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I just had ExtremeContact S02's installed on my 09 AP2, everything is stock steering/suspension wise. I don't drive the car much (500-1K miles a year) but how do these numbers look? The tech that did the alignment didn't seem like he was confident in his work when he was talking to me afterwards.
Ignoring the numbers for now how does the car drive and feel? What tires (age and model) were on the car before? New tires typically need some wear to eliminate manufacturing residue so initial impressions aren't always the best. Give 'em a couple of months or drive the car to work for a week or two.
Your low annual miles driven will cause these tires to age out (seven years) before they show any wear so any abnormal wear from bad alignment may never show up. Nothing wrong with these tires but I'm curious why you choose a 3d tier tire (ultra high performance) over a "better" higher tier tire (max or extreme) which you wouldn't wear out either. Note the quotes around "better."
Its normal for alignment techs to put a little more caster on the right because most U.S. roads slope to the right. That little bit of extra caster compensates for that tendency to tramline towards the drainage slope.
Since the alignment was done, I've put a whopping 2.2 miles on the car (shop > house). I looked around at the wheels and noticed weights were stacked this time instead of next to each other. Obviously not at risk for hitting the calipers or anything but is that normal practice or just lazy work?
The back right wheel seems to be noticeably more angled in that the back left. I'm parked on level ground so I'm not sure what to make of that. If the camber and toe are almost identical in the rear, what would cause the visual mismatch?
Passenger Side Driver Side Passenger Side Driver Side Passenger Side Driver Side Passenger Side
Ignoring the numbers for now how does the car drive and feel? What tires (age and model) were on the car before? New tires typically need some wear to eliminate manufacturing residue so initial impressions aren't always the best. Give 'em a couple of months or drive the car to work for a week or two.
Your low annual miles driven will cause these tires to age out (seven years) before they show any wear so any abnormal wear from bad alignment may never show up. Nothing wrong with these tires but I'm curious why you choose a 3d tier tire (ultra high performance) over a "better" higher tier tire (max or extreme) which you wouldn't wear out either. Note the quotes around "better."
-- Chuck
ECS02 is a Max Performance Tire. I just recently added a set as well, mainly due to the quick warmup time and very high overall grip. I can tell you that they grip far better than my old RS4s unless I got the RS4s very hot, which is hard to do outside of the track.
That said, I'm not super happy with the on road characteristics, theyre great when I'm pushing the car but cruising down the highway they tend to wander quite easily. I'm not 100% ready to blame the tires yet though as I made some suspension and ball joint changes at the same time.
Most people run more front camber if possible if you're driving it really hard, otherwise don't even worry about it. (You'll know you need more front camber if you are wearing away the outer edges very quickly. You could also slow down before taking the corner too.)
If you want live action roleplay track-focused alignment, you want somewhere around here:
-3.75-4 camber front
6 deg of caster (will likely be impossible to do without offset ball joints)
0 toe
Continental website notes Ultra, Tire Rack notes Max. Dividing line seems vague. I'm not certain I could feel or appreciate the difference on the road though.
Another Alignment Thread - Stock AP2
