I've been doing autocross events with my Cobalt for the last half of this summer and have noticed the outer edge of my tires on the front are wearing way faster than the rest of the tire. I was wondering if this is something I need to correct with how I drive or if I can change the alignment slightly. If anyone has any insight on this your feedback would be appreciated.

 

this is why every 3-4 track days i dismount and flip my tires inside to outside.

 

Looks like you need to run higher psi or get tires with stiffer sidewall. Either way autocross will eat your tires up

 

Yup. Chalk your tires to see how far they're rolling. Adjust pressures.

 

I've been running 38 in the front and 37 in the rear. I definitely think I need more appropriate tires and now that these are screwed up that is what I am trying to decide on next. Because I can run slicks in my class I am strongly considering Hankook Ventus Z214 with the C71 softer compound. However I can only get the Z214 in 245/40R17 so I am also considering the Proxes RR in the 235/40R17 as well because my wheels are 17X8 and it appears for autocross it is better to have a little wider wheel to tire ratio.

When running slicks should I run similar pressure or will I be able to run a bit lower? Is the best way to tell just to do the chalk and check?

 

You may just be driving into corners too hard.

Also I don't recommend DOT competition tires. Get a Max Performance tire with 200-300 treadwear and good reviews. Especially if you're worried about how quick they're wearing.

 

They don't wear very well but I've heard a lot of good things about nitto nt01's
I don't auto cross but can say that the Yokohama advan neova ad08r's I have on the front of mine are wearing much better than I could have imagined. They grip really well when you get some heat in them and I believe they are a 200 treadwear. They aren't true r compound but grip close to them with much better wear. They also have good ratings.

 

They're also expensive and wouldn't be great if you're caught in the rain.

 

The 200 TW tires I am looking at are about the same price as the Nitto NT01's online. There are some 300 TW tires that are significantly cheaper but I want more grip than the Pilot Super Sports had. Not worried about being caught in the rain as I will be driving to and from the events on a different set of tires. If I end up at an event and it's raining I accept that I will have less than ideal traction.

I do agree with you on the issue of longevity. I would like a set of tires to last me a full season but where the closest event to me is 2 hours away and the rest are 3-4 hours away I only make it to about 1.5 events a month. So that puts me around 12 events total with 4-5 runs on a 50-65 second course. I was assuming NT01s or slicks would hold up for this time-frame but I have no experience with them so it's hard to say.

 

If you rotate the slicks around and flip them to get even wear inside / outside you *should* be able to squeak 60 runs out of them

 

I've been rotating my tires every 2 autocross events. I can't flip these tires on the wheel because they have different inside and outside or I would. If I went with slicks how often would you say I should rotate? How often should I flip the tires?

 

you flip them on the wheel and then switch the side of the car they are on

 

Some tires specify inside and outside. That's different than directional.

 

Usually direction only matters for rain. There are exceptions like my Invo's though.

 

If I recall correctly Michelin Pilot Super Sports, which is what I have now, have a different tread compound on the inner and outer sides of their tires so I can't flip the tire on the wheel. They aren't directional as I can still rotate from one side of the car to the other but I do think they specify inside and outside.

 

Like I said exceptions. But I'm sure you wouldn't notice the difference. Especially in autocross where you don't get as much heat built up.