View Full Version : An ugly tire suprize. Can this be true?
karen1122
07-12-2007, 06:00 AM
Cobradav, I would appreciate your opinions.
I took my car in for what should have been a straightforward state inspection and was told that the rear tire on the driver’s side was worn so unevenly that it must be replaced. (OEM Bridgestone RFs) I looked at the tire and it was worn down to the core on the inside edge. The remaining sections of the tire had a lot of life left in them.
The shop indicated that there could only be two causes.
1) The tire was run flat for an extended period of time. Here the weight would shift to the inside of the tire. This has not happened in my case.
2) The alignment is way out of wack and is the cause. The shop will run an alignment today and advise me of the adjustments they have made.
This seems very strange to me and I am concerned that the wheel could be damaged. What are your thoughts?
Misalignment of a rear is rare but can happen. Most likely is that the tire was run flat for a long period. Unfortunately, you've now got to check alignment as well as camber on the rear before mounting the new tire. The cost of checking is about the same as the cost of correcting.
It's actually quite complicated, in one sense, about how everything works together. Here is a good explanation. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/ ... p?techid=4 (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=4)
Let us know.
chuck92103
07-12-2007, 08:15 AM
CobraDav,
How many miles did you get out of your first set of RF's?
How many miles before the rear showed issues?
Maybe you hit a pot hole and threw the alignment out enough?
commencer
07-12-2007, 08:19 AM
CobraDav,
How many miles did you get out of your first set of RF's?
How many miles before the rear showed issues?
Maybe you hit a pot hole and threw the alignment out enough?
:stupid:
It is probably allignment. It has happened to me before in other cars.
I hate pot holes!!! :pissed2:
cobradav
07-12-2007, 02:46 PM
CobraDav,
How many miles did you get out of your first set of RF's?
How many miles before the rear showed issues?
Maybe you hit a pot hole and threw the alignment out enough?
Both rears wore NEARLY evenly just to the wear bars at 30k miles. I say nearly as we do run 2 degree negative camber as far as I remember without my notes at hand so we should wear just a little uneven. Alignment had been checked at 5k miles due to some self-inflicted damage causing repairs. I esily had 5k miles left on fronts but chose to change all at the same time. It is recomended that BMW only do the 4 wheel alignment with their specific equipment for our cars. I know some who have not, however, and not had issues that I am aware of.
I had my wheel alignment checked at the start of the year, after about one year's of driving. They were still 100% correct, and according to the BMW technician, these remain correct unless you hit a pole or whack it out hard.
karen1122
07-16-2007, 05:27 AM
Well, I found out that the problem was indeed the alignment. The camber was 1/2 degree off and caused the inside edge to wear.
An expensive lesson learned! With the body construction it is very hard to see the wear patterns on the rear tires without getting on your hands and knees, however, I will be doing this from now on. I guess it can be considered praying to the BWM alignment gods.
cobradav
07-16-2007, 05:50 AM
Well, I found out that the problem was indeed the alignment. The camber was 1/2 degree off and caused the inside edge to wear.
An expensive lesson learned! With the body construction it is very hard to see the wear patterns on the rear tires without getting on your hands and knees, however, I will be doing this from now on. I guess it can be considered praying to the BWM alignment gods.
Only 1/2 degree. :-o Wow, must have been in same direction as the already pretty steep - 2 degree we have as stock setup.
Well, I found out that the problem was indeed the alignment. The camber was 1/2 degree off and caused the inside edge to wear.
An expensive lesson learned! With the body construction it is very hard to see the wear patterns on the rear tires without getting on your hands and knees, however, I will be doing this from now on. I guess it can be considered praying to the BWM alignment gods.
Do you recall or guess what might have caused this misalignment? The alignment doesn't get off normally unless you hit something. Any ideas?
karen1122
07-17-2007, 05:13 AM
Well, I found out that the problem was indeed the alignment. The camber was 1/2 degree off and caused the inside edge to wear.
An expensive lesson learned! With the body construction it is very hard to see the wear patterns on the rear tires without getting on your hands and knees, however, I will be doing this from now on. I guess it can be considered praying to the BWM alignment gods.
Do you recall or guess what might have caused this misalignment? The alignment doesn't get off normally unless you hit something. Any ideas?
I really do not remember hitting anything hard, so this one is a mystery to me. For only being out 1/2 degree, it must have been quite some time where the alignment was off. I will be checking the tire wear on a regular basis from now on.