I just chunked a 13K mile rear set of 18in Conti3's , and ordered some 295 19's for new wheels. It's an 02 NB without aero currently, but I was contemplating GT3 aero and wondered if anyone has noticed a positive or negative effect of the downforce on the rear tires. My car moves around a bit in the rear at high speed and interstate speeds on a windy day (more noticeable since the titanium exhaust install) . I'm wondering if the downforce may actually help tire wear. Any thoughts or experiences ?

 

That can be your suspension and not tires.

 

What do you mean you chunked a set of tires? What kind of driving were you doing? Any pics? Also, I don't think 30-50 lbs of downforce at 100MPH will affect daily driving, especially in terms of tire life or car handling. Besides, I don't think you would want a huge wing back there dragging your car while driving on the highway and eating up all your gas.

Ride height and suspension. And seriously, your car handles differently because of the exhaust? Did you remove 200 lbs from the rear with it?

IMO, there will be no effect on the highway at highway speeds one way or another (good or bad).

-td

 

dude... 13K miles on a set of rears is awesome!

I get 7k miles on my P-zero Rosso's

 

In theory, the more weight or downforce you have on the back end, the less your rear tires will wear out. This is because, as weight is put on the suspension, the camber becomes less negative.

However, 13,000 miles on rear tires is very good with stock settings.

 

i got 48k out of my stock Bridgestone S02A's.


but i may have pushed the limits there:

 

more like over the edge

 

Oh Joey...if those still held air u just need to adjust camber

Seriously....WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

 

I have less than 7k on my rears. Autocross toasted these tires in 1 season (less than 6 events). They'll need to be replaced (PS2's) by the spring.

 

Really, 13k on a set of backs, given the camber, is pretty good. It's normal.

 

ha, yeah that was pretty good. i think i got my money's worth.

i realized my math is wrong though. i forgot i had snow tires on for part of the year. so i can prolly take around 20k miles off of that.

so those tires probably had around 30k miles on them. straight highway cruising helps tire wear i guess.

 

Actually, the more straight driving you do will wear the inside of the rear tires faster with the stock setup. Your camber may be slightly less than specs which adds to your tire's life.

 

Thanks for all the replies. Bad choice of terms on my part..when I said I chunked them I should have simply said replaced. I wasn't sure what was normal for tire wear. I drive 40 miles on the interstate daily. Tire wear was very even, just slightly favoring the inside. My alignment specs were dead on stock in the rear.
Yes, the car feels different at high speeds after the titanium exhaust and cat pipe install. The *** end actually feels lighter over transitions and 90+ i'state speeds.
I was curious if GT3 aero had any effect at all on tire wear and I think the consensus is NO.... I'm sure it will positively effect handling regardless.