Tire wear

[Tomaz]

I just replaced my first set of Bridgestone Dueler HP Sports on my 19" stock sport rims. I was happy to have gotten 33K miles on them! And I was not even down to the wear bars. But of course, like all X5's the inside of the rear tires were looking seriously bald. That is even after I've dialed out all of the negative camber possible.

I had previously worn through several sets (194K on the X5) of Pirelli Asimmetrico's and was glad to make it to 18K or 19K miles.

Otherwise, I could detect no difference between the ride quality, handling, or noise between either tire.

I found the 4 tires on line for about $840.

[Brandon002]

Every BMW I have ever own has worn the inside of the rear tires faster than most other cars. Even with proper factory alignment. I think BMW uses aggressive camber on the rear of most of their cars, especially those with the sport package. The only way to cure it, is to go to a shop that will align it to your own specs, with less toe and camber in the rear.

[dkl]

I have never had excess inner wear on the rears with the stock -2.0* camber setting. But you need to watch your toe settings. Any toe out will cause excessive inner wear. Since camber is more visible, everyone thinks that's what causing the excessive wear.

[Tomaz]

I took my X5 to a alignment shop that specializes in 4X alignments and the best they could do was to dial the camber down to about 1 degree of negative. The toe out was set to whatever the stock toe setting was.

[Brandon002]

Take it to an indy BMW shop.

The car has to have weights in it to get the alignment correct.

[dkl]

Originally Posted by Tomaz

I took my X5 to a alignment shop that specializes in 4X alignments and the best they could do was to dial the camber down to about 1 degree of negative. The toe out was set to whatever the stock toe setting was.

OE setting usually called for a smidge of toe-in. If you have any toe-out, you'll get the excessive inner wear.

[JCL]

The OE recommendation is for a fairly wide acceptable range for toe, from very little toe in to quite a bit of toe in. Get it to the minimum of that range to maximize tire life.

[Ricky Bobby]

Its the toe in the rear that shreds the tires. You can be within spec of camber at -1.9 which is pretty aggressive, but if your toe is anything more than close to 0 (-.01, -.02), you will shred them. BMW toe spec in the rear I believe at the minimum end starts at .07, thats wayyyyy too much with the neg camber spec.

Dial out the toe, keep the camber within spec, your rear tires won't wear irregularly.

[Tomaz]

Thanks for the great advice. I've been focused on the camber and never noticed the toe. I'll get 40K from those Bridgestones this time.

[Tomaz]

Originally Posted by Brandon002

Take it to an indy BMW shop.

The car has to have weights in it to get the alignment correct.

Ive never heard of that. Could my 180 lbs. make a difference?