners...
Old 03-22-2011, 08:21 AM
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Originally Posted by Beefy98
I have a set of tires with only 1000 miles on them and they are visibly down on tread. Like a good quarter worn. Whats going on here? I don't track the car, i dont pop the clutch...It seems to be all these little wheel slippages, all between 0-10 mph, wheter its gravel, sand, or just letting out the clutch to back out the driveway where just one rear tire slips. The right rear always has less tread than the opposite tire. I thought the LSd was supposed to prevent this? Or is it because of the type of LSD. Would a viscous type like in the 350Z prevent this sort of thing?
LSD is not there to prevent tire wear.

and you need to read up on the type of LSD we have and what does it do.

wow, this thread is full of failed.

Last edited by nycgps; 03-22-2011 at 08:27 AM.
Old 03-22-2011, 10:37 AM
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my LSD works just fine. sliding the tail when I punch her. inside wheel doesn't spin like crazy when I cornering hard. when ESP fully off she slides like crazy.
Old 03-22-2011, 11:03 AM
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Get your alignment checked and you'll likely find that the rear alignment is off.... Probably the toe.
Since the rear has a fair amount of negative camber it's normal to wear the inside of the rear tires a bit more than the outside.
Also it's pretty normal for the rears to wear faster than the fronts on this car.
Get annual alignments and rotate the tires every 8K

The tires in normal driving will last around 24K to 36K miles depending on brand and tire compound.

Mine do not last that long though....

Last edited by DarkBrew; 03-22-2011 at 11:07 AM.
Old 03-22-2011, 11:56 AM
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Originally Posted by Beefy98
I have a set of tires with only 1000 miles on them and they are visibly down on tread. Like a good quarter worn. Whats going on here? I don't track the car, i dont pop the clutch...It seems to be all these little wheel slippages, all between 0-10 mph, wheter its gravel, sand, or just letting out the clutch to back out the driveway where just one rear tire slips. The right rear always has less tread than the opposite tire. I thought the LSd was supposed to prevent this? Or is it because of the type of LSD. Would a viscous type like in the 350Z prevent this sort of thing?
This is pretty normal and most cars do it, even fwd/awd. Limited slip or no. From a standstill power is sent to the drive wheel. One tire always gets more torque from the engine. Usually the right rear on most rwd cars. As soon as the car gets moving from a standstill, then the tires will go evenly. It's that initial split second of squat/force/energy then the car propels forward that wears the tire out. More stop and go driving, more likely you'll see this wear pattern/ tire scrub.

A limited slip is just like the name sames, there is some slip then the unit will act upon and limit it, but again it has to sense some slippage first.
Old 03-22-2011, 12:22 PM
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Dark Brew brought up the issue of toe on the rears.

I didn't mention that, but I sat in the car while the guy adjusted the rears to -1.65 camber (the minimum he could get), and zero toe to the tolerance slight toe in.

My fronts were set at slight toe out.

My overall traction and handling is so near perfect for me that I'll not be changing anything for years.
Old 03-23-2011, 10:47 AM
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Originally Posted by jrx13
This is pretty normal and most cars do it, even fwd/awd. Limited slip or no. From a standstill power is sent to the drive wheel. One tire always gets more torque from the engine. Usually the right rear on most rwd cars. As soon as the car gets moving from a standstill, then the tires will go evenly. It's that initial split second of squat/force/energy then the car propels forward that wears the tire out. More stop and go driving, more likely you'll see this wear pattern/ tire scrub.

A limited slip is just like the name sames, there is some slip then the unit will act upon and limit it, but again it has to sense some slippage first.
Every time I read "power is sent to the drive wheel" and "one wheel gets more torque" I wish I had one of those memory erasers like they had in Men In Black. That is NOT what's happening.

First of all, there is not ONE drive wheel. There are always AT LEAST TWO drive wheels, which is why the car needs a differential in the first place, so both drive wheels can be connected to the same power source while still being able to rotate at different speeds when cornering. If there were only one drive wheel, a RWD car would constantly be trying to spin-out whenever it was accelerating, and a FWD car would have so much torque-steer it would yank the steering wheel out of your hands every time you stepped on the gas.

What's ACTUALLY happening is, initially the differential splits the torque EXACTLY 50/50 like it's supposed to. However, because the car's weight isn't perfectly balanced, whichever of the drive wheels has the least weight on it will also have the least traction, and it will withstand the lowest amount of torque before it starts spinning. ONLY THEN does the differential start channeling all the power to the wheel that's spinning.

The only thing a limited-slip mechanism does is resist the differential's natural tendency to channel power to the wheel with the least traction, forcing at least some torque to be applied to both of the drive wheels at the same time. You CAN still do a one-wheel burnout even if you have a limited-slip differential, but it's extremely unlikely you'll ever get the car unbalanced enough for the difference in traction to overwhelm the limited-slip mechanism.

On the other hand, if you were driving a rock crawler, you could easily get one wheel completely in the air, and then no limited-slip differential on earth could rebalance the torque distribution enough to keep you moving forward. That's why rock crawlers either having locking differentials or solid axles with no differentials at all, thus ensuring a 50/50 torque split at all times, at the expense of forcing the wheels to rotate at the same speed even when cornering, which really WILL destroy your tires in no time -- unless you're driving on soft dirt, anyway.

Last edited by fyrstormer; 03-23-2011 at 10:49 AM.
Old 03-23-2011, 11:13 AM
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Lego theory
http://www.engineeringmotion.com/vid...erential-works

Reality
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/differential6.htm

I like the suggestion to use the brakes...
Old 03-23-2011, 11:16 AM
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One wheel will always get more torque until it's evened out. It is the way gears work. The direction of the engine rotation and the gears turning makes the difference. Think about the lever action. It is not 50:50 split from the start. No way.

Doesn't matter it if's fwd or rwd. The engine rotation dictates. Now remember this is taking out any alignment wear issues. We are talking about a vehicle that has been aligned. And I'm not talking about while the vehicle is already in motion. We are talking about the initial start from a standstill.

Take a good look at any drag racing launch pictures without bars. The cars hardly ever launch on both wheels evenly.





Last edited by jrx13; 03-23-2011 at 11:40 AM.
Old 04-25-2011, 08:19 AM
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Yeah you should really swap out the Torsen diff on the 8 for the superior viscous diff of the Z to solve your uneven tire wear. I'm over 9000% sure the diff is the culprit.
Old 04-25-2011, 12:44 PM
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Originally Posted by yiksing
Yeah you should really swap out the Torsen diff on the 8 for the superior viscous diff of the Z to solve your uneven tire wear. I'm over 9000% sure the diff is the culprit.
Please please please explain your reasoning

I have never heard of a differential causing tire wear unless the it's malfunctioning.
Why do you think a viscous diff will be superior to a Torsen diff?

Last edited by DarkBrew; 04-25-2011 at 12:49 PM.
Old 04-25-2011, 02:07 PM
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Originally Posted by DarkBrew
Please please please explain your reasoning

I have never heard of a differential causing tire wear unless the it's malfunctioning.
Why do you think a viscous diff will be superior to a Torsen diff?
I guess hes joking.
Old 04-25-2011, 03:57 PM
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Originally Posted by jasonrxeight
I guess hes joking.
one can only hope


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