Tire wear pattern Options

[wndsrfr]

Check out the pattern of the rubber on my RA1's. I did DE's at VIR, Watkins Glen and Summit point since flipping them mid season, so have about 400 miles on track, 15 heat cycles since flipping. These are the fronts....the rears are much more uniform without a buildup of "worms". The buildup is on the inside edges. I'm guessing that it's indicating that I need more camber but I'm maxed out already. Ideas?
BTW, total mileage on track with these tires since new in March is about 1700 with 61 heat cycles & no sign of cording anywhere yet.

[jhadler]

Just remember the old adage about Toyo race tires...

"Toyo tires, they suck for a really long time".

With that many heat cycles, that many miles, and having flipped them once in the middle of all that, the only thing I can reliably comment about the apparent "wear" pattern on those tires is that they're most likely rocks by now. Drawing any other conclusion from the picture you included would be a fool's errand.

Sure, you've got more apparent wear on the "inner" edge (OPR not withstanding). But that could be the result of many different things. Unreliably, I'd offer the following possible explanations:

One) With the majority of the mileage logged before you flipped them, this is the most likely scenario. You already wore down that "inner" edge when it was on the outside, when the tires were newer and softer. And now that they've turned to rocks, you'll never even them out.

Two) Too much negative camber - not generally something the 914 is often accused of.

Three) Too much toe - a possibility, especially if you haven't actually taken a look at the alignment settings in a while, or ever. (bad bushings have a way of doing that).

Four) Sadly, another possible explanation (but unreliable) here is that you've got plenty of negative camber, but you're just not pushing the car hard enough.

If you really want to get a quick and dirty idea. Run a hot lap, stay off the marbles, stop (don't flatspot 'em) in the hot pits and measure tire temps right then and there. That will tell you VOLUMES more than the above picture. Even a temp test by a bare hand will at least tell you if you have gross alignment problems. Better yet, find someone there at the event that has a pyrometer to get good accurate readings.