WVCR-V

So I had just had my 2006 S2000 in for an inspection at the dealership today and they did a quick alignment check. They showed that the front toe is -0.08 on both sides (borderline out of spec) and the rear toe is 0.06 out which is within specs.
A1) Should I get it aligned at this point?
A2) I just drive on the street but should I notice a difference by getting this corrected? I notice the car tramlines a lot on lumpy road surfaces.
A2)Would an alignment help this considering where its at now? The suspension is all stock with 50k miles BTW.
Edit: I should add that they didn't check the caster today but a year ago when the car was aligned, the caster was 6.4 which was technically out of spec by .1 degree (5.8-6.3).
B1) Is the caster adjustable?
B2) If so would you recommend it be changed any?
B3) Would I notice a difference

I have never had a car with summer performance tires before. Last year and 10k miles ago I put some Michelin PSS's on all 4 wheels. They said my right rear tire is at 4/32 in the middle and 5/32 on the sides. Left rear is 5/32 all over and fronts are 6/32. Now to me these performance tires looked like worn out all seasons when they were new...lol. I'm a good judge of knowing when to get tires on most cars with all seasons but with the S, not so much. According to Tirerack they were all 10/32 new.

C1) How low do you let the tread get before you replace performance tires?
C2) Time for new rears?

Thanks

Jon

ZDan

What units for toe, degrees? (looks like it)

-0.16° total toe OUT up front should give very responsive turn-in, but might be the cause of the tramlining you're experiencing and the car will definitely wander a bit with front toe-out.
Rear toe, you're saying 0.06° toe IN per side? If it's in spec, it must be toe-IN, any toe-out is out of spec.
For me, 0.06° per side or 0.12° total rear toe-in is fine. Could run more but I wouldn't go more than ~0.25° total

A1) You could but not strictly necessary...
A2) Might notice less tramlining and less wandering with somewhere in the 0 to +0.1° range total front toe IN.

B1) caster is adjustable, but 6.4° should be fine. If anything you might trade that for front *camber* though, which is likely woefully on the low side... What are your camber numbers?

C) I usually replace at around 3/32. Treadwear indicators are at 2/32, definitely replace by then

WVCR-V

Thanks, I feel like newb starting all over again with the summer tires. I don't really have much perspective on eyeballing the wear yet like I do on all seasons with deeper tread. I'll probably leave the alignment alone for a while then. The front camber is -0.04 L and -0.07 R. Rear is -1.7 L and R.

rrounds

Do you track the car? or is it all street driven? If mostly street driven then I'd not go with much camber. I run 1.25 degrees up front and I have to flip my tires or I'd have the inside down to the cords and the outside looking good. Next alignment I'm going with .5 camber to see if that gets me through my tires without having to flip them. I've put 120k miles on my S and I'm getting tired of flipping the damn tires. LOL

ROD

WVCR-V

All street driven. The tires are wearing pretty evenly. I drive pretty hard at times but I'm sure nothing that rivals track use.

ZDan

I have 240k on my S2k, and a fair number of track days. I've always run max front and rear camber, on my car around -1 to -1.2 front and -2 to -2.2 rear. "Camber wear" has never been an issue for me, and I usually get upwards of 20k miles out of Extreme Performance tires (Hankook RS3 for the last couple of sets). The inside shoulders do get worn down more, but I've never seen cords by the time I get to wear indicators.

For street, not that big a deal, but I still think that essentially 0 camber is too little, I'd want at least -0.75° and if I could get it I'd run -1.5 to -2 up front.

On the FD I run -3 front and -2 rear for street/track and *still* don't get what I'd call excessive "camber wear".

Bama Dave

I run a square set up of 255-40-17 RE-11's on my Black 06. Caster is maxed out, the front I started at -1.8 and back it down to -1.6 with 0.02 total toe in to stop the camber wear and now tires wear evenly. The rear I'm at -2.0 with 0.10 max toe in and tire wear evenly there too. If you alignment guy will set it up with you in the car that's even better. Of course everyone has a set up for their personal preference. I got my alignment from a friend and modified to my driving style. I've used this alignment before I went all square set up and still use it now. I guess it works for me. After all you are driving it not them. Best of luck Ron.

B serious

I think you'll be fine with those alignment numbers.

What tyres are you using? Max perf tyres are no different than any other types in terms of how they react to tread wear.

If the tread hasn't hardened, then you will gain dry grip and lose wet grip as the tread wears. Once you reach the point where wet grip is bad enough to change out...you change out.

rpg51

I did not know this. Interesting.
I wonder - is there any way to tell when the tread has worn to the point that wet grip has deteriorated far enough to warrant changing?

B serious

well...every tyre is different. Some just have a better wet compound and/or tread designed for water evacuation, so you may get more life out of them in terms of wet traction.

wet roads are also different from wet roads with standing water. And amount of standing water, water temp, and a lot of other things need to be factored.

There isn't a strict rule besides how much confidence the tyre inspires to that individual user under his/her conditions with whichever car the tyres are mounted on.

Most manufacturers agree that 4/32" of tread is where wet traction falls off sharply. 2/32" is the legal limit of tread and I believe all manufacturers consider 2/32 to be completely worn for street use.

Max performance tyres are generally known to be great in water. Its a good category, actually: street friendly performance tyres.