Performance Street vs. Performance Street/Track Alignments

[stt816]

Dropping my SS 1.25" with the Pfadt springs. I am an aggressive street driver with stock pirelli tires, never bring it to the track. Would I benefit from the street/track alignment or should I stick to regular performance street? Thanks

[SPCBA]

street for street man...

[danvillekidd]

Look at your tire wear. If it is fairly even then keep using what you are. If its not then go more or less aggressive depending on how the wear is. The stock alignment was not aggressive enough for my style and wore the outside edges. Switched to pedders aggressive street when the bushings were installed and much better wear. Rarely sees a track.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by stt816

Dropping my SS 1.25" with the Pfadt springs. I am an aggressive street driver with stock pirelli tires, never bring it to the track. Would I benefit from the street/track alignment or should I stick to regular performance street? Thanks

I'd say it depends on just how aggressive your definition of "aggressive street driving" really is - and nothing is stopping you from splitting the difference anywhere between perf-street and street-track either. -1.2° to -1.3° would really be good front camber settings for some people.

Be honest with the assessment of your driving, don't simply turn it into an excuse for running a big negative camber number just so you can say that you
run -X.x° camber. If anything, downrate your estimated level of cornering aggression a little.

That said, it is possible to successfully run those street-track settings for street driving. But - and this is a really big "BUT" - you'd have to be the sort of person who typically corners up around 0.5 lateral g and who never just cruises through the turns/curves/ramps unless forced to do so by other traffic. "Never" meaning with or without passengers. Seriously. I'd guess that not one other driver in 10,000 will drive that hard that often. Kind of a long way of saying that if you're going to use settings that are closer to track-oriented you'll have to drive correspondingly harder.

Alternatively, you could mix in an autocross or two most months.


Norm

[The Stig]

Originally Posted by SPCBA

street for street man...

This.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by SPCBA

street for street man...

Originally Posted by The Stig

This.

Like most things that you tune to suit personal situations and preferences, "it depends".


Norm

[The Stig]

Originally Posted by Norm Peterson

Like most things that you tune to suit personal situations and preferences, "it depends".


Norm

Completely agree - but OP said he was an aggressive street driver and never goes to the track.

Also keep in mind that a more aggressive alignment will increase tire wear.

[Apex Motorsports]

Originally Posted by SPCBA

street for street man...

This. No matter how aggressively you drive on the street you are not driving as aggressively as you do on the track. If you are, you need your license revoked because you are going to kill someone. You would not see enough of a gain on the street to justify the increased tire wear.

[SPCBA]

ya I should have been less blunt...but if it never sees the track as you said op the street alignment is already more "aggressive" than the oem alignment specs. Increased tire wear I cant justify. Also the street alignment on that page or was it pedders solved a lot of the rear of the car swaying about. Not just forum bsing I used the street alignment and it was good.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by The Stig

Also keep in mind that a more aggressive alignment will increase tire wear.

Yes and no. The wear can be more even if you get out onto the outer shoulders hard enough and often enough to beat them up a bit. Faster wear rates in general will then be coming from the harder driving with its greater amounts of slip and slip angle.

Originally Posted by Apex Chase

You would not see enough of a gain on the street to justify the increased tire wear.

I'd much rather see people get even tire wear than potentially longer tread life with uneven wear. If nothing else, it means that the car really is set up optimally for them, and that when the tire is due for replacement it's really been all used up.

Average traffic rarely drives at more than 2/10ths, really hard street driving reaches up to maybe 5/10ths, HPDE 8/10ths or so unless you're gunning for a personal best lap time. Only autocross, wheel-to-wheel racing, and perhaps emergency-avoidance maneuvers approach 10/10ths.

If you're frequently a 4/10ths driver, a 2/10ths alignment won't be enough.


Norm