front tire wear
05-02-2014, 11:35 AM
#1
Intermediate
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front tire wear
my 97 boxster, exhibits a fair amount of front tire wear on the inside edge of both. I am aware that euro spek cars , have more on the negative camber, than us. my car tracks, steers, fantastic I am leery of aligning, it and losing the , good driveability. tolerate the wear?
05-02-2014, 01:15 PM
#2
Race Director
It is not the camber but the toe that is causing the wear. You can have this corrected and not lose the drivability.
The misalignment can cost you more than tire wear. Grip in wet conditions, braking can be compromised. Suspension and steering components can be subjected to more stress and more wear than normal.
The misalignment can cost you more than tire wear. Grip in wet conditions, braking can be compromised. Suspension and steering components can be subjected to more stress and more wear than normal.
05-10-2014, 11:03 AM
#3
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well, got an alignment, fom a euro car shop. they found, a bit of toe, and some camber as well, aligned , and as I thought , drive feel has changed subtly. a bit , of flatter feel to the steering, is best to describe it. not obnoxious, but different. I think I know why the racers run a bit of negative camber and tolerate the wear.
05-10-2014, 01:49 PM
#4
Race Director
Not sure why you had the camber reduced. I would have thought you would have had the toe in corrected and leave the camber alone.
However, perhaps these settings go hand in hand and the shop had to dial back the camber to bring the toe in into spec?
More negative camber at the front is supposed to make the car react quicker to turn in.
On the track this is I guess seen as a plus.
On the street, it can be a negative, makes the car darty.
However, there are a few, I'm sure, drivers who like this behavior even on the street. Different strokes for different folks.
As for uneven tire wear, I've owned other cars that have had some negative camber at the front and tire wear was even across the tread. The only times it was not was due to excessive or incorrect toe in. My '06 GTO ate its front tires on their inside edges from incorrect toe in.
It is all up to you. If you want to run more negative camber at the front, that's your call. In the case of your Porsche if this results in more tire wear that's the price you pay, I guess. You trade tire life for car feel.
However, perhaps these settings go hand in hand and the shop had to dial back the camber to bring the toe in into spec?
More negative camber at the front is supposed to make the car react quicker to turn in.
On the track this is I guess seen as a plus.
On the street, it can be a negative, makes the car darty.
However, there are a few, I'm sure, drivers who like this behavior even on the street. Different strokes for different folks.
As for uneven tire wear, I've owned other cars that have had some negative camber at the front and tire wear was even across the tread. The only times it was not was due to excessive or incorrect toe in. My '06 GTO ate its front tires on their inside edges from incorrect toe in.
It is all up to you. If you want to run more negative camber at the front, that's your call. In the case of your Porsche if this results in more tire wear that's the price you pay, I guess. You trade tire life for car feel.
05-11-2014, 08:47 AM
#5
Drifting
Negative camber is good for performance (both track and street), and by itself does not lead to a lot of front tire wear; negative camber coupled with toe out can quickly wear the inside corners, though, but toe is the real problem. It's impossible to get too much negative camber on the front wheels of a 986; the stock adjustment points don't allow much adjustment- max out as much negative camber as you can get in the front and leave it there, for track or for daily driving.
It's easily possible to get the toe wrong, though. Toe in helps with steering stability and makes it easier to drive in a dead-straight line on the highway. Toe out helps with turn-in, but makes the car annoying to drive on the highway (and the aforementioned tire wear.) A good compromise is dead neutral toe, erring with a little toe in.
I have my camber set as far negative as it'll go (literally loosened the nuts, pushed it to the stops, and tightened it back down- all 0.5 degrees of it). I saw excessive inside corner wear when I had slight toe out, but adjusting toe to dead neutral stopped the wear, even with the camber. Similar with rear, although you want to run toe-in in combination with negative camber in the rear, which doesn't result in excessive inside wear (just the normal kind of inside wear.) My experience is very typical. Besides, if the outside corner of your tires isn't the very first thing to go, you're not driving your car hard enough and should do more autocross and time trials
It's easily possible to get the toe wrong, though. Toe in helps with steering stability and makes it easier to drive in a dead-straight line on the highway. Toe out helps with turn-in, but makes the car annoying to drive on the highway (and the aforementioned tire wear.) A good compromise is dead neutral toe, erring with a little toe in.
I have my camber set as far negative as it'll go (literally loosened the nuts, pushed it to the stops, and tightened it back down- all 0.5 degrees of it). I saw excessive inside corner wear when I had slight toe out, but adjusting toe to dead neutral stopped the wear, even with the camber. Similar with rear, although you want to run toe-in in combination with negative camber in the rear, which doesn't result in excessive inside wear (just the normal kind of inside wear.) My experience is very typical. Besides, if the outside corner of your tires isn't the very first thing to go, you're not driving your car hard enough and should do more autocross and time trials
05-11-2014, 09:15 AM
#6
AutoX
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Something you might look into is a sports car or race shop that does alignments using the string method. You'll pay more for this service, but the alignment will be perfect, and you can get it set exactly as you want it. For many shops that use a laser alignment rack, there can be a significant margin of error. Those shops also typically setthe alignment to book specs, not taking into account your driving style.
