Outside Edge Wear On Tyres

[chenks]

just replaced my front 2 tyres (original michelin pilot's) due to uneven wear on the outer edges.

almost slick on the outside edge. more wear going inwards but not as bad as the outside.

got the tracking checked and it didn't need adjusted. tyre place said it was just down to the power steering and FWD combination.

does this sound about right ?

[ae102]

just replaced my front 2 tyres (original michelin pilot's) due to uneven wear on the outer edges.

almost slick on the outside edge. more wear going inwards but not as bad as the outside.

got the tracking checked and it didn't need adjusted. tyre place said it was just down to the power steering and FWD combination.

does this sound about right ?

nothing to do with power steering but normal for edge to wear first - fast cornering does that!

[chenks]

i would agree if this was normal wear.. but this was very excessive wear. enough for the toyota garage to advise me to get the tracking checked when it was in for service last week.

[ae102]

i would agree if this was normal wear.. but this was very excessive wear. enough for the toyota garage to advise me to get the tracking checked when it was in for service last week.

if the tracking is fine it is down to driving style - i trust you check your tyre pressures regulary?

[chenks]

i don't race the car, and i don't screech round corners.

i drive quite conservatively really.

i don't regularly check the pressures, but it wasn't flagged up as a possible reason during the service.

[ae102]

i don't race the car, and i don't screech round corners.

i drive quite conservatively really.

i don't regularly check the pressures, but it wasn't flagged up as a possible reason during the service.

if you dont go quick around corners and your tracking is ok then you must be driving with under-inflated tyres - only other explanation.

[cfc1]

Power steering DOES affect tyre wear... you will find that (in the UK) the N/S/F tyre wears out quicker than the O/S/F tyre, the reason for this is that due to roundabouts we turn right more often than we turn left, this inturn causes most of the weight to get transfered to the N/S causing the outer edge to wear down slightly quicker than on the O/S.

As a tyre fitter I see it every day of the week.. I see heavier wear on tyres from people who live in a local town that has more roundabouts than it needs than I see on cars where people live in a town which is more "normal".

Driving style can also have a big say in this too... mini roundabouts are very easy just nip through without slowing as much as you would need to in a car without power steering. Slowing down a little while cornering can do a lot to preserve the life of a tyre.

Tracking/alignment obviously affect it as do tyre pressures (to soft and both edges wear out.. again N/S quicker)

To avoid it you really need to rotate your tyres diagonally from corner to corner.. or if you have directional/rotational tyres, swapping from back to front.. on a regular basis.

[DaveSR]

Mine does/did the same ..... worked out it was because I have to do a u-turn at the bottom of my street every day.

Now I take it real slow and the problem has seemed to slow down alot

[cfc1]

Do your U turns the opposite way (if possible) every other day to balance out the wear... Taxi's have the same issue pulling in and out of their Rank.

[ae102]

Power steering DOES affect tyre wear... you will find that (in the UK) the N/S/F tyre wears out quicker than the O/S/F tyre, the reason for this is that due to roundabouts we turn right more often than we turn left, this inturn causes most of the weight to get transfered to the N/S causing the outer edge to wear down slightly quicker than on the O/S.

As a tyre fitter I see it every day of the week.. I see heavier wear on tyres from people who live in a local town that has more roundabouts than it needs than I see on cars where people live in a town which is more "normal".

Driving style can also have a big say in this too... mini roundabouts are very easy just nip through without slowing as much as you would need to in a car without power steering. Slowing down a little while cornering can do a lot to preserve the life of a tyre.

Tracking/alignment obviously affect it as do tyre pressures (to soft and both edges wear out.. again N/S quicker)

To avoid it you really need to rotate your tyres diagonally from corner to corner.. or if you have directional/rotational tyres, swapping from back to front.. on a regular basis.

disagree with your comment on power steering - t sport has power sensitive ps but it never really goes off - my gxi had the same but over 10mph the ps would be off - lack of ps gives you more feel and confidence to go faster around corners - ps is no good for cornering. the roundabout comment doesnt hold water neither - i have 2 cars driven in different styles, the car i drive to work (lots of roundabouts) i drive slowly and have never scrubbed the egdes of the tyres. i have scrubbed the egdes on my t sport though - obvious reasons. you shouldnt rotate tyres neither - always have the tyre with the most tread on the back!! i have experienced similar problems with scrubbing edges and it is down to driving style but i cant say my edges wore down significantly faster. try getting tyres with a stiffer sidewall to stop the tyre flexing so easy - Bridgestone potenza so3

