2004 Boxster - 17 inch tire discussion

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Originally Posted by alansanmateo

Can someone give me guidance about the neutral alignment topic? My service tech. - the local dealer - did not recommend any alignment change. I was told the wear on the inside edge of the rear is how the car is designed.

If you have excessive wear on the inside of the rear tires from lots of highway miles you can adjust for that with a more neutral alignment. These cars come with significant negative camber to maximize grip in the corners because it is a sports car, not a Camry. If your typical driving style doesn't include a lot of "sporty" driving and you are seeing excessive wear to the inside shoulder you can adjust for that with a more neutral alignment taking out some of the negative camber.

If it were my car and I mostly commuted on the highway I would go to a specialty alignment shop and request an alignment to maximize tire life. There are limitations to what they can do but mine would look something like this:

Front: 0 camber, 0 toe
Rear: -.5 camber, 1/16 total toe-in

This will result in the gas best mileage, longest tire life at the expense of max "sporty" grip in the corners. All alignment settings are a tradeoff so choose the one that best suits your driving style. Often that will differ from what your dealer may suggest.

For my car I want just the opposite. The only time it is on the highway is heading out to "sporty" roads and race tracks. I want max cornering grip at the expense of everything else. My alignment looks more like this:

F: -2.6 camber, 0 toe
R: -2.0 camber, 1/16 toe in

It is a good match for my driving style and my tire wear is pretty even. I run soft compound tires so they don't last very long (3-5k mi) but they do wear fairly evenly across the tread.

Set your car up for YOUR driving style, not your dealer's driving style.