Rear Wheel Mal Alignment
 

Hi
I have a 03 X5 and had my tires inspected today. These are Michelin MXV4 Plus 235/65 R17. The rear tires are worn out predominantly in the inner aspect and need replacing. However my concern is the alignment.

One dealer told me that in general the tires wear out more on the inside and no re-alignment is needed. However another dealer told me that it is necessay to realign the rear wheels to prevent a reccurance. I am confused and need some advice.

The X5 leaves the factory with negative camber, meaning the tires are angled with the tops pointing slightly inward. This is was gives the X improved handling. Both people were right. You do not need to change this as this is part of the suspension setup and driving character of the car. However, if you don't want to have to do tires, change the camber and align the wheels. But this will decrease the cornering capability.

Thank you. One additional question. Do I need to replace all 4 tires or are the rear 2 enough.

Negative camber + toe out will cause excessive inner edge wear. Negative camber alone (with proper toe setting) should NOT cause excessive wear. I would at least do an alignment to make sure your toe and camber settings are within specs.

No...you do not have to replace all 4 tires if the fronts still have plenty threads left. 2 rear tires are enough.

I am going to delete my neg camber as much as the stock settings let me on Saturday. I will let you know how much cornering is affected while driving80 mph or more. I have one turn on the parkway that owes me a double or nothing chance.

I just got an alignment last week. I had a previous post with the same problem. When I took it to the dealer, my SA told me that he would see if I need an alignment or not. To make a long story short. The X was in need of an alignment, but not the front, just the rear wheels, but they did a four wheel alignment anyway. I guess this explains what DKL said. I never knew that about the toe out. I guess my X was off a lot. Now you can see a total difference as to how the rear wheels sit on the street. The tires have a lot more contact then just the inner part. I hope this helps you. Good Luck.

Make sure that your tires have the right air pressure. Don't over inflate them. I think it is 32 psi on the rear.
Take the tires off of the rim and switch them to the other side of the car if they contine to wear on the inside. Just swap the rears.

This is why I neutralized my rear camber and bought matching sized rims for the front so I can rotate front to rear.

So what tyre size and type are running now?
Thanks Colin.

315/35/20 Toyo Proxes... I really like them!