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Weird tire wear. Only the middle worn out.

25K views 19 replies 15 participants last post by  khamai 
#1 ·
Two of my friends and I have been getting weird tire wear in the rear. Only the middle of the tire is bald with quite a bit left on both corners.

I run around -2.5 deg camber, toe settings I don't have a number, but it's slightly toe in. Tire pressure around 25psi.
Street driven in a mild manner.
Any idea?


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#2 ·
Time to hit the twisties and get those corners worn down...
 
#6 ·
Thanks for the help.


Well, the first thing you might check would be the accuracy of your tire guage.
Pretty sure its accurate.



Sounds like way too much air pressure.
25 psi is way too much? A friend of mine runs 21-22 psi and has the same problem

When I experienced that problem on my 06 Exige, it was a combination of over inflation and horrible alignment. It was mostly the latter, the alignment acted like a cheese grater to the middle portion of the tire. So I'd certainly check on both.
How would the alignment cause that? Im assuming you mean toe settings. Camber should only increase wear on the inside of the tire.
Correct me if Im wrong, but I thought Toe in will wear the outsides of the tires and toe out will do the opposite.

Cheers.
 
#5 ·
When I experienced that problem on my 06 Exige, it was a combination of over inflation and horrible alignment. It was mostly the latter, the alignment acted like a cheese grater to the middle portion of the tire. So I'd certainly check on both.
 
#17 ·
You can get center wear from under inflation too. The center of the contact patch can squirm and resonate due to the low center loading and wear in a pattern resembling over inflation. I would go up a few pounds, especially your buddy running in the low 20psi range.

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#18 ·
Two of my friends and I have been getting weird tire wear in the rear. Only the middle of the tire is bald with quite a bit left on both corners.
TADTS

A search will reveal that this topic has been covered dozens of times with the general consensus being that the indicated pressures on the door will typically cause a pair of AO48s to wear in the middle. I’ve gone through probably 10 sets of rear tires (AO48s) and always run my pressures lower for more even wear.
 
#20 ·
Tire pressure is the common answer to center wear. However, in this case on the rear of an Elise, Exige (or even Europa and Esprit) it is caused by too much toe-in. As a previous post suggested by the alignment checked. It's highly likely you'll find there's nearly 1/4" of toe at the rear. Great for keeping the rear end stable, but terrible on tire wear.

Cheers,
Kiyoshi
 
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