Shocks and Tires

[Lucky]

I just introduced myself and my car on the General forum: see post

I do have a couple of perf/tech questions, so any help would be invaluable.

First off, my car's tires are ready for replacement. I'm leaning towards Bridgestone RE050 Pole Positions. Are this a good match for this car? Any alternatives y'all would suggest?

Second, shocks are OK but clearly getting soft. I'm thinking of replacing with Bilstein HDs. Keep in mind, I'm partial to the OEM ride and don't want to compromise it too much. Anyone have the Bilsteins? Happy with them? How about the Sports? Are they a bit stiff?

Finally, alignment settings. I will be getting a quality alignment at my local independent who will dial in any settings I desire from OEM specs to their own secret race setup. I don't want to go too wild, but would like a more aggressive setup. Any recommendations on camber, caster, toe front and rear?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

[RandallNeighbour]

Tires: The ones you mentioned are excellent. I'm running Michelin PS2's right now and I've enjoyed them. Nice and sticky, even in the rain.

Shocks/Struts: I replaced my rear struts with Bilstein HD, which are factory replacements and they're fine. If you ever wanted to lower your car, this is the time to do it with some PSS9's or equivalent. I have been told that just replacing the springs isn't all that great for ride quality, although you can save a pile of cash doing it.

Alignment Setups: Do a thread search and you'll find lots of discussions about this very subjective issue. Frankly, the factory settings are quite good in my opinion and in the case of the rear settings, they're aggressive enough to wear out my rear tires in less than 10k.

Hope this helps, and welcome to the forum!

[insite]

Originally Posted by Lucky

I just introduced myself and my car on the General forum: see post

I do have a couple of perf/tech questions, so any help would be invaluable.

First off, my car's tires are ready for replacement. I'm leaning towards Bridgestone RE050 Pole Positions. Are this a good match for this car? Any alternatives y'all would suggest?

Second, shocks are OK but clearly getting soft. I'm thinking of replacing with Bilstein HDs. Keep in mind, I'm partial to the OEM ride and don't want to compromise it too much. Anyone have the Bilsteins? Happy with them? How about the Sports? Are they a bit stiff?

Finally, alignment settings. I will be getting a quality alignment at my local independent who will dial in any settings I desire from OEM specs to their own secret race setup. I don't want to go too wild, but would like a more aggressive setup. Any recommendations on camber, caster, toe front and rear?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

the RE-050A PP's are great on this car. they last a fair while, too. i have the bilstein sports (same valving as the HD). consider getting the bilstein sports if you plan to lower your car (factory M030 suspension); they're a little shorter to accomodate the lower ride height. they're a nice upgrade and don't really compromise ride quality. as for alignment, run zero toe up front, a hair of toe in in back. set your front camber to -0.5 and your rear camber to -1.7. these settings won't wear your tires badly and will be much better than stock.

also consider going to M030 sway bars if you want a better handling car; they make a huge difference for very little money. how many miles on your car, BTW? shocks shouldn't really need to be replaced before 100k miles.

[racer_d]

Lucky.. imagine seeing you here.. anyway.. tires are too "personal" for me to comment about. I run RA-1s all summer and put back regular "street tires" for the winter months.

As for alignment, you will learn that a "stock" boxster isn't very friendly towards aggressive alignments. You will likely only get (-).8- (-)1.2 degrees of negative camber up front. Rear you can get a little more out. So, if you plan to drive the car aggressively (ax or track) you will find the outside edges wear out quickly on the front.

That said, I would max out the front camber and add (-).5 more to the rear. My rears, despite AX and DE (ab)use are wearing really well, but as I mentioned, my fronts are all chewed up.

[Lucky]

Thanks for the advice gents. You've given me enough info to be dangerous.

Racer Dave... good "seeing" you here. Not much Boxster advice on the usual board, so I figured I come here to find the experts.

I'll have to do some searches and see what I can learn before I blow $ with dead end choices.