scs2000

I have 2001 S2000 and my front tires wear off alot worse with inner edge of both front tires. Would an front wheel alignment fixs this problem? Or this is the flaw of S2000 and nothing can be done except swap the front tires after certain miles?

xviper

You call it a "flaw" while others call it the result of maximum handling performance. You can set the alignment at whatever it takes to get even tire wear, but then, the handling of the car will not be what it's supposed to be. That's just the way the car was designed to perform.

scs2000

XVIPER

I am clueless with this topic. I did not know until now. I am not into auto cross so I guess I need to find an alignment shop that could change the alignment to make the tire wear out evenly. Thanks,

xviper

What you see in your tire wear is mostly due to the high negative camber. This is more obvious in the rear tires. Stand back a ways behind your car and look at both rear tires. You'll notice that tops of the tires "lean" towards the center of the car. The fronts are also like this but not as extreme.
Odd that you've notice the wear on the fronts as most of us experience this first on the rears.
This camber allows the car to "plant" more rubber during high cornering loads. This provides the exceptional lateral grip from relatively narrow tires (compared to cars like the Corvette and Viper, which have HUGE tires).
What you have noticed (and are somewhat unhappy with) has been noted by others here. You are not alone.
In fact, a gentleman here by the user name of "dolebludger" had a very lengthy thread on this. He finally went out and got the camber taken out and some of the "toe". This improved his tire wear tremendously. I guess not everyone who owns an S2000 drives it to feel what a centrifuge is like.

It seems the search is working today and I've found the thread in question:
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...pic=125677&hl=
Within the many pages of this thread, I think you will find the actual alignment numbers that has given much better tire wear.
Good luck.

03_AP1

It is MY OPINION, that accelerated tire wear is due to TOE, not CAMBER.

Toe is when your wheels point towards the centreline of the car, when looking from above. More toe causes your tires to scrub as you drive your car. I believe Tire Rack said that if your toe is about of spec by as little as 1/16", its like dragging your tires completely sideways for 25 ft for every mile you drive.

Think of it like wearing a pair of running shoes. Lets say you have a weird instep, that causes you to step on the inside of your foot every time you take a step (this is like CAMBER). Naturally, your shoes are going to start wearing on the insides of the soles. Now imagine if you dragged your feet every time you step (this is like TOE). Your shoes would wear out much faster right?

I had this same problem with my car. My rear tires lasted 7000kms, totally bald. Turns out my TOE was out of whack. I got this fixed, with a new set of tires. After about 1500kms, I still have the little rubber "nubbies" that come on brand new tires. I decreased the rear toe to (3mm). Honda calls for 6mm +- 2mm, so its just a smidge beyond spec. The car drives totally fine, even at more aggressive paces.

Jim@tirerack

xviper is on the money. If you don't drive the car hard you can change the alignment and get longer wear. In fact just go with the least amount Honda specs and you will be better off.

xviper

You may be right (sorta), however, you can't just dismiss camber. Even with ZERO toe, if you have high negative camber, most of the weight will be on the inside tread. Something's gonna give.
BTW, since "sc" is making his comments about the fronts, the OEM front toe (on an '00 at least) is ZERO.

03_AP1

I guess I could have been a little more specific in my opinions

1) Camber = UNEVEN tire wear
2) Toe = ACCELERATED tire wear

re-reading the first post, sounds like there is no alignment problem with his car....its a 2001, and the tires are 4 yrs old.

You could have the most perfect alignment in the world and you'd need to replace S02's after 4 yrs.