2007 Saturn Outlook

Long story short, I brought Les Schwab a set of quiet and very-evenly worn out Michelins when it was time for tires on the Outlook. They convinced me, mostly by price, that Dean Tires would be the way to go for the next set. According to them, Dean Tires is a brand they own and therefore control quality yada yada. The Mastercrafts they put on my LeSabre have been excellent as have two sets of Mastercrafts on my Yukon. Dean and Mastercraft are both made by Cooper so I figure they're probably going to be good too. A rose by any other name is still a rose, right?

Their free-alignment-check schedule was full so I came back a few days later and had it checked. It was within their limits of acceptable and no correction was needed.

The tires were fine for the first few thousand miles then became progressively noisier with no weird tire wear patterns.

I did front struts, wheel bearings, and control arms because the struts were tired and I had to take it apart for that. The first drive it did after struts was to Les Schwab to get a 4-wheel alignment and a free rotation. I couldn't tell the difference in the alignment along the way. On their rack, it was only off a little. I had them align it. The rotation changed the noise for about a thousand miles. It seemed like the noise balanced it'* way towards the back a little. Gradually it increased in the front again.

Over the next few thousand miles the tires became noisier. I finally took it in for another free rotation and to ask them about the noise. They point out that it is wearing on the inner edge of the left-front tire and needs an alignment. I advise them that they just aligned it a few thousand miles ago, we haven't hit anything with it, and it was never out of alignment except for the trip from my garage to their shop after I did struts. They put it on the rack and note that the alignment looks good except for about 1.2 degrees of negative camber on both front wheels. They say it is within spec, but this could be the cause of the noisy tires and they suggest that adjusting it out could fix the problem. This is not manufacturer-designed to be adjustable, but they can adjust them anyways by using cam bolts. These cam bolts would be installed in place of the splined bolts at the bottom of the front struts.

I've heard of cam bolts but never seen them installed in place of splined bolts to create an adjustment that the manufacturer didn't design.

For the record, it hasn't run over anything major since we've had it, long before we put this set of tires on.

As of right now, I can honestly say I've driven pickup trucks with mud tires on them that didn't sound this noisy. The noise comes from all four tires. Yes there is some extra wear on the inner edge of (now) both left tires. I've driven vehicles with worse wear than this and not had anything like the noise.

My questions here are:

1. I am concerned that they are accusing this tiny measurement of causing this tire wear, and if they adjust it out, maybe I end up with outer shoulder wear instead. Is 1.2 degrees of negative camber a crazy tire-eating measurement for an Outlook/Acadia/Traverse/Enclave? . . . or is it a normal-ish measurement?

2. The Outlook/Acadia/Traverse/Enclave have been holding up pretty well in this regard . . . not known for sloppy front ends and weak suspension parts. Even this one with a bunch of hard usage was good by their measure at 140,000-ish miles and very close to good after swapping struts, control arms, and bearings. Is it normal and/or reasonable to install cam bolts to add an adjustment that isn't there already?

3. Dean Tires appear to be owned by Cooper Tire. Based on a recent recall (that doesn't include my tires), I suspect Dean is a rebadged Cooper made in Findlay, OH, alongside of Cooper, Mastercraft, Big O, etc. Has anybody had any experience with Dean Tires?