Ok to set reduce camber for better rear tire life
#16
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
Iv gotten my alignment checked and set at 3000 kms. Had it set to the dot using row settings. At 23000kms the front look to go for another 23k and the rears are thinning a bit. Not yet at the wear indicators. Not sure if camber or toe should be managed but the desire is to get more miles from rears so that changing is a 4 tire affair.
#17
Drifting
Iv gotten my alignment checked and set at 3000 kms. Had it set to the dot using row settings. At 23000kms the front look to go for another 23k and the rears are thinning a bit. Not yet at the wear indicators. Not sure if camber or toe should be managed but the desire is to get more miles from rears so that changing is a 4 tire affair.
#18
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Leeds, Alabama
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I discussed this with my dealer Tech and he dialled out camber on the rear for longevity. There is no discernible difference, and I drive in a spirited fashion ( I can because I have the Passport 9500 installed ). Understeer/oversteer....both have benefits.....both have consequences...you pays yer money and takes yer choice......
She'll be going back on the track in a few months for another DE so I will see if it's made any difference. Most of us think we know what we're talking about, we read too much in my view.yes, our cars are high performance, we (me anyway) are not really qualified to spout 'thou shalt not alter Dr Porsche's settings' ........I doubt there's a real whole heap of difference on the camber settings.....we'll find out if I go roundy round in Turn 5/6 at Barbers won't we?
She'll be going back on the track in a few months for another DE so I will see if it's made any difference. Most of us think we know what we're talking about, we read too much in my view.yes, our cars are high performance, we (me anyway) are not really qualified to spout 'thou shalt not alter Dr Porsche's settings' ........I doubt there's a real whole heap of difference on the camber settings.....we'll find out if I go roundy round in Turn 5/6 at Barbers won't we?
#19
Race Director
Iv gotten my alignment checked and set at 3000 kms. Had it set to the dot using row settings. At 23000kms the front look to go for another 23k and the rears are thinning a bit. Not yet at the wear indicators. Not sure if camber or toe should be managed but the desire is to get more miles from rears so that changing is a 4 tire affair.
I can get sometimes 20K or more miles from the rear tires of my Boxster or Turbo.
In the case of both cars, the front tires clearly are not very worn at all so I replace the rear tires and then when these are worn out I replace all 4 tires. The fronts still have some life left but they are getting thin in the tread area and hard and noisy from the heat cycles.
For me I have found the factory alignment settings deliver the best car experience and tire life.
Once the Boxster came out of the alignment shop with its rear camber at its max setting. I was concerned about tire life -- the car was in for an alignment after new tires were fitted -- but the shop owner assured me the extra negative rear camber would have no effect on tire life.
He proved to be right. And the car didn't feel any different.
But if the toe is out...
While the car doesn't feel any different, I've gone through a rear set of tires on the Turbo in around 8K miles. From new to shot in 8K miles. More than shot. Worn down to the belts. Nearly $1K in tires/mounting/balanced and an alignment (lousy one to state the obvious) down the drain.
#20
Burning Brakes
When I bought my currrent car over 3 years ago, I put new Bridgestone RE050 tires on it, installed Damptronics, lowered the car just less than 1", and had the alignment set to ROW which provided some negative camber, especially to the rear wheels. Amazingly, even after doing a few autocrosses, and driving in a spirited manner the rest of the time, I've gotten over 26000 miles on my front tires with likely another 5k worth of tread left, and got 15,000 on my first set of rears. I expect the second set of rears will also be good for 15k (they now have 11k on them). So I don't think removing camber on the rear wheels will necessarily reduce tire wear on the inside, even though logic might suggest otherwise. I'm sure the rear toe also has a big effect.
That's a bit confusing as the Pzeros have a higher tread wear rating than the Bridgestones - but you're saying the bridgestones last longer??
#21
Besides the weight factor, our cars (especially on the C2 cars) will wear the rears faster just because they always have the driving forces applied to them. In "normal" cars, that don't have staggered tire sizes, this wear can be compensated for with front to rear tire rotation.
#22
Rennlist Member
what camber you have now? if you set front to -1.5 and rear to -1 then it should not be eating tires too much. my car is set permanently to -2.7 front -2.2 rear.
check if rear toe is set to 0.10. and front to 0.05 or so.
check if rear toe is set to 0.10. and front to 0.05 or so.