How does my tire wear look?

[R_E_L]

I was checking out my tires today and realized I got some funky wear going on. I preface this by saying 90% of my driving in this car is in the canyons with the other 10% being the commute to said roads. So I expected more wear on the edges but what I am noticing is a defined edge/step, about 1/16 in. (probably where one compound meets another), developing in the front.


Is this just a normal consequence of the type of driving I do or do I need to change something? Alignment/tire pressure/driving style etc? The car is completely stock. I try to make my transitions and turn in as smooth as possible but I have no training, so my idea of smooth may be a more experienced person's frantic. What do you guys think, do I need to address something or am I good?

Front:


Rear:

[Leonardo]

How many miles do you have on these tires? On the car?


If I had "funky" tire wear: First I would check my tire pressure to make sure they were all the same. (even a few psi off side to side or front to back can cause weird wear) Then I would get my alignment checked.

[R_E_L]

1500 miles. I got the car almost 3 months ago. Admittedly I did not keep a close eye on tire pressure the 1st month or so. Pressures were a little low when I did check in the second month and they have been up to spec since.

[BigTuna]

What are your tire pressures?

Edit:
To me, it looks like they are a little high for the type of driving you do. It's like it's not wearing all the way to the edges.

[R_E_L]

What would be considered the edge? The bottom of the lower half circle mark? I try and keep it at the recommended 35 PSI. It has dropped into high 20s in between refills.

[BigTuna]

To me, the flat edge of the half circle looks like where it should theoretically hit. A lot of performance tires have little triangles that point to where the wear should be, but I'm not sure if these do. Either way it's not really a bad thing the way its wearing now.

FWIW, in autocross I typically run pressures at 28-30psi.

EDIT: actually, looking at photos of the stock tires, I think it's perfectly fine the way it is. It could just be the nature of the economy-focused tire getting a little bit hotter than it likes.

[wparsons]

It looks like in most driving you're using part of the tire (maybe pressure is too high), and when driving harder you're using a bit more towards the edge.


Mine look like this too after some street driving between track days.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by wparsons

It looks like in most driving you're using part of the tire (maybe pressure is too high), and when driving harder you're using a bit more towards the edge.


Mine look like this too after some street driving between track days.

+1


Looks like the driver's badge of honour. Especially the fronts with stock camber. They're gonna scrub. (is that the right term?)

[Lynxis]

Was gonna mention, front tire shoulder blocks like to tear away under hard cornering on stock camber. Consider investing in some camber bolts and max out front camber. Won't fix the problem but it will help alleviate it.

[R_E_L]

Yeah some extra camber in the front may be worth looking into. Are camber bolts really enough or should I look at camber plates instead? While I like to tell myself I’ll eventually do track days, realistically I dont expect to do more than an auto x event once in a blue moon.

[JIM THEO]

For the same period of owner I have exactly the opposite result, minor front tire wear on the shoulders major on the rears, and bear in mind our tarmac is like mirror at least in my town although I did some trips 1000Km away.
I bought a set of camber bolts to increase front camber to slightly less than -1 degree per wheel (along with 1mm/wheel toe out for better response) and I am waiting a pair of offset bushes for the rear control arm lower/inner as to increase to -1,5 degrees per wheel rear camber and set 0 toe.
Tire pressure 36psi all around.
But this is my driving style, I have never experienced understeer with this car, only controllable oversteer!

[wparsons]

Originally Posted by R_E_L

Yeah some extra camber in the front may be worth looking into. Are camber bolts really enough or should I look at camber plates instead? While I like to tell myself I’ll eventually do track days, realistically I dont expect to do more than an auto x event once in a blue moon.

You can get plenty of camber with bolts, SPC bolts in the lower holes + the stock lower bolts in the upper holes will get you into the -2* (or more) range, which is more than enough for what you're doing.

[MrDinkleman]

I see a couple issues.
First, do you have the same wear on the inside shoulder? If so, probably low pressure. If not, you need more chamber. Must be very twisty road...
Also, in the wider angle shot, it looks like your tire is stretched. Do you have wider wheels or is it just the angle of the pic?
The second issue is the top layer of rubber chunking off like that. Ive never seen that before. Usually, I see a smooth feathering between the layers. I would take car in and see if that's a defective tire.

[R_E_L]

Originally Posted by MrDinkleman

I see a couple issues.
First, do you have the same wear on the inside shoulder? If so, probably low pressure. If not, you need more chamber. Must be very twisty road...
Also, in the wider angle shot, it looks like your tire is stretched. Do you have wider wheels or is it just the angle of the pic?
The second issue is the top layer of rubber chunking off like that. Ive never seen that before. Usually, I see a smooth feathering between the layers. I would take car in and see if that's a defective tire.

The wear is on the outside of the front tires. I have the performance pack wheels which I believe are 1/2in wider than the base trim wheels. So yeah there is a bit of a stretch.