Originally Posted by XhyDra

You really should seek alternative means of alignment for your car as others mentioned. Factory / dealer specs will keep wearing your tires the same, it is possible though to lessen the toe-out and extend the life spam of your tires to wear a lot more evenly hence giving you more value for your money.

Although many would argue that lessening the toe-out will affect your performance, I can tell you from my own experience that unless you're extremely sensitive to alignment modifications you won't feel a difference. I can still rip through turns like nobodys business. That being said I changed my front OEM tires out at around 24k and the replacement Nitto Invo's at 36k due to potholes and glass, when I replaced them the inner tire was already showing excessive wear. Of course this was with OEM alignment.

I am now creeping up on 70k with custom alignment settings for less toe-out and I still see my tires holding out till before the winter here in SoCal. So in reality you gain more than lose by getting a well done alignment, you're basically looking at 10k + gain in tire life.

Edit: Chiming in in terms of "performance loss" I tracked my car with stock suspension and less toe-out specs and did not experience any loss in performance when taking the turns at very fast speeds basically power sliding the car through the apex. Same goes for the ocational spirited driving with my stock suspension and custom toe-out, on "empty roads only" I've been able to take the turns at almost twice the marked suggested speed. So unless you track your car everyday and or go to work like the new 2011 IS commercial then I don't see a problem with you having a more conservative alignment spec.

Originally Posted by Fizzboy7

I like all you have said. It makes good sense. My situation is I've already paid for an alignment with my local tire place and I like their work. However they set everything to factory specs which is not going to help (as discussed here). Now I want to go back to them and basically say everything you said here and ask for __________? What is it I need to ask for? More toe in? More toe out? (I am wearing on the insides and I have F-springs with stock rims). This is the part I am still unclear on and need to verify before going in for the adjustment, which I think they will help me with. TIA

Originally Posted by XhyDra

You really should seek alternative means of alignment for your car as others mentioned. Factory / dealer specs will keep wearing your tires the same, it is possible though to lessen the toe-out and extend the life spam of your tires to wear a lot more evenly hence giving you more value for your money.

Although many would argue that lessening the toe-out will affect your performance, I can tell you from my own experience that unless you're extremely sensitive to alignment modifications you won't feel a difference. I can still rip through turns like nobodys business. That being said I changed my front OEM tires out at around 24k and the replacement Nitto Invo's at 36k due to potholes and glass, when I replaced them the inner tire was already showing excessive wear. Of course this was with OEM alignment.

I am now creeping up on 70k with custom alignment settings for less toe-out and I still see my tires holding out till before the winter here in SoCal. So in reality you gain more than lose by getting a well done alignment, you're basically looking at 10k + gain in tire life.

Edit: Chiming in in terms of "performance loss" I tracked my car with stock suspension and less toe-out specs and did not experience any loss in performance when taking the turns at very fast speeds basically power sliding the car through the apex. Same goes for the ocational spirited driving with my stock suspension and custom toe-out, on "empty roads only" I've been able to take the turns at almost twice the marked suggested speed. So unless you track your car everyday and or go to work like the new 2011 IS commercial then I don't see a problem with you having a more conservative alignment spec.

Originally Posted by muf-dvr

Can you post your custom alignment settings?

Originally Posted by XhyDra

The semi conservative toe-out I'm running is as follows:

Front:

L: 0.04 R: 0.04

Rear:

L: 0.12 R: 0.12

All within factory minimum / maximum specifications.