Tire wear question
 

Here are some photos of the rear tires on my '02 X5. They are 19" Toyo Proxes ST's in 285. The tires have approximately 25,000 miles on them. The are mounted on 19" Mille Miglia Evo5 Sport wheels from The Tire Rack. (Plug, plug, plug. :D )

As you can see, there is a visible wear pattern on the inside edges of the tires. The triangular marking are not something you can feel if you run your fingers over them. They are there more by the way the tire rolls and picks up dust, I think. The close up photos show some obvious uneven wear. The tires have also become very, very noisy.

Okay, so I've read a bunch online but I want to know what you guys think. Doc, your opinion is very much appreciated. It's time for new tires and I want to know if I need a 4 wheel alignment and/or to replace worn suspension components before I ruin another set of tires. I have to take it in for brakes so I wanted to get it all done at the same time.

Thanks in advance!

P.N.G.
My 05 diesel with 19" sport wheels did the same thing. Took it to BMW and got them to do a wheel alignment, making sure that the rear wheels had the negative camber reduced to a minimum, but still within the allowable tolerence. I also turned the tyres on their rims and swapped from side to side. They are just about worn down to the wear marks between the treads, so have managed to get full wear out of them. They are Bridgestone Turanzas and they have lasted 54,000km (34000mls).
Colin.

X5 seems to always have more rear negative camber than tires like, so I'd try and get an alignment and follow the advice above.

My original Turanzas lasted 40,000, interestingly the front looked worse than the back. The negative camber on the rears was set at -2.20 both sides.....(this was the original factory setting). Replaced with Diamaris and reset the back camber to -1.15. Waht is your camber setting, Kev?

Thanks for the advice guys. I don't know what degree of negative camber I'm running. It might be -1.8 on the driver's side and -2.1 on the passenger side.

Do you think what is picture could cause extra noise because it is very loud in the cabin?

That cupping is definitely the cause of your interior noise. Aside from the camber, severe cupping can also occur if your toe is off. It's best to get an alignment just to true things up. At this point, the only way to get rid of the excess noise would be a new set of tires. What were you using before these Toyos? Did you ever seen these excess cupping on the inner edges? My last set of Bridgestone Turanza did start to do the same thing in the last 10K - 15K and I did find the toe to be off a bit when I had an alignment after putting on my new Pirellis.

I figured the noise was from that. It's gotten really bad and the noise when braking and almost stopped is like the sound of a helicopter's rotors. :tsk: They are indeed Toyos.

New tires are on the list and I wanted to get the alignment squared away before I get the new ones. I'm still undecided on whether I want the Yokohama Advans or the Michelin Latitudes. :dunno: Any suggestions?

Also, what are the recommendations for negative camber angle? Is -1.15 the best setting, as suggested by The Big Easy above?

If you never go up to the mountain to ski/snowboard, then the Yoko would be my choice. The Latitudes are still fairly new and there isn't really much user data on them yet (though they are OEM for the new MDX). The tread pattern of the Latitudes look like they can potentially do the same thing as your Toyos, so who knows :dunno: Have to wait and see what owners are reporting after they logged 20k-25k miles with them. What about the Pirelli Scorpion Zero or even the OEM Michelin Diamaris?

The Big Easy's suggestion of -1.15 is actually very reasonable for your normal driving needs, especially if you have the staggered setup. I currently have -1.90 and needs to constantly keep the tire pressure at 34-36psi in order to maintain even tire wear. If I let it drop below 34psi for any length of time, the inner edge will begin to wear more. I'm considering taking the suggested -1.15 setup as well.

No ski trips for us so a tire good in the snow is not really necessary. I too share the same concern with the Latitudes. They're so new and while it could be supposed that they are in the same class as the Diamaris. I haven't considered the Pirelli Scorpion Zeros because I had a set of the original Pirelli Scorpions Zeros. I got with my wheels from Tire Rack and I did not like them very much. I kind of got soured on Pirellis. Diamaris might be a good choice but I was looking to try something new, like the Advans or Latitudes.

I don't run a staggered setup but I wonder if I should. All four wheels are the same width so I could only go as narrow/wide as the wheels will allow. They are 19x9.5. Thoughts?

Kev, the -2 camber setting looks really great....only problem is the uneven tire wear which you can minimize by playing with tyre pressure, only think is you constantly have to check the air. Haven't used the latitudes, but the diamaris look and feel great. Go staggered.

Cheers,