Weird tire wear. Only the middle worn out.

[beat]

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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[drchris1]

Time to hit the twisties and get those corners worn down...

[Simplife]

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

[gwkoch]

Sounds like way too much air pressure.

[mikepal]

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.

[beat]

Originally Posted by drchris1

Time to hit the twisties and get those corners worn down...

Thanks for the help.

Originally Posted by Simplife

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

Pretty sure its accurate.

Originally Posted by gwkoch

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

Originally Posted by mikepal

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.

[CircuitTested]

R888s?

[Drew09]

Yes, usually middle tire wear is caused by over inflation.

[beat]

Originally Posted by CircuitTested

R888s?

We've had the same problem with a048lts and a050


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[beat]

Originally Posted by bmw330ciandr6

Yes, usually middle tire wear is caused by over inflation.

25psi is considered over inflation?


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[CircuitTested]

You rotating tires at all? I ran 4 sessions on r888s on the same corners and had the "groove of doom." Just have to remember to rotate...tire direction does not matter when it's dry.

[squidward]

Originally Posted by bmw330ciandr6

Yes, usually middle tire wear is caused by over inflation.

This.

[MotoGeek]

Originally Posted by bmw330ciandr6

Yes, usually middle tire wear is caused by over inflation.

Or by driving on railroad tracks.

[Aedo]

I'm running 27psi in A048s on an Elise and get very even wear (standard -1.5 camber) on the rears so I don't think it is your pressure.

Originally Posted by beat

...
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.

This is more likely - toe setting out will scrub the tyres and wear them very rapidly.

[btotheje]

I've experienced it on A048's with textbook over inflation. Though it sounds like toe in this case.

[Arnie]

I run 235/45R17 AD08 with 21psi in the rear, and have the same problem

[Wmangm]

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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[Zen Dude]

Originally Posted by beat

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.

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.

[Arnie]

Originally Posted by Zen Dude

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.

21-25psi is already way lower than what's specified in the manual (28psi)

[khamai]

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