After getting wheel vibration on the M6 last year, I checked the tyres on my 2001 CDT. Shock horror! Despite plenty of tread on the front, outer edges, the inner edges were worn down to the steel webbing! Fortunately, with a bit of wire brushing and an overnight soak in WD40, and some tight-fitting spanners, both TRE's were adjusted to preserve the replacement tyres. It amazed me that the car had driven so nicely previously, and the steering wheel was in the straight ahead position. Checking the rears, which I had noticed were looking a bit thin on the outer edges, I found they still had 4mm on the insides, so decided to re-align them. Although tight, I managed to hammer an imperial socket onto the tightest, and with an extension bar, they cracked open cleanly. The others gave with less effort on the correct metric socket. I was pleasantly surprised to find no rust on the threads of any of the bolts, which I removed, each in turn, applied copperslip, and replaced, leaving 1 out on each side, the other 2 hand tight, so I could gauge how far outboard I had moved the trailing arm mounts by the bolt hole positions in the body compared to the elongated holes in the mounts. Having re-centred the steering wheel after adjusting the front wheel alignment, when I first test drove it after adjusting the rear, I was aware that the car was crabbing slightly, both by my view in the wing mirrors, but also by the steering wheel no longer being straight. Readjustment of the nearside rear took about 20 minutes this time, and this time, my guesswork proved correct. So far, all tyres appear to be wearing evenly, although the new rears have only done around 5,000miles. The car also corners with less steering input.
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