RE71R abnormal wear?
 

Car: 2014 BRZ, CS class
Mods: 17x7 wheels, 45 offset - everything else stock.
Tires: 225/45/17 BS RE71R

So today when I pulled off my tires after an autox event, I noticed that they are wearing a lot faster than I thought they were. I knew the fronts were worse than the rears, but didn't realize just how bad it was.

This is after 4 events ,~26 runs and ~1350 miles. Is this wear normal for RE71R? I used to run bridestones (RE-11 I think) and dunlop star specs, as well as falken azenis, and I never had wear this fast. I'm especially concerned about the wear on the center bars... notice how it tapers down towards the outside of the tire.... it is close to the wear bars already!

I plan to rotate these next autox, but I'm thinking I may have an alignment issue... maybe toe is off? Car is on stock (OEM) alignment, and has ~15k miles. As long as I've owned the car I haven't hit anything that would make me think the alignment is off, and the car pulls straight and true on the highway.

Thoughts?

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...psxpb6x4l2.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...ps2qafj7sl.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...psgh39sbvv.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...ps2pumuhnt.jpg

Here are some side shots showing the center-bar wear that I'm concerned about.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...psz1zstqxt.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...psfatajqmr.jpg

What type of surface is the lot you are running on? The RE71R's center rib definitely wears like that, it's why people flip them at a certain point. I'm not sure it's anything to be too concerned with. They are going to wear faster than RE11s but you should still get 150+ runs out of them on a FR-S/BRZ.

You should get some camber bolts so that your tires stay flatter in the corners. Its wearing more on the outside because of hard cornering, and it looks like a super soft compound. More negative camber will even out the wear a bit more but not entirely, and youll have more grip in the corners too

Looks fine to me. The center ribs wear quickly then stabilize. I'd still rotate every few events though.

This.

I've done a lot more miles and autox runs on mine than that, and they still look almost perfect. I think its the surface you are autoxing on.

Looks totally normal for hard driving.

Yep, normal RE-71R wear, though it seems that whatever surface you're running on is probably more abrasive than "normal". Rotate often and plan on flipping the tires.

Even for CS, its worth getting a good alignment. The factory alignment on my car was terrible(for stock). Get some OEM crash bolts in the front and get as much camber as you can as well as get yoru toe setup nicely.

You'll still wear the Hoosierstones/RE71Speedwagons much faster than any 200tw tire you've had before. Mine wore the center piece quickly. I currently have about 10 autox days, 1000 street miles, and 5 HPDEs on mine. I am hoping they making it thru my May/June events.

The lots we run in are asphalt. And definitely not the smoothest. One of them has cracks that are often as big as 2 inches wide or so. That asphalt tends to chunk a lot. The other lot we race in has tiedown straps for airplanes ( it's a small airport venue).

For flipping, should I try to do that once at the mid point of the tires' life? And since the tires are directional, should I switch the driver and passenger side tires after flipping?

These tires do double service as my summer tires, so a little concerned with water dissipation etc if I flip them

What type of alignment numbers should I shoot for? I assume max out the negative camber up front to make sure they are equal left to right, but what about toe? I used to do 0 toe, maybe slightly toe in on my wrx, basically to minimize tire wear concerns.

Yes.

These are not like the old crop of "street" tires. They will be okay in the wet. If you're so worried about wear, perhaps you should have tried the Dunlops or Hankooks?

You won't get more than -1.5 up front legally for CS. I could only get -1.0 and -1.2 and don't care about them not being equal, slight toe-out up front and minimal toe-in rear.

In this case flipping would be getting the tires remounted on the other side's wheels. Tread rotation direction is still correct and it'll even out the wear. You do lose some tread depth (as the more worn tread is now on the inside) but it's better overall.

Cool thanks for the advice everyone.

Would a front sway bar be a good idea to help the tire wear? Less body roll = more negative camber in corners and less wear... I have been holding off on actual suspension mods since I plan to jump out of CS within a year or so, but it was a thought I had.

I probably should have gotten the Dunlops. Didn't realize the RE71Rs wore so much until after I got them.

first you are playing autox thats eat tires a lot, more than road track.
second i had it before and i played one autox and 2 track days, about 60% gone, thats why i change to AD08R...