Normal tire wear or alignment issue?

[Rus]

Hello everyone,

I've just noticed that all of my tires show a strange wear pattern that I haven't seen before. As you can see in the pictures below, the thread shoulder on the inner side of the tire is worn at an angle uniformly around the circumference. The thread depth doesn't appear to change over the width of the tire. The tires have about 3000 miles on them and are Yokohama YK520 tires on regular E34 basketweaves. Since all of the tires show this kind of wear, is it an alignment issue? This wear would normally be seen with excessive toe-out or excessive camber. The car is not lowered, so camber doesn't seem to be an option. The Owner's Manual mentions that tires shouldn't be rotated front to back due to the unique wear pattern. Am I observing the regular wear pattern then?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Pictures:
http://zakm.hotbox.ru/BMW/IMG_0514.jpg
http://zakm.hotbox.ru/BMW/IMG_0515.jpg

Edit: I have not observed any pulling while driving. On a smooth level road the car will continue traveling straight with hands off of the wheel.

[attack eagle]

well if it isn't lowered it should still have 2.5 degrees of negative camber... that's a fair amount.

I can barely see what you are talking about... but I'd have the alignment checked.

[Rus]

well if it isn't lowered it should still have 2.5 degrees of negative camber... that's a fair amount.

I can barely see what you are talking about... but I'd have the alignment checked.

I've edited one of the pictures in the original post to show the area of concern more clearly. I'll try to have the alignment checked as soon as possible, but would like to know if this would be considered a severe issue.

[Ross]

All four are like that?
Run your hand over the tread to see if you can feel the tread "feathered".
Lots of E34s do that to the fronts. If your rears are that way too I'd say your suspension is sagging causing the camber.

[ThoreauHD]

My car has a slight negative camber, as it was designed to, so I have a similar wear pattern. It's supposed to be / \ at an angle so that around turns the tire has full contact with the ground. I actually don't see alot of odd wear on that tire, but I'm not a mechanic so that doesn't mean much. I think you may be obsessing over nothing.

[Rus]

Ross,

I've checked for feathering and there is none present. No cupping either. I do remember my old tires showing some feathering on the front ones...but that was on the outside edge of the thread.

Thoreau,

You may be right, I am a bit obsessive-compulsive with cars. What got me worried is that the car hasn't had an alignment for about two years and I've done front upper control arms and rear dog-bones over that time span. Seeing this strange wear on brand new tires set off a few alarms. I hope you are right and its nothing to worry about (but I still found a local german auto shop that should be able to check the alignment as per BMW specs).

[DanDombrowski]

Rus,

You never said - are these front or rear tires?

I'm not an expert on the fronts, but I have had some experience with the rears.

Theres no adjustment for the rear tires, so if you're getting excessive toe/camber or inner tire wear on the rear and its not lowered - the only thing it can be is either the RTABs or a sagging suspension (which I guess is involuntary lowering).

I would not be concerned with that kind of tire wear on the car. If its wearing odd, its not that bad. THIS is bad camber -

http://plaza.ufl.edu/volvo240/tire.JPG

[Rus]

Rus,

You never said - are these front or rear tires?

I'm not an expert on the fronts, but I have had some experience with the rears.

Theres no adjustment for the rear tires, so if you're getting excessive toe/camber or inner tire wear on the rear and its not lowered - the only thing it can be is either the RTABs or a sagging suspension (which I guess is involuntary lowering).

I would not be concerned with that kind of tire wear on the car. If its wearing odd, its not that bad. THIS is bad camber -

http://plaza.ufl.edu/volvo240/tire.JPG

The tire in the photo is the left rear. Both of the front tires have the exact same wear pattern too. I was also under the impression that rear toe can be adjusted. Is that not the case?

[Tiger]

That's definitely alignment issue.

[DanDombrowski]

From my experience, the right rear usually shows the worst symptoms, but the cars factory camber will contribute to this, so like I said, it may be normal.

There is no adjustment for the camber or toe in the rear- the only things that affect the camber and toe are the ride height and the RTABs, unless you get the adjustable bushings.

[bsell]

Hello everyone,

I've just noticed that all of my tires show a strange wear pattern that I haven't seen before. As you can see in the pictures below, the thread shoulder on the inner side of the tire is worn at an angle uniformly around the circumference. The thread depth doesn't appear to change over the width of the tire. The tires have about 3000 miles on them and are Yokohama YK520 tires on regular E34 basketweaves. Since all of the tires show this kind of wear, is it an alignment issue? This wear would normally be seen with excessive toe-out or excessive camber. The car is not lowered, so camber doesn't seem to be an option. The Owner's Manual mentions that tires shouldn't be rotated front to back due to the unique wear pattern. Am I observing the regular wear pattern then?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Edit: I have not observed any pulling while driving. On a smooth level road the car will continue traveling straight with hands off of the wheel.


