My right rear OEM S02 is wearing faster than the left. Since I need to replace the rears soon, is this an alignment issue or typical for this car? If typical, can I swap (left to right, right to left) at about 5000 to even out the wear?

I know I've seen a post on this before but could not locate it ... sorry for the repost.

 

It is because of how the car displaces the power, it does happen to a lot of people. You can switch the tires over, but remember they are one directional so you would have to swap the tires, leaving the rims where they are now.

 

More wear on the passenger rear tire occurred on all three sets of rear OEM SO2s that I ran on my '00. I wouldn't bother moving the tire since the wear difference is usually small, 1/32" more on the right rear than the left rear.

IMO, it's not worth switching the tires as the expenses incurred in dismounting, mounting and rebalancing will offset any small added life to the tire. Also note that when the SO2 wears down to close to the wear bars, it has probably become slippery from heat cycling so you might want to replace them a little early in the interest of safety.