[chenks]

disagree with your comment on power steering - t sport has power sensitive ps but it never really goes off - my gxi had the same but over 10mph the ps would be off - lack of ps gives you more feel and confidence to go faster around corners - ps is no good for cornering. the roundabout comment doesnt hold water neither - i have 2 cars driven in different styles, the car i drive to work (lots of roundabouts) i drive slowly and have never scrubbed the egdes of the tyres. i have scrubbed the egdes on my t sport though - obvious reasons. you shouldnt rotate tyres neither - always have the tyre with the most tread on the back!! i have experienced similar problems with scrubbing edges and it is down to driving style but i cant say my edges wore down significantly faster. try getting tyres with a stiffer sidewall to stop the tyre flexing so easy - bridgestone potenza so3

what is your job may i ask ? the reason i ask it that you say a professional tyre fitter is wrong ? surely he would know a bit more about tire wear than someone who doesn't fit tyres by trade ?

[ae102]

disagree with your comment on power steering - t sport has power sensitive ps but it never really goes off - my gxi had the same but over 10mph the ps would be off - lack of ps gives you more feel and confidence to go faster around corners - ps is no good for cornering. the roundabout comment doesnt hold water neither - i have 2 cars driven in different styles, the car i drive to work (lots of roundabouts) i drive slowly and have never scrubbed the egdes of the tyres. i have scrubbed the egdes on my t sport though - obvious reasons. you shouldnt rotate tyres neither - always have the tyre with the most tread on the back!! i have experienced similar problems with scrubbing edges and it is down to driving style but i cant say my edges wore down significantly faster. try getting tyres with a stiffer sidewall to stop the tyre flexing so easy - bridgestone potenza so3

what is your job may i ask ? the reason i ask it that you say a professional tyre fitter is wrong ? surely he would know a bit more about tire wear than someone who doesn't fit tyres by trade ?

if someone fits tyres they are experts? i'm a class 1 driver so does that make me an expert driver - i dont think so! people offer advice through personnel experience and ways they have overcome them - if i see something i disagree with i will say so - i'm not being argumentative just his response differs from my personnel experience. you choose what advice you take and see what works for you.

[cfc1]

The advice I have given comes from experience as a tyre fitter of 20 years, I speak to lots of different people from professional drivers to learner drivers of all ages. My comments on roundabouts comes from speaking to professional drivers (Taxi's mostly) and their experiences in driving in certain places. I personally feel that power steering does affect the wear on the tyres, however it would be very true to say that it depends on your driving style... which is why I gave the example of mini roundabouts being too easy to just nip through.... some drivers will slow down to a more reasonable speed and in these cases it won't affect the tyres in the same way, as will also be the case with Power/Speed sensitive power steering.

We fit tyres to over 50 cars every day of the week.. my experience in doing this gives me a good idea of which cars go through tyres quicker and in what way certain cars wear the tyres, from what I have seen over the years I have to say power steering does affect tyre wear but of course driving style will play a large part in this too.

It is true to say that it is now advised that tyres with the deepest tread be put on the rear axle, this is because research in car accidents has found the more high speed accidents are made worse/caused by the back end stepping out and spinning the car, but you will find that in the years to come we will all be advised to put deeper tyres on the front as research (if we all followed the earlier advice) would show more accidents are made worse/caused by having poorer tyres on the front, it's a bit like swings and roundabouts TBH. (This research was carried out by Michelin)

Rotating tyres is what the tyre trade industry advises to prolong the life of your tyres.. FACT.. it is, of course, up to the individual if they do this or follow the advice on where the deeper tyres should be.

Putting on tyres with a stiffer sidewall to stop the flexing so much can and does (in some cases) create other problems in some cars, this is where the Load Index of the tyre comes into play (load index in red for illustration.. 205/40x17 91 Z) The load index is there to show you the maximum weight that the tyre can carry.. multiply it by 4 and you get the total fully laden weight that the car will safely take. Fitting a higher load rated tyre will give you a stiffer sidewall and stop the tyre flexing as much, **but the suspension on some cars are tuned to go with specific tyres , changing the tyre specification from what the manufacturer advices could cause the handling characteristics of the car to change, sometimes for the better sometimes for the worst.. again this will depend on the individuals driving style.

**I will use an extreme example here.. take runflat tyres, there is absolutely no flex at all worth speaking of, the ride comfort of the car would suffer badly, to compensate for this some car manufacturers fit slightly softer suspension, changing the tyres can have a detrimental affect on things.

