20" tire tread depth goes fast

[solrac6262]

Hello guys,

I noticed my tire tread is going very fast on the middle part, the outsides are good, can someone recommend from personal experience a good psi for the tires, I am running 20" dunlop sportmax tires..
thanks

[brian5]

Originally Posted by solrac6262

Hello guys,

I noticed my tire tread is going very fast on the middle part, the outsides are good, can someone recommend from personal experience a good psi for the tires, I am running 20" dunlop sportmax tires..
thanks

Tire pressures are on the B pillar. Mine wear evenly. 32 PSI on front. 35 PSI on rear.

[ard]

Alignment is the #1 cause of tire wear.

[BGM]

I have the Dunny's as well and run 32/35 and have 15K miles on them with about 6K miles before they are done. As ard stated, sounds like you have an alignment issue.

[solrac6262]

but alignment would be more prominent on the sides?

[ard]

The factors that determine the alignment of the wheels' rotation with the actual tire contact patch are complex.

An over-inflated tire will wear in the center- but add some excessive toe and it will wear even faster. Maybe not enough to scrub your sidewalls..or maybe the camber is such...

Set the camber to the middle of the BMW recommended range, but set the TOE TO THE LOWEST OF THE BMW RECOMMENDED RANGE. This is important and it the biggest mistake people make (they usually report "Oh the dealer checked it and said it's OK"- no, set it to the minimum)

A

[Mitch P.]

Originally Posted by ard

The factors that determine the alignment of the wheels' rotation with the actual tire contact patch are complex.

An over-inflated tire will wear in the center- but add some excessive toe and it will wear even faster. Maybe not enough to scrub your sidewalls..or maybe the camber is such...

Set the camber to the middle of the BMW recommended range, but set the TOE TO THE LOWEST OF THE BMW RECOMMENDED RANGE. This is important and it the biggest mistake people make (they usually report "Oh the dealer checked it and said it's OK"- no, set it to the minimum)

A

Is the toe settings part of the [decent] turn-in for such a heavy beast? Will reducing the toe to the minimum spec extend tire life, at a sacrifice of turn-in responsiveness?

[ard]

Originally Posted by Mitch P.

Is the toe settings part of the excellent turn-in for such a heavy beast? Will reducing the toe to the minimum spec extend tire life, at a sacrifice of turn-in responsiveness?

You are joking, right? "excellent turn in"?

and "sacrificing turn-in responsiveness"?

A bit of toe is used on race/performance cars for turn in...true. BUT this is a minor aspect of handling that is totally lost on an X5- the ponderous body roll, and soft suspension makes turn in a non-issue IMO.

But you will still get this term repeated and trundled out to argue for toe.

My position is simple: try it, see if it ruins the 'excellent turn in' when YOU drive. The answer will be 'no'

The laughable point is that most drivers have no idea at all about handling, and for the life of them could not explain, never mind sense, turn in responsiveness....yet will take your comments and obsess about it- thinking "well, I don't want to give up my bmw handling" and will needlessly waste tires with this nonsense.

IMO

A

[Mitch P.]

Originally Posted by ard

You are joking, right? "excellent turn in"?

and "sacrificing turn-in responsiveness"?

A bit of toe is used on race/performance cars for turn in...true. BUT this is a minor aspect of handling that is totally lost on an X5- the ponderous body roll, and soft suspension makes turn in a non-issue IMO.

But you will still get this term repeated and trundled out to argue for toe.

My position is simple: try it, see if it ruins the 'excellent turn in' when YOU drive. The answer will be 'no'

The laughable point is that most drivers have no idea at all about handling, and for the life of them could not explain, never mind sense, turn in responsiveness....yet will take your comments and obsess about it- thinking "well, I don't want to give up my bmw handling" and will needlessly waste tires with this nonsense.

IMO

A

OK I deserve that. A bit harsh though ARD - aren't you from the M5 board?

None of these, even the MX5 is an excellent turn-in vehicle. Neither is my M5. An E30M3 though...different story.

Excellent was an incorrect term that I used. I will say this - I meant it relatively speaking. Compared to my 4.8is - the turn in is BETTER. Not excellent. I should go back and edit that...might do it later.

I agree on dialing out the toe - this is what I had to do with the 4.8is to reduce excessive tire wear. I was asking more for gathering information...not inducing a laugh at my expense.

So, let's get back to my original question - will it reduce the turn in to a point where it's noticeable? Most likely not, but seeing as how I was annoyed at the 15kmi tire wear on the 4.8is, I will be especially annoyed at that same tire wear on expensive run flats.

Respectfully,

Mitchell

[MRV99]

if just the center is warn then do you have them over inflated?