Ok....dramatic title notwithstanding, I think I'm onto something here....
Last season, and the beginning of this season led to several conversations about how the insides of the Goodyear 3R tires were wearing MUCH faster than the outsides during track use...to the point of tearing and delamination in at least one case. I know my front right tire burned through to the cords on the inside.
Anyways, before the Camaro Fest last year, I brought the car to Pete at JPSS on my way down to Kentucky so we could get the car up on a lift and stare at it before lowering the spring perches and switching the camber plates to "track". We (just for fun) put old school toe plates on the car to measure before and after switching the camber plates on the car. No time for a full, proper alignment. The measurements suggested the tires toed out when you switched the camber plates....
Fast-Forward to this May. I had just ordered brand new tires for the car. The same OE Goodyear 3R (I genuinely love these tires). And I intended to get the car aligned to see if something was wrong that cause such uneven wear like I (and others) experienced. But as I thought about it, I figured I'd need at least two...one in "street mode", then another in "track mode" to see what happens when the plates are switched.
The only place I trusted to really pull this off, and (most importantly) the only place patient enough to deal with me is Tom Henry Chevrolet in Bakerstown, PA. I've bought all three Camaros I've had (and the Sonic) from these guys. Tom is a HUGE Camaro/Corvette fanatic and was eager to get his guys on this project. I worked with Ray, who was amazing...a fun guy, and willing to have me back there and discussing the whole deal with respect for what I knew and wanted out of this.
When I got there I found some new equipment since the last time I'd been there, which was great - because the precision was just what I wanted.
The results were telling.
First off - HUGE kudos to GM for having this car aligned nearly perfect in street mode right out of the factory...and a year later, after several track days and 5000 street miles. The Tech was able to find two FEA alignment settings in the GM system.
First printout is the street settings, the Second printout shows the track settings, plus my before (switching the camber plates and lowering the perches 80%), and after (alignment in track settings).
When you do nothing but switched the camber plates to track mode...Ray and I noticed that the tires toed out nearly .25º. That doesn't sound like much, but I think it is affecting the wear of these tires. For those that aren't super familiar (and I'm by no means an expert)...toe out will increase the wear on the inside of your tires. Toe in, will increase the wear on the outsides.
Since this car sees nearly as many track miles as it does street miles thanks to the new trailer...I decided to prioritize the track alignment, and let the street settings fall were they may when we turned the camber back to street again. I figured with such aggressive camber, and considering how much the insides wore down last year...some toe in and extra wear on the outside of the tires during street driving would be acceptable.
As far as the rear tires...GM recommends 2.0º of camber in the rear for track...but that's nuts for street driving, so I opted to stay conservative back there. I don't want to get it aligned each track day. 1.6 for now...perhaps 1.8 a little later in the season.
We also did a brake fluid bleed, diff fluid change, and oil change to the new Mobil 1 ESP 0W-40 (Dexos). Tom had brought in cases of the stuff as soon as it was available for all his Camaro and Corvette buyers.
I have to get a photo of the front tires for you guys (I realize as I type this it's too late to go outside and snag one)...but I've driven about 1000 miles so far on these tires. ~300 of which were on track (Pocono & Mid Ohio so far). And they are wearing remarkably evenly. After the Camaro Fest this July I think I'll be able to say whether or not they are wearing better or the same as last year.
Bottom Line - I hadn't seen anyone post real detailed info about alignments on this car, yet. In my opinion...if you track your car, get it aligned with the track settings to get another day or two out of these tires.