Tire Wear Question

[iw84u]

i am on a set of Yoko S-Drives. the fronts are wearing out faster on the inside than the outside; evenly across; not by much; about 1/8in after 20k miles. is this normal?


on the rear tire, the inside most tread section are bumpy. at each of the groove section, the front portion is higher than the rear portion. what gives?





and are these the stock suspension for the 05 elise sport pkg?



thanks.

[Mr. Know]

Originally Posted by iw84u

i am on a set of Yoko S-Drives. the fronts are wearing out faster on the inside than the outside; evenly across; not by much; about 1/8in after 20k miles. is this normal?

You have a lot of negative camber dialed in, typical for a car that has been set up for tracking / autoX.

Originally Posted by iw84u

on the rear tire, the inside most tread section are bumpy. at each of the groove section, the front portion is higher than the rear portion. what gives?

Not sure on that one, not familiar with that particular tire. Rear tires might be toed in (not uncommon) for extra performance.

Originally Posted by iw84u

and are these the stock suspension for the 05 elise sport pkg?

Definitely not stock.

I'd get an alignment done or talk to the previous owner about the suspension settings.

[Mr. Know]

Here's the manufacturer for the shocks: KW automotive North America Inc. Suspension -- Coilovers -- Shocks -- Springs

[iw84u]

thanks for the info.

the car performs fine. should i just leave it alone?

[Newhouse]

I believe on your rear tires you have what's called uneven heel/toe wear. You can even the wear out by swapping the left and right tires. Tires will be backwards and when wear is even out, swap them back. Others have than this to prolong the use of the tires. Running the tire backwards may affect your wet traction performance, so it is up to you if you want to this.
On other cars with that wear, the tire tend to be noisy. But with the Lotus, you won't hear the tire noise over the engine.

[tireshoppe]

The "Heel Toe" wear is caused by the tread block flexing from the weight of the car on the tire. When the tread block hits the road it stretches slightly and then it wears, when the weight is off of it the block springs back it's unevan. People that use the car for track days can cross the tires if it's a dry day to evan out the wear. On the street it can be dangerous on wet road because the tire will pull the water to the center and no good can come from that!
Joe
TreadZone

[Appleseed]

did he say 20k miles? I thought that I could only expect to get about 15,000 out of my tires before I had to get new ones....?

[shay2nak]

your rear tire is rubbing. That's what that line is on the outside. Look at your rear side reflectors behind the tire and see if the plastic towards the inside of the wheel well has been rubbed away. You'll have to raise your ride height. What size rear tire are you using? What wheels do you have?