McDougal

iTrader: (6)

So the two most commonly recommended alignment setting are -1/0 for a "stock" feeling alignment and -2/-1 for a more aggressive alignment. How much quicker will the aggressive settings wear a set of tires compared to the stock-ish settings?

vd

iTrader: (3)

For my personal car exploitation (stock EvoIX, Z1*, agressive DD with ocassional track-days) stock alignment showed to be not the best choice. My tires were worn on the outer side (not sidewall but contact patch) much more significantly than the inner part. Happily Z1* are symmetrical so I could switch them left-right. I believe shifting the alignment by 1 or so both in front and in rear would finally make my tires wear more evenly as well as improve handling.

Ultimately where the best (both in terms of wear and performance) alignment is heavily depends on your setup and driving style.

RJones

iTrader: (5)

It depends on what kind of driving you're doing. If you're tracking and doing spirited driving, a "stock" alignment will wear tires faster, since you'll be more prone to roll over than you would with more camber. I think what you need to worry about more than camber is toe. As long as you have 0 toe all around, the wear shouldn't be that bad. My car has the following setup:

f ; r
camber: -3.0 ; -1.5
caster: 4.4 ; stock
toe: 0 ; 1/16" out

It was basically setup for autocross only and not intended to be a daily driver, but I've put about 4k miles on since the alignment and I haven't noticed any unusual wear on my DD tires.

xtnct

iTrader: (33)

If you do a lot of straight line highway driving, anything over -1.5 camber will give you camber wear. Any toe will just amplify the effect.

LV///R

iTrader: (36)

Hmmm,

So within 2 posts in a row, one person says -3 degrees camber is fine for the front, while the next says anything over 1.5 will give you camber wear?

I'm very close to getting an alignment for my evo. I mainly DD and take in at least 10 autox's in the area during the summer. This year I want to set it and forget it, so I don't have to adjust camber before each and every event. Obviously I'd want to run as much camber as I can, without sacrificing wear.

I've noticed multiple other people on the forums running -3 degrees camber on the fronts, and even one who said he put on 40,000 miles on his tires with no "camber wear".

I'm just going to try -3.0 front and about -1.5 rear and see what happens (0 toe all the way around and max caster that I can dial in on my plates).

WRC-LVR

iTrader: (1)

-3 camber in front is a lot. Car may seem a little unstable under heavy braking or highway speed with that much. It will feel twitchy and tend to follow grooves and ridges as well. Get as much caster as you can that will help a bit.

Personally i run -2/-1 with zero toe. Minor wear on insides of Star specs almost 20K with 5 autox in 2 years , but they are almost done now :-)

McDougal

iTrader: (6)

Thanks for the responses

RJones

iTrader: (5)

I haven't noticed this one bit with my setup. I also know multiple other Evo owners that autox seriously, but DD their cars that run 3-3.5 degrees of camber in the front and haven't had any of these symptoms either. My car doesn't feel twitchy, IMO, even with 16kg rear springs and a 27mm rear bar.

RJones

iTrader: (5)

My opinion may be slightly skewed, as I run 300 treadwear tires for DD. Also, I was only using -3* as a reference in the tire wear v. camber debate. I don't think you alignment needs to be that aggressive if your main use is DD. My setup is based on only really using the car for autocross more than DD (I plan to compete in ~30 this year).

Smike

iTrader: (8)

My choice between camber and toe is always camber. Toe will wear tires faster than camber. I run around -2 up front and -1.4-6 in the rear. Normal tire rotations after 3-5k and flipping every other rotation (inside/out). I was able to cycle Z1s for almost 20k of DD and AX/HPDE.

xtnct

iTrader: (33)

Sort of - you need to take into account what kind of driving you do. I said anything over 1.5 you will notice tire wear if you do a lot of straight highway driving. If you drive twisty roads 90% of the time, then you can run up to -2 front and not notice much wear.

Also, like someone said, the tires matter. Soft sticky tires will wear rather quick. I had -2 up front with 0 toe, and had to take a trip from Philly to the outer banks and back. It was all straight highway. The trip killed my tires due to camber wear. Had I left it at -1, I would have one more year of life left.

So, your alignment should be set to the type of driving you plan on doing.
- straight roads and only occasional turns, autox or track you have to go with -1 if you don't want to wear out tires prematurely
- mostly twisty roads and little highway, you can go up to -2 with little effect on camber wear
- auto-x or track -2+ camber but you may see camber wear effect. You may not care though.

For the above reasons, I actually bought camber plates so I can go between -1 on the street and max it out to -2+ on the track. You will need to reset the toe using toe plates or something like that each time you change camber. I run about -1.3-4 in rear and don't mess with it.

As mentioned, caster helps too with no ill-effects on an evo. I mounted my plates rotated so that as I increase the camber, the caster also goes up.

goofygrin

iTrader: (5)

caster takes away steering quickness (and trades for better dynamic camber). I personally didn't like the feel of more caster and set my plates back.

5 autox in 2 years? Last March I did 5 autox's in 3 weeks.



OP: I think your plan is good, but if you autox on star specs with -2* you are leaving performance on the table and you will have to put 40# of air in the tires to avoid destroying the outside fronts. -3* will cause a bit of tire wear but will increase the performance of you car in a big way.


If you're getting 20k miles on star specs then you need to drive harder

xtnct

iTrader: (33)

Agreed, if you add a lot of caster. In my case, I am only able to add .5 to 1 deg, and honestly, I can't feel any numbing of the steering with that. I feel more of a change in the steering feel going from my street tires to r-comp tires than I do from the 1 deg in caster change.

Smike

iTrader: (8)

20k and corded Flipped inside and out many times. They were not raced after 12 or so events (2 HPDEs), just street driven.

goofygrin

iTrader: (5)

I was able to add 2-3* of caster and I could feel the steering get "lazy". I was way off the cones after making the change, but it did feel better in sweeping steady state corners.