I'm looking to get some new tires, and set my alignment. My car is all stock except the suspension upgrades, and it is a daily driver, that may or may not see some time on an autocross track. The current tires (factory Goodyear Eagles) have 27,000 miles on them, and still have a decent amount of tread left. I drive about 60 miles every day on an interstate that has a serious road crown on it.

I attached a very detailed explanation of different specs here, and it would help me if anyone can tell me how much tread life they got out of their tires with one or any of the setups and their driving. I just want to make sure I am getting good performance, but also good tread life out of tires, and I understand it is impossible to get the maximum tread life and the maximum performance with any specs. I'm kind of leaning toward the "slightly more aggressive" or "even more aggressive" but if anyone could let me know what kind of tread life they got out of these setups, I would appreciate it.

Also, do you guys think I should have both caster settings equal, or more caster on the right, and if so how much more on the right?


Quote:
Originally Posted by FTV6
Camber:
For street use, anything from -.5 to -1.5 camber is acceptable. Meaning, no evil handling characteristics, just progressively more grip as you head towards the -1.5 number (not all cars can get that high, I ran out of adjustment at -1.3). So, for street use (mild) we usually recommend -.5 to -.7 camber (as high as -1.0 for an "aggressive" street setup, people autocross on -1.3). We suggest a -.7 as a very good compromise for even better tire wear.

Toe:
For street use, 0 toe is good. Toe out makes the car more responsive (it wants to turn), because toe out makes it slightly unstable (not bad at all, think of balancing a ruler, standing straight up on your hand, it naturally wants to fall over, my car naturally wants to turn). 0 toe is a good compromise for street use. It makes the car slightly more responsive than it is now and it is still extremely stable.

Castor:
For street use we recommend +4.5, it keeps the steering from being too heavy and allows for a decent amount of negative camber while turning (go turn your wheels all the way to one side, notice that they are both "tilted" the same way, that's castor at work). We would not advise going lower than 4.3 nor higher than 5.0 and we really prefer 4.5 (as do many people). At 4.5 you'll have a stock steering feel, not too light and not heavier.


Mild Street Alignment:
0 Toe
-.5 Camber
+4.5 Castor

Slightly More Aggressive:
0 Toe
-.7 Camber
+4.5 Castor

Even More Aggressive:
0 Toe
-1.0 Camber
4.5 Castor

The Full Race Setup
1/32" to 3/32" Toe Out
-1.3 to -1.5 Camber (whatever max is after the castor is set at 4.5)
+4.5 Castor


Each step will be slightly worse on tire wear and will be slightly more responsive and make more total grip than the one before it. For street use, any of the first 3 work great. If you really like to beat on it around cloverleaf type exit ramps, we suggest that you go with the 3rd setup. If you are just looking for something for a cruiser and weekend driver, the 1st or 2nd are both good setup. The 4th setup will make the car very responsive, but it may hunt on uneven pavement and be "darty" at times.

 

It's hard to predict tread life, because different tires have different rubber compounds, which effects both handling, as well as tread wear. For maximum tread life across the entire width of the tire, set your camber to zero. I run a little toe-in, so that when the rolling resistance of the tires is factored in during driving, then the tires have "zero toe". I also run 5.5* caster on the pass side and 5* on the drivers side.


just my $0.02 worth.....

 

I run with a little toe-in, otherwise on the freeway it feels like it's wondering.

$0.02

 

^^^ GOOD advice
I run a little more + camber ( .25 to .50)
on That Goodyear I ran 42 k perfict wear with NO cupping
I run high air ( 40-44 PSI ) chk it each 3-4 weeks rotate each 5 k miles

Johnny