Another tire wear/pressure thread

dkl · #1 10-03-2009, 11:56 PM

For those of you that have 285 or 315 rears, how do you prevent excessive wear on the center of the tire? It's strange that most people are experiencing excessive inner wear due to the inherent negative camber, but I'm getting excessive center wear on mine...same thing on 3 different sets of tires (285/45-19).

I ran 37-38psi on the OEM Bridgestone Turanza. It showed a bit of more center wear than usual, so I figured that may be due to the slight over inflation. So, on my next set of Pirelli Scorpion Zero Asym, I decided to try running 34-35psi. But to my surprise, the same thing was happening. Now, onto my current set of Michelin Latitude, I decided to lower it some more and try 32-33psi. Again, I'm finding a bit of excessive center wear on both tires. But something is more puzzling is that the passenger side is showing more center wear than the driver's side.

Alignment seems to be in check:
Rear Left: Camber = -1.9, Toe = 0.21
Rear Right: Camber = -2.0, Toe = 0.21
Rear Cross Camber = 0.1
Rear Total Toe = 0.41

Any insight into what may have cause this excess center tire wear would greatly be appreciated, especially why one side would wear more than the other when both tires are running identical pressure.

Thanks!

zigzag · #2 10-04-2009, 01:12 AM

If you look into the owners manual, you can find that BMW suggest 32 psi for front and rear. You overinflating your tires, thats why you get exessive tire wear in the center ... I'm using my Micheling diamaris for 3 years now (put on them over 22000mls) and they are still looks like new. No exessive wear

dkl · #3 10-04-2009, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zigzag

If you look into the owners manual, you can find that BMW suggest 32 psi for front and rear. You overinflating your tires, thats why you get exessive tire wear in the center ... I'm using my Micheling diamaris for 3 years now (put on them over 22000mls) and they are still looks like new. No exessive wear

I normally would agree with you that over inflating a tire can cause excessive wear in the center, but how do you explain why it would still occur with my current Michelin Latitude when I'm running 32-33psi since they were put on? That's where I'm scratching my head. If what you're saying is true, you're telling me that 32-33psi is still too much air for these Latitude?

BTW...the front 255 never seem to have a problem. I'm not finding any excessive center wear over the 3 sets of tires even when running up to 36psi.

motordavid · #4 10-04-2009, 08:32 AM

I got almost 30k miles out of a set of BStone Turanzas, with 285 rears, and while I
suffered the typical inside tread wear, there was not unusual wear in the center.

Usually ~33 lbs rear, sometimes 35+ for haul azz trips, loaded down...never have done an alignment in 8 yrs.
GL,mD

jst2878 · #5 10-04-2009, 01:36 PM

could be the overinflation with a mix of bad tires. tires aree good for about six years. check the manufacturing date on the tire and see how old they are

dkl · #6 10-04-2009, 03:41 PM

The Latitudes are only available for about 3 years or so. The date on these tires are 32/08 and installed on Dec 2008. I've always looked at the manufacturing date and won't take anything that's been on the shelf for more than 1-2 years.

zigzag · #7 10-04-2009, 10:14 PM

Did you check an alignment on dealers machine?
Strange thing I found when i was using Michelin Latitude.... when you start driving and tire is temperature is ambient ( around 32 psi), so after 20-30 minutes of driving , espessially in summer time( like 75-85- degrees), tire pressure rises to 35-37 psi on Michelins and in that case you are driving on overinflated tire... usual temperature gap should be 2-3 max. of cause it depends on tire...
It does not happening to my Vredestien's... gap on VR's is 2 psi, regardless of outside temperature

zigzag · #8 10-04-2009, 10:16 PM

Just measure tire pressure before driving and than measure tire pressure after 30- min diving, post a difference....

zigzag · #9 10-04-2009, 10:24 PM

But remember, that lowering tire pressure will affect you car steering and rolling resistance.... I would stick with 32-33 psi ambient temperature and would not worry about exessive center wear. Its cheaper to change tires instead of car

JCL · #10 10-04-2009, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zigzag

When you start driving and tire is temperature is ambient ( around 32 psi), so after 20-30 minutes of driving , espessially in summer time( like 75-85- degrees), tire pressure rises to 35-37 psi on Michelins and in that case you are driving on overinflated tire...

No, you are not driving on an overinflated tire if you are measuring the hot inflation pressure. The 32 psi spec is the cold pressure, there is no spec for hot pressure. Deflating a hot tire to the cold inflation pressure will leave it dangerously under-inflated when it is cold.