I finally used up enough tire from the crap Pirelli euphori@'s (205/45-17) that my R56 came with and went with the non-runflat route with Conti DWs (215/45-17). As with everyone that has done the Non run-flat mod has said, you lose out on the go-cart feel, but to me that outweighs feeling every rock on the road and the horrible road noise.

Anyway, after getting the Conti's on, I had my local shop do an alignment to them. I told them I wanted max tire life, so they aligned it to as close to mid-spec as they could get it.

My newbie question is, are alignments tire/wheel specific? I have a second set of wheels I plan on doing track days with...but sometimes I leave them on and replace with with my DD set when I get the time. My second set is relatively new as well, but just wondering if swapping them out here and there would hurt anything.

 

No, swapping them back and forth will do no harm.

 

Awesome! I feel ashamed asking such newbie, but I figured I'd rather be safe then sorry.

Thanks Braminator!

 

Not tire or wheel specific (until you get waaaaaaay out there on the $$/performance curve) but they are application-specific. Meaning that a car that has an alignment set for the track (maximum cornering grip) is not necessarily going to be that good on the street.

For instance, for cornering grip you usually want as much negative camber as you can get--and more. But on the street, that tends to wear the inside edges of your tires. It can also increase stopping distances to some extent. For low-speed track work, like autocrossing, you typically want toe-out on the front or the rear, which will make the car more responsive or make it oversteer more. This will tend to wear the tires even more (especially in conjunction with negative camber) and will make the car very eager to change directions; it may change lanes in the time it takes you to look down at your radio!! (Don't ask how I know that.)

So a very good racing alignment often makes a very poor street alignment. A car that is used for both usually is set up to compromise both track and street behavior to some extent.

 

Thanks for the information and insight Slave! Im brand new to the performance scene and track scene, so I'm still learning the basics of it all.

With what you've said...does that mean people get alignments often then? Like before/after track days? Or people leave it one way or the other and take the issues that come with it? I can't imagine to drop $100+ on an alignment every time I plan on tracking my car and readjusting to go back to street. I guess that's what buying a strictly track car is for?

 

Hardcore track junkies tend to have a dedicated track car that they trailer to events. No compromises needed in that case!

Getting an alignment before and after a track weekend is beyond most of our budgets. Even the folks I know who DIY don't want to do two alignments per week. So most people pick a setup with some level of compromise and run that.

 

I ran a track DD for 4 1/2 years and grappled with the alignment question for most of that time. You can get a decent alignment that is track oriented that will not be too bad as a DD. however, the alignment specs are no where near factory specs. The most reasonable I have found for my driving style after posts of trial is:

Front:
camber -1.8 to -2.2
Toe total 0

Rear:
Camber -1.4 to -1.6
Toe total 0

You will need after market parts to get this alignment.

If I had a track car, I would be using front camber closer to -3.5 and rear camber of -1.8 to -2.

 

Forgot to mention, it is extremely important to have a fully tuned suspension. That means if you have lots of front negative camber, you should be prudent about the rear sway bar and the adjustments. Other adjustments you should make is front and back ride height and rebound stiffness if you have an adjustable suspension.

The stock mini is ok for the track initially but as you increase your speed, it handles quite poorly with severe understeer, poor turn in, excessive body roll and barely adequate brakes.