I've asked about the camber in the rear wheels that everyone sees and
believes the car to be screwed up. This was the unanimous response from the
local experts..(albeit I think they all learned from the aboriginal local
LBC Zen master we have in the area). Evidently, at some point Triumph
realized that the hard cornering we all love take their cars through was
generating huge lateral forces on the rear wheels and suspension...( read as
'the wheels wanted to flop over, and were stressing the bearings mightily.')
To offset this, Triumph started to set up the rear ends with the ever famous
camber. It has no adverse effect on tire wear, provided you rotate your
tires regularly ( read as 'more than twice in the life of the tires.')
Curiously, before I got interested in Spits, I too was always afraid of
impending disaster every time I saw a car with this type of rear end. Now
I've seen later model Mercedes convertibles with huge cambers, so there must
be something pretty positive about its use.
Jeffrey B. Williams
1973 Spitfire FM1694UO
Soon to be yello with black interior
jeffrey.williams@cwix.com
--
-----Original Message-----
From: Eric A. Yates <eyates@earth.nwu.edu>
To: spitfires@Autox.Team.Net <spitfires@Autox.Team.Net>
Date: Friday, October 16, 1998 12:04 PM
Subject: Funny story and rear end sag questions
>
>Hi folks:
>
>I have a funny story that relates to the "Settling into Autumn" thread.
>Also some questions on the issue.
>
>I was driving along in my Spitfire the other day, and everything was great.
>It was a brisk day with lots of sun and I was Mr. Cool with my tonneau
>cover on. (By the way... with the tonneau on and the heat pumping, it's
>downright toasty in the cockpit! I highly recommend a tonneau cover to
>anyone who doesn't have one.)
>
>All of a sudden this guys rolls up along side me while we're going about 45
>MPH, and hanging out his window he screams at me, "YOU BETTER PULL OVER,
>MAN! RIGHT NOW! YOUR BACK WHEELS ARE TOTALLY F***ED UP!!!!" (These were his
>exact words!) Of course, I pulled over right away and got out to look,
>scared to death at what horrors await my inspection. The Spit was fine,
>looking perfectly normal, with the rear wheels leaning in slightly like
>they always do. I laughed out loud and was on my way.
>
>By the way, I am not afflicted with the uneven sag discussed in this
>thread, my car just has the "normal" sag. Is there any way to prevent this
>sag altogether? A recent Victoria British catalog has on the cover a
>Spitfire with no rear-end sag whatsoever. The rear wheels appear perfectly
>upright. To me, the car looks weird that way!
>
>I have only owned my Spitfire for a couple of months, so I am not sure how
>the sag affects tire wear. I would think the tires would wear quite
>unevenly, going bare on the inside edge first. Is this the case? My tires
>look fine, but they don't have many miles on them yet.
>
>Eric.
>
>
>---------------------------------------
>Eric A. Yates * eyates@earth.nwu.edu
>1978 Spitfire 1500 * FM 71614 U
>Chicago, IL USA
|