New Feet For the Blue Box...Yeow!

I got my '09 in March with 11.2k miles on them. The tires appeared to be the original set of Michelin PSs, manufactured in 2008. The tread was fine when I was looking at the car at the dealer. I even had the car put on a rack to check the undercarriage, and the tires were fine. But 8k miles later...



The tread on the rears were down to the wear bars on the outside and I couldn't see what the inside edge of the tires looked like, but I replaced them anyway. What a shock I got when I walked into the service bay and got a look:









Would anyone like to comment on the tread wear vis a vis negative camber?

Driving a new-to-me '09S in Aqua Blue Metallic. It does .5 past light speed. I made the Kessel run in less than 12-parsecs.
Motto: If you have your top up, that storm outside had better have a name!
Motto 2: Having the top up on a convertible is an oxymoron. Don't be a (oxy)moron.

... Negative camber will do to the tires.
The upside is great turning.
You may have a tad too much neg. camber and or toe-in.
I would have the car aligned anyway.
Happy Boxstering
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)

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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

track usage or very very aggressive street driving due to misalignment.

After the new tires are installed, fill up the gas tank, remove the junk from the car, be sure the spare tire and toolkit are secure in their proper place and have the car properly aligned.

My experience with my 02 Boxster is rear tire life can easily reach 20K miles and more. (Heck I managed to get over 23K miles from my 996's rear tires.)

But the alignment must be right. It is not hard to do if a shop knows its stuff and uses the proper equipment.

My info and experience is proper negative camber will not affect tire wear to any appreciable degree. Even with improper negative camber -- as my Boxster had once from an alignment shop that told me that while the rear camber was off from the ideal (and gave me the choice of having the shop bring it to the ideal) assured me that neither tire life nor road feel of the car would be affected. The shop was right: Tire life was up to what I've come to expect.

Improper toe is the usual cause of excessive/uneven tire wear.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

and have had very even wear; right now with about 12K on the rears I have 6/32 on the center/outside and about 5.5/32 on the inside--where you get more wear. Your toe could be way off-- a 4 wheel alignment will fix it.

I had an oil change scheduled today at the local Porsche dealership, and $825 later, just about everything was fixed. They did a 4-wheel alignment and made some changes, but I forgot to ask what the old/new values were/are, and I don't see anything on the bill. I also didn't get any pics of the car on the alignment machine.



An inspection revealed that our resident chipmunks had an apartment setup in my pollen filter.



I now have a new filter and no corn.

Am curious as to everyone's tire pressure for those who run PS2s. The tech set my fronts at 33lbs and the rears at 37lbs.

Driving a new-to-me '09S in Aqua Blue Metallic. It does .5 past light speed. I made the Kessel run in less than 12-parsecs.
Motto: If you have your top up, that storm outside had better have a name!
Motto 2: Having the top up on a convertible is an oxymoron. Don't be a (oxy)moron.

I believe those are the factory suggested pressure settings. If you look at the sticker on the driver's side door sill, you should see those PSI levels for front and rear. Surprised the dealer didn't give you a print out of the aleignment. Mine always does, even if it is within the factory specs.

Quote
db997S
I believe those are the factory suggested pressure settings. If you look at the sticker on the driver's side door sill, you should see those PSI levels for front and rear. Surprised the dealer didn't give you a print out of the aleignment. Mine always does, even if it is within the factory specs.

+1 on the print out; given the expense, it shows what was going on and how it was improved (hopefully).

I'm amazed how much those tires have worn since I saw the car in March.

be able to get one. IIRC the service department files contain a copy from which the SM can make a copy for you.

As for tire pressures, you have to read the fine print. In some cases the tire pressures given are for a fully loaded vehicle. Thus the tire pressures given have to be adjusted down a few psi for one lightly loaded.

No need to go crazy. For instance my 996 tire pressures are 36/44, for a fully laden vehicle (4 passengers, luggage), and the tech sets the tire pressures to 32/40. The ride is much less harsh and the car isn't squirrelly (or chipmunky) at all.

BTW, that is a very nice blue color!

Sincerely,

MarcW.