What pressures are you running? I saw a Mercedes the other day whose tires were completely gone on the inside edge (very similar to yours) and almost virginal on the outer. I figure it was due to low pressure that went undetected due to the 'extreme' negative camber.

Either way, verify your tire pressures and get the car's alignment read.

Brian

[Rus]

Pressures: 32psi - front, 35psi - rear
Checked on a weekly basis. What really confuses me is the identical wear pattern on all of the tires, regardless of front or rear. Perhaps the tire design encourages this? The tires are asymmetrical.

Still waiting on the local indie to get back to me with his alignment price and scheduling.

P.S.: Just as clarification, the picture posted by Dan is NOT any one of my tires, but an example of a severe problem.

[Tiger]

Like I said... it is definitely alignment. My car is lowered and rear tire wears normally... both side... not one side like yours. Looks like too much toe in or toe out depending on which tire you showed.

[Rus]

Like I said... it is definitely alignment. My car is lowered and rear tire wears normally... both side... not one side like yours. Looks like too much toe in or toe out depending on which tire you showed.

The thing is, the tire is wearing evenly over its width, but the inner tread shoulder is being worn off at an angle (which doesn't seem even feasible for camber issues...too great of an angle). And its all four tires doing this....hence my confusion. Thanks for all the responses. I'll try to get the car on an alignment rack hopefully next week and then post the verdict here. (the local Firestone refused to touch the car because they didn't have the weights to load it up for alignment. Hopefully the local indie can do it properly)

[mamilapon]

Hello everyone,

I've just noticed that all of my tires show a strange wear pattern that I haven't seen before. As you can see in the pictures below, the thread shoulder on the inner side of the tire is worn at an angle uniformly around the circumference. The thread depth doesn't appear to change over the width of the tire. The tires have about 3000 miles on them and are Yokohama YK520 tires on regular E34 basketweaves. Since all of the tires show this kind of wear, is it an alignment issue? This wear would normally be seen with excessive toe-out or excessive camber. The car is not lowered, so camber doesn't seem to be an option. The Owner's Manual mentions that tires shouldn't be rotated front to back due to the unique wear pattern. Am I observing the regular wear pattern then?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Pictures:
http://zakm.hotbox.ru/BMW/IMG_0514.jpg
http://zakm.hotbox.ru/BMW/IMG_0515.jpg

Edit: I have not observed any pulling while driving. On a smooth level road the car will continue traveling straight with hands off of the wheel.
Hey! Dont' walk around your car with a magnifying glass, you'll go crazy!!! lol

[Rus]

Hey! Dont' walk around your car with a magnifying glass, you'll go crazy!!! lol

Where I come from, what I do is considered normal :D And I've fixed most every thing that really pushed my buttons so now I'm being anal with things that are probably not out of line.

[bsell]

Pressures: 32psi - front, 35psi - rear
Checked on a weekly basis. What really confuses me is the identical wear pattern on all of the tires, regardless of front or rear. Perhaps the tire design encourages this? The tires are asymmetrical.

Still waiting on the local indie to get back to me with his alignment price and scheduling.

P.S.: Just as clarification, the picture posted by Dan is NOT any one of my tires, but an example of a severe problem.

Have you checked for contact with the strut or some other suspension piece? The angle of the 'cut' looks to be around 45 degrees and is highly unlikely to be caused by contact with the road. You did say these were new tires, right...

Brian

[632 Regal]

our cars wear the inside rear and outside fronts. Keep an eye on them every once in a while so the rears dont go wayside too early. I rotate mine front to rear and the tires last twice as long.

[Paul in NZ]

My car has the mtech suspension and "sport setting".My fronts wear the outside and rears wear inside.By the time my fronts had worn out they looked similar to the other picture that was posted.the outside had gone completely.If the rears wear out they look similar,but with the inside worn out.

[Rus]

Have you checked for contact with the strut or some other suspension piece? The angle of the 'cut' looks to be around 45 degrees and is highly unlikely to be caused by contact with the road. You did say these were new tires, right...

Brian

Yes, the tires are new, in the correct OEM size for the 15" basketweaves. I've just checked and there doesn't appear to be any contact between the tire and struts/suspension components anywhere. I took a drive through some dusty gravel today and after driving a bit over pavement, the contact area of the tires appear normal (looking at the area where dust was missing). What's also notable is the fact that the "cut" section of the tires doesn't show much evidence of road contact. I'm still trying to get a hold of my local indie to do a check up.

[Rus]

My car has the mtech suspension and "sport setting".My fronts wear the outside and rears wear inside.By the time my fronts had worn out they looked similar to the other picture that was posted.the outside had gone completely.If the rears wear out they look similar,but with the inside worn out.

I'm familiar with this too as my old tires featured the outside wear on the front. What I'm seeing on my tires is knit-picking compared to the pictures shown, but still a bit bizarre to me.

[Paul in NZ]

My front tyres looked fine for most of their life,it was the last 10000 km(6000 miles) that they started to exhibit the extreme wear to the outside edge