I tracked my 997S for the first time at BIR last September. The car was flawless and it confirmed my thoughts when I purchased the car that I would drive it as it was designed and not own a garage queen. The performance of the 997S exceeded my expectations in all areas except one: tire wear...I did not heed the advice of this thread and change the camber/toe spec.
I have noted the discussions on this and other threads on having negative 1.5 degrees of camber to minimize the outer tire wear. I discussed the negative camber issue with my mechanic and he asked the question: if you put in negative camber, that will change the toe..so what is the toe spec?
I had no answer and do not recall seeing a discussion on the recommended camber/toe spec. As I drive the car nearly daily, do you change the camber/toe spec back to 'normal' after the track event?
Please comment with recommendations or experience.

 

Hey;

The normal routine is to set camber and then toe, as your mechanic rightly states, as the former changes the latter, in most cases. Have your man set the camber to what you want/can get, then the toe to factory specs. That should work well for your purposes. Toe problems will rip the tires faster than -/camber for street use.

A little toe-in is a nice thing to have when you are getting used to this driving thing. Better maintains things on the straight and narrow, litterally.

 

this is the perfect thread for me too. I will track my 997 C2S at Sebring for the 1st time this Saturday. My alignment is stock right now. I talked to my dealer and they said to go to the track with the stock setting for the first time and see how it does. They said severe outer tire wear is cause more by bad driving techniques and good braking and the proper line will minimize tire wear. My Porsche dealer also said you will not want to drive the car everyday on the street with neg camber and a track set up because then it will wear out the tires faster.

Personally I do not want to have to pay $250 for an alignment each time I go to the track and then another $250 for an alignment when I get back from the track. I just don;t have time to take off from work to have this done all the time.

Thoughts and opinions?

 

I recommend stock alignment settings for cars used primarily on the street that also use OEM suspensions. No need to change anything for the track for what you are doing. Keep things simple and concentrate on the driving.

 

That said;

If you plan to be at the track enough to effect your street tires, you CAN find setting that are a good compromise for your driving in both realms.

It is only true to a point that you should be able to keep your tires alive if you drive "properly." If you are anything less than very careful, you will negatively effect your tire's lifespan with stock settings.

I agree. Do an event and see how it goes. Once you are hooked on the Track Needle, you'll need more camber. We don't go there to haul groceries.

 

I'll have to agree with the general trend here; the first few times out you're not likely to be going really fast enough to trash your stock tires. Especially the first time, don't worry about alignment settings; the stock setup is going to feel great.

Leave the camber/toe adjustments for later. I didn't touch my alignment settings for the first year; it wasn't until I started going really faster that my tires suffered and it was worth worrying about.