When I bought the car, last August, the rear tires were very worn on inside edges. I purchased new tires and an alignment. The alignment guy, who’s very knowledgeable and I trust, said the right side he couldn’t get into spec. This would be Camber, I believe,. I discovered the car has Bilstein after market shocks at all corners and is lowered slightly. Anyway, 4000 miles later, the inside of the right, especially, is wearing noticeably. The left, not as bad but I can see some wear. I’m going to rotate tires across, removing them from the rim and put the worn Edge on the outside. But, wondered If there was a cure for this? Extra adjustment in aftermarket camber bolts, or? Anyone have suggestions? I’ve heard they tend to wear the inside, for sure, but 4000 miles seems a little too early...

Thanks again!

Lance

Not certain which tires you have but most for the Boxster are directional, meaning, you cannot rotate them. Due to camber, tires on these cars do wear from the inside out, especially the rears. It is not easy to notice because the tread looks fine on the outside. You have to reach in to check the treads on the inside because the outside 2/3 of the tire look almost new while the inside 1/3 to 1/4 can be almost bald. So, aggressive driving and higher performance tires (softer rubber for more traction) will wear faster. I've actually given up some performance (more seasonal) on my tires to get better life out of them. After all, the vast majority of my driving is not tearing up the roads, even when I get playful, I am not using 90% of the cars abilities. I was tired of always putting rubber on the back wheels.

to the best of my knowledge and recollection, inside wear is not due to camber. it is due to toe being out. i don't remember if it's too much or too little but it's that aspect of alignment, not camber. are the toe specs good?

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MY 2000 S, Ocean Blue, Metropol Blue, Savanah Beige.
Bought June 2000 - Sold May 2010

Too much (negative) camber will wear out the inside of the tire faster than it should. If the car was lowered then the geometry may be affected hence not being able to get it back to spec.
Raise it a bit and the shop should be able to get the camber within the recommended specs.

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

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Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

Quote
Pedro (Odessa, FL)
Too much (negative) camber will wear out the inside of the tire faster than it should. If the car was lowered then the geometry may be affected hence not being able to get it back to spec.
Raise it a bit and the shop should be able to get the camber within the recommended specs.

Kind of what I was wondering! Thanks for the verification. I’ll turn up the Bilstein ride height a bit and see if it helps.

As far as the rotating tires part, I’m going to put the inside edges to the outside on the opposite sides of the car, Which should keep the tires rotating the same direction. Will have the rears swapped from rim to rim.

Thanks guys for the info! I’m really enjoying this forum.

i remember having premature inside wear on the rear and a good alignment fixed it. camber wasn't out of spec nor was it changed. toe was.

--
MY 2000 S, Ocean Blue, Metropol Blue, Savanah Beige.
Bought June 2000 - Sold May 2010

Quote
frogster
i remember having premature inside wear on the rear and a good alignment fixed it. camber wasn't out of spec nor was it changed. toe was.

I do know that the alignment guy told me that the right camber could not be brought to spec, and thus the extra wear on that side...

I’m sure that toe in would also be a factor but in my case, I don’t think so.

For what it's worth, the tire wear on both my track tires and street tires have been very even despite having the x-73 sport suspension with camber settings at -1.7 front and -1.9 rear. Toe is nearly zero in front and just a bit in at the rear.

All of the three specs in alignment can cause undue wear (camber, toe and caster) when out of spec.
But in this particular case the OP states that his shop couldn't bring the camber into spec on that side so the odds are that it's camber, not toe causing his excessive wear.
Happy Porsche'ing,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna