Full Version: New Member - Jerry K
Lexus Owners Club (USA & Canada) > Lexus Owners Club > Lexus SC300 / Lexus SC400 / Lexus SC430 Forums > 01 - 08 Lexus SC430
We just purchased an 04 Lexus SC430, and love the car! I had new rims by MB CLS 18x8, and Mich. Pilot Sport AS Plus tires size 255/40ZR-18 put on the car and wow what a difference in the ride. I've seen posts on the site about alternate alignment settings to try to avoid having to replace them due to inside wear. Could someone help me with the alignment settings for the size of tire we had put on the car?
Size doesn't matter. If you want tire tread life then you have to ask to have as much negative camber removed as possible. If you can get -1/2 degree negative camber that should be fine. The factory spec is something like -2 degrees negative camber (radical). This helps cornering g's but at the cost of tire life. Try telling the person/shop doing the alignment to "stand the tires up" and try for 1/2 degree negative camber. That should do it. Regards! And welcome to the forum.
QUOTE (Jerry K @ Oct 27 2009, 11:32 PM) 
We just purchased an 04 Lexus SC430, and love the car! I had new rims by MB CLS 18x8, and Mich. Pilot Sport AS Plus tires size 255/40ZR-18 put on the car and wow what a difference in the ride. I've seen posts on the site about alternate alignment settings to try to avoid having to replace them due to inside wear. Could someone help me with the alignment settings for the size of tire we had put on the car?
Welcome to the LOC and congrats on the new car!
As for alignment settings, it's really 6 of one and half dozen of the other and depends mostly on how you drive. If you do mostly freeway travel, 0 camber would be ideal for traction on the straights and for stopping ability. You'd lose rubber on the exits ramps though unless you took them slow. Here's a segment from Tirerack you might find interesting:QUOTE
Since street suspensions cannot completely compensate for the outer tire tipping towards the outside when the vehicle leans in a corner, there isn't a magical camber setting that will allow the tires to remain vertical when traveling straight down the road (for more even wear), and remain perpendicular to the road during hard cornering (for more generous grip).
Different driving styles can also influence the desired camber angle as well. An enthusiastic driver who corners faster than a reserved driver will receive more cornering grip and longer tire life from a tire aligned with more negative camber. However with the aggressive negative camber, a reserved driver's lower cornering speeds would cause the inside edges of the tires to wear faster than the outside edges
Different driving styles can also influence the desired camber angle as well. An enthusiastic driver who corners faster than a reserved driver will receive more cornering grip and longer tire life from a tire aligned with more negative camber. However with the aggressive negative camber, a reserved driver's lower cornering speeds would cause the inside edges of the tires to wear faster than the outside edges
More here:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=4
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