camy

iTrader: (2)

I have a real bizzare contact patch on my rear tires. Really, these tires were on the front for about 15k miles and have only been on the rear for about 1500 mi.

The car is a '99 Formula, completely stock, with 76k miles.

The tires are wearing normal, as the previous tires have.
Here are the pics:

Driver's Side
P***enger's Side

Anybody have any ideas as to what would cause this?

VIP1

overinflation?

trackbird

iTrader: (4)

Are those Yokohama ES100's? (I think that is the new tire model number). There have been issues with the new Yokohamas on a few other boards about uneven wear. If those are the same tires, it appears to be something with the tire.

camy

iTrader: (2)

It's definately not an inflation problem. If I wash away the dust, the tread wear looks even across the entire tire.

These tires are Bridgestone RE-730's.

4mula1

The only time I got feathering like that was from not rotating the tires.

If you left them on the front for 15k that was too long.
My experience with tire wear like that is it's set, and will continue to wear that way.

VIP1

What preassure do you inflate them?

ta12sec

iTrader: (3)

Id say your shocks are toast, that will feather a tire real quick, of corse so will tire hop

WEASEL

It's called cupping or scalloping and it makes since that they were on the front. That's usually where you see it happen. I'd get them rebalanced first but it could be a sign of worn shocks or worn steering components.

camy

iTrader: (2)

I run the tire pressures 32 up front and 28 in rear. This is what I've gotten the best wear with.

I thought it would be shocks, but I wanted to hear it from someone else.

Thanks

VIP1

32 & 28 psi?

I run 31.5psi all the way around on the stock 245-50-16 Goodyear Eagle GS-C tires.

todds87ss

Definately an alignment issue (struts,tie rod, some other worn component) due to worn parts. Seen this exact pattern before due to bad end link.
HTH
Todd

camy

iTrader: (2)

Yep, the rear tires tend to wear in the center and the fronts on the edges. Hence the 5psi difference. I guess a normal tire rotation would take care of it, but I'm too lazy for that.

Todd, I'll check the steering/suspension components when I replace the shocks/struts.

The weird thing is that the tires are not wearing badly, visibly. If it weren't for the dust on the tires, I'd never have noticed.

When I originally posted this, I had intentionally left out some information. Here is the long, full story.
When these tires were put on, I had an alignment. About 5k miles later, I drove the car (this is my wife's car) and noticed a noise from the front which I took as tire noise. I asked my wife about it and she said she never noticed it and it didn't bother her. I checked the hubs and they were tight. I also kept a close eye for abnormal tire wear. I did try to get the tire shop to look at it, but because the tires were mail ordered and it was over 6 mo since the alignment, they wanted to charge me a good bit of $$$ and I declined.

Well, at 15k miles, I'm starting to drive the car more than her and the noise drove me crazy on just one trip to/from work. I rotated the tires and the noise quieted down considerably, but didn't go away. Now, 1500 mi. later, it's back and as annoying as ever. This tells me it's not a tire balance problem and has something to do with alignment or suspension/hub/steering. I ruled out an alignment problem due to the wear on both the inside and outside of tire. I'd have to have some real sloppy tie rods for this to happen and I don't believe they are. Again, I checked the hubs and they are real tight.

So, I've purchaced shocks/struts and will try that now.

VIP1

My tires are directional so i can only rotate them front to rear, but I do it every spring when I put them on the car (I have a different set of tires for the winter).

Depending on your mileage, that could be the cause and should clear up your problems. You should also notice an improvement in handling.