RalliartN

iTrader: (1)

My tire wear mode is cording of the left front outside edge after two or three track play-days. The rest of the tread stays quite a bit thicker.

It has happened for different brands of summer tire. I finally learned that, just before the cords show on that tire, I can rotate it to the rear to get more life out of the set. I try to be conscious of not pushing/skidding the front really badly but what can you do?

Current suspension is Swift springs on stock dampers. Camber is -1.5 front and rear, with zero toe. I have a larger rear sway bar, and the car exhibits minimal understeer. I don't have an LSD.

Questions:
1. would coilovers help even out front tire wear?
2. are coilovers that much of a high speed handling improvement over the stock RA suspension, or is it just an incremental difference?

I am considering buying a set (Fortune Auto?) and don't want to spend the money if it doesn't really improve wear or handling much. I've never owned a car with them.

Thanks guys!

bakuro117

iTrader: (5)

Your tires are wearing on the outside even with -1.5 camber? Thats odd because Im on KYB struts and Tein springs and I have -1 camber all the way around. Most of my tire wear seems to be on the inside of the tires.

You said its the front driver side outer edge of the tire right? Could you maybe be spinning that tire more under certain conditions since you dont have an LSD? Just trying to think of what would cause the outer side to wear more when your using negative camber...

RalliartN

iTrader: (1)

Good call, Bakuro. I do remember the tires spinning a lot in certain slowish corners, where you can hammer the throttle on the way out, and they are right turn corners so yes the left front tire gets bent over and loaded at its outside edge. For the short times I tried Cranswicks car there was a noticable difference. So to mitigate excessive spin I either install an LSD or else be more aware to gently accelerate in those certain circumstances.

Yeah, my daily driver tire wear is nothing compared to the track wear, so the tire inside edges have lots of tread even with that negative camber.

Still curious about coilover effects though.

CrAnSwIcK

iTrader: (5)

adjustable damping alone should sway your decision

2006_RA

iTrader: (1)

@ RalliartN,

Since you had the wheel alignment done has it ever been rechecked ?
What tyre pressures are you using at the track ?
If you find that the tyre is rolling over the outside edge onto the sidewall,(check where the scuffing is right after lapping) you should try increasing the tyre pressures.
When we played at SMP, way too long ago now that I think of it, I had the front at 38 and the rear at 40 cold.
I do not do track days really, but aside from that I have a nearly identical set up to yours.

The differences are :

OEM vs KYB GR2/Excel G
Whiteline vs Progress
MAX or UHP Summer vs UHP All season
Camber bolts vs stock

I would hesitate to get the coil overs as a remedy, I think there is some other issue. ( By all means get the coil overs sir.)
Check your shock mounts for cracks in the rubber and distortion.
A good test is to turn lock to lock with the engine running and look for movement. Then with the handbrake applied, engage the clutch enough for the suspension to load up and check for movement in the shock mount too.

Good luck.

bakuro117

iTrader: (5)

I wouldnt suggest the coilovers to fix the tire wear problem. But there are many other upsides for a car that sees the track regularly. I want some coilovers myself. lol Adjustable dampening, adjustable ride height, couple more degrees of camber to play around with. They would certainly be a step up.

But for the tire wear problem I too would start looking at your tire pressure, and the strength of your tire's sidewall, maybe even a bigger wheel so you can run a tire with less sidewall. And maybe even start looking into an LSD so that one tire isnt taking the whole load under circumstances like that corner you mentioned. Then maybe instead of staying off the gas to keep from losing grip, maybe you'd be able to step on it a bit more.