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I`ve been struggling recently with uneven tire wear, with the outside of the front tires wearing much faster than the inside. Its happening on both sides, but noticably worse on the drivers side.
Not sure if this is the best forum for the question, but the car is used on the track and already has an aggressive alignment.
The details:
I installed coil overs about two years ago, and took it to a BMW race shop to get an alignment. They corner balanced the car and did a string alignment: Max caster, -2.6 degrees front camber, zero front toe, -2degrees rear camber, tiny bit of rear toe in.
A month ago I was chasing an ABS problem and replaced my tires as part of that trouble shooting effort. I noticed this inside wear on the last set of tires, and asked my local tire shop to check the alignment. I gave them the specs from my previous alignment and asked they increase front camber to -3 degrees. They said that when they put it on the rack, what they measured was NOT what was on the printout, but they didn't explain further. Maybe the BMW shop didn't do what they said, or maybe something had shifted in the two years between alignments. Regardless, they said they gave the the alignment that I wanted.
I`ve done 4 HPDE events on the new tires. 1 at Palmer (cold and wet), 1 at Club Motorsports (sunny and 70), and this past weekend I did 2 at Watkins Glen (sunny and 75).
The tires (pics below):
The outside of the drivers front is totally bald. The inside still has plenty of tread left. Its similar on the drivers rear.
I think that some of the uneven driver/passenger wear is because Club Moto and Watkins are all clockwise direction and will be harder on the driver side tires, but based on the driver side front, there's clearly some other problem.
The setup:
Not sure what's relevant here, so some general details on the car:
- 2004/AP2
- AO52 tires, 4 track events, maybe 1000 street miles (to and from the tracks). I try to have them around 33 psi in the pits, after a cool down lap. That means starting a session around 28psi (1 month old). I’ve heard that ao52s don’t love heat, but I ran these as hard as I could for full sessions.
- APR 200 wing on the back (1 year old)
- Ohlin DFV 12/10 (2 years old). Run on track at 3 clicks off stiff
- Poly bushings in all location (2 years old)
- Karcepts 1/4" FSB, run on a middle setting (5 years old)
- Adjust upper ball joints (5 years old) (if these slipped I`d gain a TON of negative camber, I don't think this is the problem).
I`ve tracking this car for 10 years, and the previous set of tires if the first time I observed the wear pattern. Based on that, I don't think its the Karcepts of the upper joints.
Next Steps:
I have an appointment with my local shop that did the last alignment. I asked them to put it back on the rack and measure things to see if it still matches want they did last time, or to see if anything is slipped.
I`m planning on checking all the suspension bolts to make sure nothing is loose. Also planning on checking subframe bolts.
I`m not entirely sure after that. With -3 camber in the front, I don't think this is the issue or the solution. I also can't figure out what could be wrong mechanically that would create these wear patterns.
Has anybody seen this before? Any thoughts on what could be causing this?
Drivers Front (the worst of the them):
Passenger Front (looks OK to me...)
Driver rear (excess wear on the outside, like the drivers front. Maybe from the clockwise tracks?)
It would seem it's the track, rather than the car. But consulting with your fellow track mates there would be a good idea to help confirm that, and if so, how are they addressing it, or are they bothering to. The Pass side tires show good consistent wear front to back. Maybe consider swapping the wheels form pass to driver to extend the life.
Last edited by s2000Junky; 07-05-2024 at 08:26 AM.
I`ve been struggling recently with uneven tire wear, with the outside of the front tires wearing much faster than the inside. Its happening on both sides, but noticably worse on the drivers side.
Not sure if this is the best forum for the question, but the car is used on the track and already has an aggressive alignment.
The details:
I installed coil overs about two years ago, and took it to a BMW race shop to get an alignment. They corner balanced the car and did a string alignment: Max caster, -2.6 degrees front camber, zero front toe, -2degrees rear camber, tiny bit of rear toe in.
A month ago I was chasing an ABS problem and replaced my tires as part of that trouble shooting effort. I noticed this inside wear on the last set of tires, and asked my local tire shop to check the alignment. I gave them the specs from my previous alignment and asked they increase front camber to -3 degrees. They said that when they put it on the rack, what they measured was NOT what was on the printout, but they didn't explain further. Maybe the BMW shop didn't do what they said, or maybe something had shifted in the two years between alignments. Regardless, they said they gave the the alignment that I wanted.
I`ve done 4 HPDE events on the new tires. 1 at Palmer (cold and wet), 1 at Club Motorsports (sunny and 70), and this past weekend I did 2 at Watkins Glen (sunny and 75).
The tires (pics below):
The outside of the drivers front is totally bald. The inside still has plenty of tread left. Its similar on the drivers rear.
I think that some of the uneven driver/passenger wear is because Club Moto and Watkins are all clockwise direction and will be harder on the driver side tires, but based on the driver side front, there's clearly some other problem.
The setup:
Not sure what's relevant here, so some general details on the car:
- 2004/AP2
- AO52 tires, 4 track events, maybe 1000 street miles (to and from the tracks). I try to have them around 33 psi in the pits, after a cool down lap. That means starting a session around 28psi (1 month old). I’ve heard that ao52s don’t love heat, but I ran these as hard as I could for full sessions.
- APR 200 wing on the back (1 year old)
- Ohlin DFV 12/10 (2 years old). Run on track at 3 clicks off stiff
- Poly bushings in all location (2 years old)
- Karcepts 1/4" FSB, run on a middle setting (5 years old)
- Adjust upper ball joints (5 years old) (if these slipped I`d gain a TON of negative camber, I don't think this is the problem).
I`ve tracking this car for 10 years, and the previous set of tires if the first time I observed the wear pattern. Based on that, I don't think its the Karcepts of the upper joints.
Next Steps:
I have an appointment with my local shop that did the last alignment. I asked them to put it back on the rack and measure things to see if it still matches want they did last time, or to see if anything is slipped.
I`m planning on checking all the suspension bolts to make sure nothing is loose. Also planning on checking subframe bolts.
I`m not entirely sure after that. With -3 camber in the front, I don't think this is the issue or the solution. I also can't figure out what could be wrong mechanically that would create these wear patterns.
Has anybody seen this before? Any thoughts on what could be causing this?
Drivers Front (the worst of the them):
Passenger Front (looks OK to me...)
Driver rear (excess wear on the outside, like the drivers front. Maybe from the clockwise tracks?)
Passenger Rear (looks OK to me)
Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated!
Good luck trying to find the problem. Interested in the solution.
Might want to clean your camera lens before taking pics in the future.
It would seem it's the track, rather than the car. But consulting with your fellow track mates there would be a good idea to help confirm that, and if so, how are they addressing it, or are they bothering to. The Pass side tires show good consistent wear front to back. Maybe consider swapping the wheels form pass to driver to extend the life.
yea, the differences between left side and right side could definitely be the track, but if you look at the drivers front there’s a huge difference between the inside edge (where I’d expect camber wear) and the outside edge, where all my wear is occuring. Think that’s track related and not alignment related or indicative of a problem? I haven’t found other instances here or in other forums of outside edge wear.
07-04-2024, 08:16 AM
Uneven Tire Wear
