My friend went through something similar with his direzzas and his were wearing super fast, they looked fine with very even wear. I think he was running like a 1/4 or 1/2 inch of total toe in the rear.

Toe is the number one cause of tire wear besides doing hour long burnout's.

 

That does not make much sense based on my experience. There something missing here?

I just replaced R-S3s that I started running last June. The number of runs is estimated at about 200 and they were just getting to the wear bars in the center of the tread area. Replaced for heat cycling. The car was spun many times. The tires are only used for autocross and rotated at each event depending on course layout and wear. They were also flipped inside to out two times. They also get pro solo launched each run with some amount of spin.

I would have to guess it has more to do with street driving than autocross, but both obviously contribute. If I don't rotate my street tires (Dunlop DZ101 225/50/16 on all corners) the rears will wear down to no tread in about 9k miles. The fronts would last to about 25k miles. With good rotation the set can last 20-22k miles.

I would have mentioned alignment if you had not mentioned even wear.

 

Yea its really bizarre, Ive NEVER had this even of wear on this car, EVER. and the old Star specs (went through 2 or 3 sets) I had saw much more street driving that these kooks and never wore out this fast. Im going to order 2 more (since the ones that were on the fron still have a TON of tread left) and use the two that were on the rear as spares and hope that this was just a fluke.

Its just weird because i didnt do anything out of the ordinary and this happened. THe only thing I can think of is since getting stationed here in Pensacola Ive been doing a lot more tight low speed maneuvering in parking lots and small tight roads on base than I ever did in NJ, maybe that contributed.

 

Sounds strange, could be the concrete you are running on too.

We put around 2500street miles and 150 runs on the tires we ran at Nationals, they were around 4/32nds when we got to Lincoln. Little did we know that they were completely shot but whatever, you live you learn.

All 4 tires were worn exactly the same. Not much attention paid to rotating them, they were never flipped.

 

So it seems that there are a few different opinions on what tire to put on this car. Not everyone is capable, or prepared, to win in their car.

If you are trying to enjoy yourself while developing a skill, I'd recommend something like the dunlop, since it has the widest temperature range, and works until you get down to the second layer of rubber just past the wear bars. While the toyo and RS3 have more grip, it's not TONS more, and you will have a car that is well behaved longer.

If you're trying to win, well, I'll leave that up to you. I'm not going to be told I'm wrong for something so subjective. However, of the UHP tires, few have the life span and temperature range tolerance as the dunlop. I'd guess that the kumho is similar, but I've never driven on it.

 

Yea, Im familiar with the characteristics of the tires. I have run dunlops and a few others in the past. I am more trying to figure out the cause of this strange wear.

I think i figured it out today drivintg around base. It has been pretty dang cold here lately and I am starting to notice that when the tires are very cold, if I dont really baby the throttle while making left or right turns from a stop, I am getting a little wheelspin that i assume is froma combination of cold tires not gripping well and the diff resisting the wheel rotating at different speeds. So it looks like this is likely not an autox related issue at all. Sorry for the digression. IM just gonna try being extra careful to avoid this issue and see if that solves everything.

 

that wasn't directed at you in particular, just that it seems that there are often posts on here asking about tire characteristics, without being fully forthcoming with their goals for the car. This way, someone can say: Oh, RS3's are fast, but they stop performing well before they're worn out. Same with the Toyo's but that's due to a design trait, not the compound.

As for your issue.... Were you guys launching hard in the cold? I found that for some reason when the tires are super cold, launching tends to destroy the tire, because it's not actually moving the car. Rubber just goes away. poof.

 

That could definately be part of it... I tried a bunch of harder launches in the beginning before giving up due to not getting the tires to bite... there was also a fair amount of power oversteer when the tires were on the colder side during the early runs of both sessions which would have a similar effect.

I think im gonna leave the tires as they are for now (except having the ones with more tread in the back, for the rest of the winter, and have a fresh set ready to go for when they die. When I lived up north I had seperate tires for the winter since we got snow up there. Not realizing how cold Pensacola can get I didnt bother this year, which Im learning was probably a mistake.

 

does anyone have a good instal guide for Koni's? I'm attempting to put mine on this weekend, but Im unsure on how to pt together the new units. Do I need to drill out my stock tophats if I am reusing them? Im also unsure on what I need to stack on top of the spring. Any help?
thanks

 

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=303417

There are a few things I recall doing differently when installing them on my last S2000.

-took off the sway bar/arms so i didn't have to fight to put the shocks on.
-Measured the shaft of the shock and used the closest drill bit for a more exact fit.
-set the perch for an oem ride height.