otto06

I am replacing my tires today on my C4S - went with the Sumitomos for now - should I get an alignment at the same time? The car feels like it is aligned - no abnormal tread wear on the old ones.

Thoughts?

J

Byprodriver

If you like the way it drives & treadwear of previous tires just monitor new treadwear & air pressure.

Meares

leith porsche in cary nc ....is/did have a free alignment check....if anything is out of spec then they do the alignment and charge you...if not, no charge.....see if the local dealer will do that for you....all they can say is no

vange_c4s

if prior tire wear is good, and it drives well leave it alone. why fix it if it is not broken?

Hurdigurdiman

+1 My rears were well worn on the inside due to wheel camber which is normal for these cars, so I left mine 'as is'

targa996

I'd get free check done - but make sure tech knows how to align a Porsche. If you are in Norcal i'd recommend Borelli Motorsports for tires/alignment - they order the tires from tirerack for you ( I believe - or at least they matched those prices on my sumi's) - and have race mechanic who really knows what he is doing - would not take my car to regular discount tire shop ...

Macster

Well, no it is not normal unless the alignment is not correct.

The inside edge tire wear is due to incorrect rear toe. With a proper alignment the rear tire wear should be even although with a bit of heavy throttle foot the one rear tire will wear faster than the other tire.

In the USA it is the right rear tire because right hand turns are more common and are sharper than left hand turns.

In the UK the opposite is the case.

perryinva

Really? I have always thought that the insides will always wear before the outsides in the rear, just not excessively so, if alignment is correct for your driving style. Well worn on th einside wih half tread on the outside is not correct, but I've never heard of even wear on the rears of these cars. I've always changed tires due to age or hatred before they are worn away.

Imo000

Since all looks good, leave it alone. These free check can be shady, chances are good they will say it needs it, just to make money.

Meares

leith porsche showed the specs of my car and where porsche recommends them...then i chose to proceed......i don't think any porsche dealer free checks are shady...i mean damn, they show you the numbers

Macster

It looks as if camber is the cause of inside edge tire wear but over the years with my Boxster and 996 Turbo always when there is excessive inside edge wear the toe is the setting that is out.

In the case of my Turbo after having the car in for some deer damage repair the dealer service department -- unbeknownst to me at the time -- screwed the pooch on the alignment.

I learned this the hard way when around 8K miles later when I was having the car road worthy inspected at another dealer prior to a road trip and was informed the rear tires were shot. Not believing this I looked for myself and sure enough the inside edge wear had belt material showing.

New tires were fitted and an alignment done and the rear toe was out.

In the case of my Boxster I had it in at Custom Alignment in Mountain View for new tires and after the new tires installed an alignment.

The manager told me the car was done but the rear camber was at its max allowable setting. He said it could of course be brought into spec, put right on the money, but the cost would go up. (As an aside the cost was nearly as much as I would have paid at a dealer...so much for indy's being cheaper than a dealer.)

I asked him about the possible negative effects to the the car's feel/handling and to tire life from leaving the camber as it was.

He told me the car's handling/feel would be unaffected as would tire life.

Based on this I agreed to accept the car with its rear camber as it was.

'course before I got too far away from the shop I gave the car a road test and found the handling/steering to be perfect as it always is after a proper alignment. And over the miles tire life was just fine.

In other cases while the camber settings have been right on the mark tire life has always been good and tire wear even. The last set of rear tires on the Turbo lasted nearly 23K miles and would have gone a bit longer but a nail ruined one tire and I had to replace both. The good news was when I bought the tires road hazard protection was added to the bill -- $7/tire IIRC -- and because of this and because the tire tread depth was above 2mm (it was 3mm) the road hazard protection the ruined tire was replaced at no cost to me.

Given my usage: street and highway driving; rear (and front) tire wear is even and tire life is pretty good with whatever camber setting is acceptable though most of the time the setting is right on the mark and the other adjustments are as per Porsche too.

Imo000

^^^^Why the life story??? So much bable that all the relevant info (very little), gets lost in the sea of irrelevant monbo jumbo.

Keep it simple and to the point. This isn't Oprah's book of the month club.

Gonzo911

Then don't read it. Rude.

fpb111

Imo000,
Please put Macster on Ignore.

Macster,
You have a pair of very unusal Porsche cars. There are many who will not agree with you on 911/996 (no personal experience with 986) tire wear being even across the tire if alignment is spot on factory setup. 32K on Turbo rears has to be close to a record.

dennis hiip

I always appreciate Macster's input and experience shared. Thank you Macster.