Hi everyone! So today I replaced my rears with 255/40/17 Hankook RS-3 and will be getting my fronts 225/45/17 this coming Thursday as well as an alignment. What would be the best alignment for good wear on these tires since I keep reading that the shoulders of the tires wear faster? I want to know what would be the best camber settings for these tires. I daily drive my car too in SoCal.

 

Stock alognent

 

What would be stock alignment settings for an Ap1 with ap2v1 wheels. would that matter?

 

daily driving RS3s only? with tires that good you should be using them on a track or autox to get the benefits of such a sticky street tire.

on my Ap1 with 17" wheels I go with:
max castor (6.5-7 possible)
front toe 0
front camber -1 if you never intend to do any hard driving, otherwise go for minimum -1.5

rear toe 0.2 degrees each side, total 0.4 toe (1/8")
rear camber -1.5, if you want "aggressive" go for -2.5

 

LOL. Yeah I didn't realize these tires were that good until another s2k owner getting an alignment done at the shop told me that I would have fun with them. Originally I wanted to go with Toyo Proxes R1R's but they didnt have them in stock and I needed rears asap so the shop owner told me he only had RS3's for the rear so I agreed. Haha they are sticky..can't wait to get the front tires next week! So what will caster do for daily driving? What would happen if I went with lowest caster? I ZDan in another thread (2011) mentioned that a total .2-.3 toe for the rear would yield the best treadwear. What do you think?


As for autox or track, I plan to take the car sometime in the summer maybe after I upgrade to an AEM ecu for a good tune[:

 

Don't overlook the Wheels & Tires subforum. Tons of threads on alignments in there.

 

Both of the tires you mentioned have massive amounts of grip. Owned the r1r's before and tracked with them. Never owned the RS3's...Looking into them, though. Tires that have insane amount of grip(RS3's, r1r's) make the suspension articulate more during cornering so look into a more aggressive alignment. Most track guys with RS3's run -3 degrees or more in camber. Otherwise you will have most of the wear on the outside edge of the tire and/or sometimes wear into the sidewall.

 

LOL. I like your screen name haha. So this is what I am thinking of getting.

Front Camber: 1.5* and no toe
Front Caster: lowest caster
Rear Camber: 2.5* with 1/8 rear toe on each tire for a total of .25 rear toe.


Does that sound alright?

 

I agree with low caster, but it can be a personal preference thing. For autoX, there may be benefits to big caster, but I've never been a fan for track duty.
Too much rear toe IMO. 1/4" total is 0.57 degrees. IMO, excessive. Tire life will suck, turn-in will suck, and the back end will be more unstable over undulations and traction-limited surfaces.
I'd go ~1/16" to 1/8" *total* rear toe, or about .15 degrees to 0.3 degrees total. Rear tire life will literally be about double what it is with 1/4"/0.57 degrees total, and handling demeanor will be more fun and more linear/predictable.

 

oopps i meant to say 1/8 total rear toe!thanks ZDan!