At the end of the day we all give the best advice we can based on our experience in any given field, others a free to use the advice any way they wish, It is also good (sometimes) to get other peoples opinions too as this can lead to points being expanded upon and things clarified.. as in what has happened here with the "driving style" coming more into play as this certainly plays a huge part in the wear of ANY tyre.

Finally.. I wouldn't call myself an expert, OK I have been fitting tyres for 20 years, but during that time and for years to come, new technology always comes to the forefront and we, as tyre fitters are constantly learning new things... pretty much the same as mechanics are constantly learning (look at how engines have changed in the last 20 years ;))

[ae102]

The advice I have given comes from experience as a tyre fitter of 20 years, I speak to lots of different people from professional drivers to learner drivers of all ages. My comments on roundabouts comes from speaking to professional drivers (Taxi's mostly) and their experiences in driving in certain places. I personally feel that power steering does affect the wear on the tyres, however it would be very true to say that it depends on your driving style... which is why I gave the example of mini roundabouts being too easy to just nip through.... some drivers will slow down to a more reasonable speed and in these cases it won't affect the tyres in the same way, as will also be the case with Power/Speed sensitive power steering.

We fit tyres to over 50 cars every day of the week.. my experience in doing this gives me a good idea of which cars go through tyres quicker and in what way certain cars wear the tyres, from what I have seen over the years I have to say power steering does affect tyre wear but of course driving style will play a large part in this too.

It is true to say that it is now advised that tyres with the deepest tread be put on the rear axle, this is because research in car accidents has found the more high speed accidents are made worse/caused by the back end stepping out and spinning the car, but you will find that in the years to come we will all be advised to put deeper tyres on the front as research (if we all followed the earlier advice) would show more accidents are made worse/caused by having poorer tyres on the front, it's a bit like swings and roundabouts TBH. (This research was carried out by Michelin)

Rotating tyres is what the tyre trade industry advises to prolong the life of your tyres.. FACT.. it is, of course, up to the individual if they do this or follow the advice on where the deeper tyres should be.

Putting on tyres with a stiffer sidewall to stop the flexing so much can and does (in some cases) create other problems in some cars, this is where the Load Index of the tyre comes into play (load index in red for illustration.. 205/40x17 91 Z) The load index is there to show you the maximum weight that the tyre can carry.. multiply it by 4 and you get the total fully laden weight that the car will safely take. Fitting a higher load rated tyre will give you a stiffer sidewall and stop the tyre flexing as much, **but the suspension on some cars are tuned to go with specific tyres , changing the tyre specification from what the manufacturer advices could cause the handling characteristics of the car to change, sometimes for the better sometimes for the worst.. again this will depend on the individuals driving style.

**I will use an extreme example here.. take runflat tyres, there is absolutely no flex at all worth speaking of, the ride comfort of the car would suffer badly, to compensate for this some car manufacturers fit slightly softer suspension, changing the tyres can have a detrimental affect on things.

At the end of the day we all give the best advice we can based on our experience in any given field, others a free to use the advice any way they wish, It is also good (sometimes) to get other peoples opinions too as this can lead to points being expanded upon and things clarified.. as in what has happened here with the "driving style" coming more into play as this certainly plays a huge part in the wear of ANY tyre.

Finally.. I wouldn't call myself an expert, OK I have been fitting tyres for 20 years, but during that time and for years to come, new technology always comes to the forefront and we, as tyre fitters are constantly learning new things... pretty much the same as mechanics are constantly learning (look at how engines have changed in the last 20 years ;))

interesting. i do agree with you but i think driving style plays the biggest part here - especially if we use taxis as an example! i wouldnt recommend stiff wall tyres on a car with a stiff set up but the t sport isnt stiff and i found the stiff sidewalls very benefial on the t sport. out of interest what tyres do you rate?

[cfc1]

What tyres do I rate??

Well.. obviously I can only go on what I have had experience useing, currently I'm running Toyo T1-r on my MR2 and I find them very good in both wet and dry conditions, in the past I've had Yokohama on the MR2 and found them equally as good for grip but lacking slightly in the longevity stakes.

On other cars I've had I've used Goodyear , Continental, Pirelli and Bridgestone all of which I have found to be descent tyres, as far as a more budget priced tyres go I found that Kumho 711 and Kumho KU31 to a good value for money tyre.

Don't mistake what I rate as what I would recommend to others, (although if pushed I would certainly go with either of the above) recommending tyres to other people is difficult as each individual has their own specific requirements and what is good on one car may not be good on another... even cars of the same make and model.

[chenks]

i've just put Toyo T1-R's on my t-sport.