I've ruined yet another pair of S-03s. Question for those with same tire and...
 

NISMO S-Tune. I ruined my front tires in less than 5K miles and have a feathering across the entire contact patch with low edges on the outside and high edges on the insde of the entire "rib" of the tread block. Not to be confused with the feathering/scalloping/cupping many of us experienced with the 040s. See EXAMPLE A in the illustration below for what I'm talking about.

http://www.tpub.com/content/construc...4273_332_1.jpg

My preliminary research indicates that I may be pushing toe-out under load and in cornering which means both fronts are scrubbing laterally outward under heavy load. I had my car aligned after the NISMO install, but now I question whether toe was properly set laden or unladen. If the toe was set without load on the fronts that certainly explains why the tires are pushing so hard outward under load.

Does anyone else have this type of wear with an aftermarket suspension system? I'm going to have the car aligned at a race shop next after I get my 17s intalled and quit ****ing around at the dealer who keeps costing me tires.

Interesting. I know when I crewed for a race team we aligned the car with the driver in it. Also when I had a BMW it was aligned with weight in the driver seat. Droideka do you still like the S-Tune as far as the bounce & handling is concerned? I am debating on the S-Tune vs. Koni SA Yellow Sport shocks (if they are ever brought to the market).

A looks like an example of too much camber... but perhaps A isnt a perfect example of your tire...

I have 8000+ miles on my STune + SO3 setup. No issues so far. Did you get it aligned at the dealer?

Edit - Reread your post and see that you did. Weird but as I said, I'm not having the problem at all. Very even wear. And I installed the STune myself...

I love the S-Tune, no complaints. I'm just pissed about the tire wear. I've spent enough on tires this year to buy a Procharger if that's any indication of how much these problems are costing me.

Imagine example A without the edge wear. This is definitely not a camber only issue.

Thanks for the response as you're one of the S-Tune owners I was looking for feedback from. Do you track your car at all? How often do you hit triple digits? I know track events are hard on tires, but this is ridiculous. I'm moving to a 17" setup and reducing my costs by $400 per set of tires. Either that or get rid of the Z and build a track car...

I've only Autocrossed once but I frequently hit triple digits... What were the results from your alignment? Mine was all within spec. I just moved so I don't know where the paperwork is from the dealer alignment, but they noted that the specs in the FSM are wrong and there are corrected specs that match the ones from the STune I imported. Check and be sure they are within these ranges:

Front camber is -0 degrees 40' +- 45'
Front caster is 8 degrees 10' +-45'
Kingpin inclination is 5 degrees 10' +-45'
Front toe-in is 0-2mm

Rear camber is -1 degree 35' +-30'
Rear toe-in is 1.1-2.7mm

You might try a different dealer and/or ask when their alignment machine was last calibrated as well.

HTH

I too had the car aligned to the S-Tune specs. The reason I asked about triple digits is that high-speed heat degrades tires quicker, but I didn't expect it to be this quick. I only drive the car on the weekends now so all I do is haul *** to make up for not driving it during the week. ;)

sounds like a wheel camber issue to me...

After 8K mine still look like they have another 10K in them, so it sounds like something is way wrong with your dealers alignment machine. At this point I'd try another dealer and see if you were out of spec...

ksj, didn't you also have the NISMO wheels? That could be another variable in the equation.

Yeah, I do have the Nismo wheels. Droideka also has tires that are different from stock fitting though I don't think that would affect alignment. I suppose it might affect wear in some other way but I don't really know if that's the case or not...

The odds of a shop doing an alignment correct in my area is about 10% doing it right / 90% doing the job wrong.
Talk to the local racers and auto-X crowd and find a good shop that will do what you want and knows about modded cars.

Give it up brotha Brad. Stop resisting the urge, the temptation. So go back to your riceboy roots and bling that Si. :p

Michael.

incorrrect camber is D not A. A is incorrect toe, not sure which way though.