clawhammer

Mileage now: 21761
Mileage at last alignment: 12895
Date of last alignment: 06/18/03

It was aligned to the specs that are in the Service Manual.

If I were to get a performance alignment, how much would it affect my tire wear? Are we talking 9,500 miles vs. 10,000 miles or 5,000 miles vs. 10,000 miles? Are these the specs I should go with:

* Front toe - 0" to 1/8" toe out
* Front camber - -1.5 to -1.75 degrees

* Rear toe - 1/4" to 3/8" toe in
* Rear camber - -2.0 to -2.25 degrees

mikegarrison

Your right foot has a bigger effect.

negcamber

Claw...did you mention what tire sizes you are running and brand. I met a fellow this weekend that was frustrated with oversteer on his car...come to find out he had non-OEM rear tires in the stock size (225s). Of course the OEM 225s are closer to 245s for non-OEM tires.

Conedodger

[QUOTE=clawhammer,May 22 2006, 07:12 PM] If I were to get a performance alignment, how much would it affect my tire wear? Are we talking 9,500 miles vs. 10,000 miles or 5,000 miles vs. 10,000 miles? Are these the specs I should go with:

Conedodger

I spent time talking set up with Steve Hoelscher, multi time National DSP champ and he finds a little understeer to be the fast set up for autocross. A simple lift or slight brake will get an understeering car to turn in much easier than trying to recover from an oversteer situation.

Race Miata

Mild understeer setup (good for smooth driving style) should be faster than mild oversteer setup (good for toss-and-catch driving style) providing the driver is getting the most out of each setup. With mild understeer you can stay closer to the traction limit throughout the entire turn. With mild oversteer setup any time you're tossing and catching you're not RIGHT at the limit and thus losing time. On a RWD, mild understeer means more reserved traction on the drive wheels to power out of corners.

Race Miata

Regarding OP's original question, to avoid lift throttle oversteer especially thru' the slalom, plan and execute ahead of time. If you have to lift momentarily at some point thru' the slalom, lift earlier and gas back earlier and that means you have to plan ahead for the lift earlier. Late input is the worst problem thru' a slalom.

Iceman1

great thread.. although how do you handle long slalom's that get a lot tighter towards the end... yea they make it interesting...

start the slalom slow enough for the tighter side?

Conedodger

Start with a quick pace and ease off the gas as you continue down the slalom to adjust speed. The trick is to not unload the rear while turning. In a slalom, you are always turning, so you don't want to stab the brakes or lift abruptly.

Race Miata

[QUOTE=Iceman1,May 24 2006, 07:08 AM] great thread..