I'm on my third set of RA-1's this year. How am i rolling my front tires so much. I've got as much camber as my webb plates allow. Tires are boarder line over inflated. I didn't have this trouble last year but i wasn't as fast.

any ideas?

 

I need help too

2500 miles and I need new front rubber. No camber plates yet, Eagle F1's on mostly street duty. 1 track day.

How can I make my tires last longer for normal daily driving. New dedicated rubber and wheels for the track on in delivery...

help..

 

i'm fine with my street rubber. it's just at the track that i wreck tires up so quick.

 

Just a stab in the dark, but have you done any pyrometer readings on your tires? I imagine if you're wearing the outside of the tire, it might not help, but who knows. If nothing else, maybe it will confirm that you need more camber.

Maybe play around with other tires. I thought that my Kumho Victoracers did REALLY well considering the sub-optimal front camber of the Mini. I've never run RA-1, but I'm under the impression that the Victoracer is a softer tire, so this may be a step in the wrong direction.

Other than that, maybe go to a 15" wheel (if you're not running those already), so at least tires are little bit cheaper if you're gonna wear them out that fast

 

Have your front end aligned. Most probably, you have too much toe-in. This will cause tires to wear in no time.

 

this all started after i had my aligned back to factory specs. I should have done it with my front camber plates all the way out.

 

RE: RA-1

are they shaved?

 

yes, all three sets have been bought shaved.

 

Let's start with where is the tire wear. Inside, outside, across the tread. One side more then the other.

Also it won't be the first time that a new alignment wasn't done correctly.

 

Are you saying that you had the car factory spec aligned with factory set camber, and when you go to the track you adjust camber to max negative?
It kinda reads like that. If you are then you are running WAY TOO much toe in at the track. This will make for very poor 'turn in' and very fast outside tire wear.
If otherwise, what are your settings?

 

that is what i'm saying. stock alignment then i max out the front camber and put silly amounts in the rear.

before this i had the benefit of the lowering springs to add more camber. when i got the car aligned i'm guessing they compensated for the lowering springs and any negative camber i already had.

tell me if this sounds like an a "what i need to do". set my front camber to about +1 and my rears to about stock. then go to the alignment shop and with out adjusting my front camber plates set my car up with as much negative camber as is streetable. I'm hoping this will leave me with a larger margin of adjustment to the negative side.

Where should I have the toe set in the process?

Also, what's the word on MINI's not having front adjustable camber?

Thanks in advance.

 

Unless you have a portable alignment tool to take to the track, you should not be changing camber after your alignment is done. When you change camber by .5 degree you are at the same time changing toe by possibly 1/8". That's a real bad thing to do for the track. Figure if you are set up for -1 camber and then change your camber to max, which may be about -2.3 with the Webb's and no tower mods, then you have most likely set your toe to at least (really guessing here) .75" in. That will absolutely rip your tires apart and you car will handle like crap. You want to be running something like 1/16" to 1/8" toe out for high performance driving.

You also seem to be just randomly setting your camber, front and back. This is just plane a bad idea. You are at some point going to get yourself into some big trouble on the track. Really, you need to get a little more serious about this if you are driving around a race track at 100 mph.
Just decide on where you want your setup and leave it there. Your tires will last longer if you just set up camber to -2.2 front and about -1.8 rear with 1/16 toe out in front and 1/16 out rear and just drive it on the road like that.

 

Im getting setup by Roger Kraus next week. Should I have him set this up as listed above?

 

It's a bit aggressive for the street, but if you track the car a good amount and push it on the streets then it's a good place to start. If you do mostly highway driving then you will get some noticeable inside tire wear and will notice that car wandering a bit more on uneven pavement.
All Minis are a bit different and most are modded differently, so like I say, it's a good place to start, but you may find that adding a little of this and loosing a little of that will work better for you.

 

I agree, changing camber and toe at the track is an advanced thing to do and isn't easy (getting the camber and the toe just right). You'd have to get the car aligned for track use and mark the settings on the camber plates and for the toe then realign for street use and mark the settings in another color.

Doing one alignment setting that can be used on the track and still used on the street (not too rough riding) is a compromise but makes things easier. Tire wear will be better on the track with toe set to about 1/16" out or even as much as 1/8" out. Too much camber front or rear can lead to inner tire wear for street driving.

Some of our MINI drivers on the track will use this alignment for track and street use-
Front camber -2.0 to -2.2 degrees
Front toe 1/16" out
Rear camber -1.4 to -1.6 degrees
Rear toe zero

Realign once per year.
Adjustable front camber plates are required to adjust front camber
Rear lower control arms are required for full adjustment of rear camber- late model stock control arms can adjust a little for camber.

Toyo Ra-1 tires do their best on the track when heat cycled and shaved.
How you drive (smooth is best) makes a big difference on wear. Give yourself a few laps to warm up your tires before you start driving hard on them. The best track drivers know how to be gentle on their tires and make them last while the rest of us can be very hard on tires and wear them out twice as fast (like me!). Same goes for brakes. Smooth is always best on your car (builds up less heat, stuff doesn't break down as much).