Brakes Wheels 2nd Gen Tires Most liked posts in thread: Wheel Alignment Concerns!

Do your tires end up cupped like mine? I want my tires to last at least 80% of the tread, -1.75 camber seems extreme. What would the dealer set my camber at in the rear?

 

I just found my old sheet of what my alignment was when I bought the car, it showed camber at -1.4 on both rear tires. I remember the tires didn't start to wear excessively until I had the camber changed to -1.7. Will my tires wear better if camber was at -1.4? How does that affect handling?

 

I might go through some turns fast, but mostly I drive my MCS computing with the occasional mountain winding roads, but nothing near extreme. When I like to go fast it's usually in a straight line. I live and drive in SoCal, Orange County. So mostly straight aways with a few long sweeping turn but again nothing extreme, I drive conservatively.

Spirited driving, perhaps I'm somewhere between grandma and extreme. I wouldn't say extreme, maybe moderate driver.

This link was extremely helpful, looks like I need to adjust the Camber setting according to how I drive. That wasn't in my manual. I think -1.4 Camber is more appropriate for my driving style. This is where I had it in the beginning, looking back I remember there was more even tread wear at -1.4. Later having it set to -1.7 is when the tires started to wear even more uneven.

 

Then it seems you corner harder than I do, which is why it wears better for you.

Perhaps the H-Sport control arms are in my future.

 

My tires in the rear looked like they do now after 5000 miles when one would rotate their tires, I rotated them and after a few days of driving especially on the freeway, the steering was dangerously squirrely as if my tires had a mind of their own. I had to constantly course correct steering, you know when your tire finds the grooves and cracks in the road following them as if they were railroad tracks. That's how bad it was.

 

I haven't commented on my Michelin Pilot Super Sports (205/45/ZR17), the car definitely feels like I'm glued to the road, is much quieter ride. The bumps are smoother, I like not having to feel every rock or imperfections in the road. How many of you carry a spare tire while driving on non-run flats? I would also need to replace the horribly unsafe OEM jack, it's only safe on perfectly flat surfaces and it's not like we have a patch of road picked out foe when we get flat tires?

 

At some point I will buy a set of H-Sport Control Arms, but with the stock setup and me wanting better tire wear, a negative camber of -1.4 will be done tomorrow. If I feel that a negative camber of 1.0 is sufficient I'll go for a set of H-Sport Control Arms. I want to set down gradually from -1.7 - -1.4 and then -1.0, by the time I'm done with doing that I'll know what works best for me.

Thank you for all the helpful feedback!

 

I got my alignment done today by the owner of a shop that knows how to align BMW and Mini Coopers. He did tell me that Camber doesn't affect tire wear as much as Toe-in/outs, my left rear tire had a Toe-out to 0.01, specified range .13-.27 degrees. He indeed told me after looking at my tire that it had been over inflated as many of you have already stated. I guess I just need to recheck my alignment every 6 months, it's free.