X5 Excessive Rear Tire Wear

[Tonyfeb14]

My 2003 X5 4.4 152k miles is going through rear tires. This set heavily worn after just 18,670 miles and near needing replacement. The wear is pretty even across the tire, and only slightly more wear on the inner edge (close to center of vehicle). But the outer edge and center are very worn as well. Again, pretty even wear across the tire.

I had the rear alignment checked when first installing the tires. Camber -1.83 L/R, Toe in .14 Degree, total .28 Degree Toe-In, so this looks like within specs per the alignment machine specs.

When I checked a separate X5 spec manual, Toe was within spec, Camber might be off slightly and could be re-adjusted to closer to -1.5 +/18min.

I would consider the alignment all within specs. My tire supplier says he see's lots of X5's that wear the rear tires.

Does anyone else have this experience? Anyone using different alignment specs? I need to check the control arms and bal ljoints for wear but these wear so evenly on both sides, I am thinking alignment or a known problem with this suspension design.

[crystalworks]

If I get 20k miles out of the rears (20in w/325mm width tires) I'm happy. As your supplier mentioned, X5's are known to go through rear tires.

You didn't mention the brand of tire or size, but if looking to maximize life, you might need adjustable rear arms to zero out the rear camber and have toe in limited.

I'm sure others with more knowledge of alignment specs relating to tire wear will chime in.

[andrewwynn]

Toe out causes more wear on inside than any amount of camber from what I've read. I think there is Dynamic loading during cornering and stoppingI have apparently toes the tire outward logically braking would do the most of that. I think the majority of inside edge tire wear an X5 comes from the Rose joint being worn or an upper control arm being worn and The wheel dynamically toeing outward during braking. I have helped people with E53 that shredded they’re inside edge in a matter of a month and it was the upper control arm.

My wife and my X5 both have camber that is close to 2° And the tire wear is very even edge to edge. I do check periodically to make sure that the toe angle is approximately 0.15° on the front and the back axle.

[Tonyfeb14]

Thanks for the information. I too understood the toe-in setting was more likely to cause tire wear than excessive negative camber. I may try "0" toe next time around after I check the control arms, etc. I think the suspension is pretty tight since the tire wear is even but worth checking again.

[Henrym3]

Hi, I read on here, must be 4/5 years ago that camber is no where near as important as toe from a tyre wear point of view. The recommendation was 0.05/0.07 rear which I have used since then and tyre wear across the thread has been perfect. Assuming suspension components are in good condition. I’m lowered so had to fit the Hard Race adjusting arm to be able to get the toe to that reading.


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[andrewwynn]

Not enough toe causes wear on inside of tires. They need to be slightly toe in. 0.15° is spec (aka 1/16" across the bump in the sidewall).

I hear all the time people want to have zero toe in. Zero toe will wear inside edge. Inside edge wear means not enough toe angle usually. Too much inward toe will chew up outside edge.

Reminds me of funny photo I took last night



"Outside rated" tire. Brwahhaahhaaa

[TriX5]

IF for an E70 ARD recommends 0.01-0.02 toe-in (matched L-2-R), why would an E53 be better with or even "need" 0.15? Essentially the two vehicles share the same rear geometry. I asked to set both of them to .01 when they were aligned last. Just trying to understand because 0.15 seems like a lot compared to 0.01.... I thought there had been similar recs for E53 toe-in but not sure when and where.

[andrewwynn]

Originally Posted by TriX5

IF for an E70 ARD recommends 0.01-0.02 toe-in (matched L-2-R), why would an E53 be better with or even "need" 0.15? Essentially the two vehicles share the same rear geometry. I asked to set both of them to .01 when they were aligned last. Just trying to understand because 0.15 seems like a lot compared to 0.01.... I thought there had been similar recs for E53 toe-in but not sure when and where.

What is the unit 0.01? It's not a logical unit of degrees that would be the same as zero in a real world application.

[TriX5]

IIRC it is in degrees?

[andrewwynn]

I would not believe a spec of 1/100th of a degree. That will be out of spec by the time you get four wheels onto the road.