[sadams930]

Has anybody else had issues with their Michelin Star Spec PS4S front tires cording on the inner edge way before the tire tread has worn down? I just looked at my fronts and this is the second time I've had them corded on the inside edge of both fronts at less than 5k miles.

Now I'm very hard on the car, I just got back from Tail of the Dragon and put about 3k miles of canyon carving on the car in the past couple weeks. So I don't expect the tires to last over 10-15k miles, but there's still over 6/32nds of tread on the fronts and they are corded and ruined.

My last set of fronts had the same issue. They were down to 4-5/32nds but were corded in the front. My rears wear evenly, at about double the rate of the fronts. They were replaced at the same time as the fronts and they have about 4/32nds left currently, but are wearing nice and even so I can get a couple thousand more miles out of them.

I've got no problem replacing the rears twice as often as the fronts, but I am getting tired of swapping a full set of tires every few months because the fronts can't wear evenly.

I am on stock suspension, so camber up front is locked in at 1.6. Back in June when I had to replace these tires the first time, I had them do the alignment to 0 toe up front just to help them wear less on the inside. So at 0 toe in and 1.6 camber I'm still shredding the inside edge. I could understand if the outside edge was getting ripped up from not enough camber from the factory and hard driving, but the inner edge? I feel like having to add camber plates to take camber OUT of the car is ridiculous and won't perform well.

I'm just trying to see if anybody else has had this issue, and what possibly solutions there are to it.

Thanks!

[SwankPeRFection]

This is usually an alignment issue with toe or if you had a problem with control arms that was throwing your alignment off due to bushing wear. Post your alignment sheet if you have it so we can see what it’s set to.

[Needsdecaf]

Originally Posted by SwankPeRFection

This is usually an alignment issue with toe or if you had a problem with control arms that was throwing your alignment off due to bushing wear. Post your alignment sheet if you have it so we can see what it’s set to.

This. It's not from camber. It's from excessive toe, IIRC. I had this issue on my 2017 GTi. Delivered from the factory out of alignment. Wore through the inner edge of both fronts in 10k miles. Down to the cords.

You should not have any issues with (I'm assuming negative, you didn't post) 1.6 degrees of camber.

[Hit_Apex]

Sounds like toe - do you have any graining or feathering?. What pressure do you normally run?

[sadams930]

Originally Posted by SwankPeRFection

This is usually an alignment issue with toe or if you had a problem with control arms that was throwing your alignment off due to bushing wear. Post your alignment sheet if you have it so we can see what it’s set to.

I don't have the alignment sheet handy, but I gave them the specs and they matched them.

Front camber not adjustable (I think it was 1.6ish)
Front toe 0.00 both sides
Caster OEM

Rear camber -1.5 each side
Rear toe -0.05 each side
Thrust angle 0.00

It was set dead on when these tires were mounted and road force balanced at the end of June. The previous alignment wasn't out of whack either when it went up on the rack, but it still chewed the inner edge of both front down to the cords. It was around -.06 toe per side in the front on the previous alignment.

I know the tail of the dragon and those tight and twisty mountain roads are hard on tires, and I don't expect them to last forever. But I don't see how that type of driving would chew up the insides before the outsides. And I don't know what the solution would be other than buying a $2,000 set of tires every 3-5k miles.

[sadams930]

Originally Posted by Hit_Apex

Sounds like toe - do you have any graining or feathering?. What pressure do you normally run?

Here's a picture of the cording and tire wear. Other side looks exactly the same. Pressures were checked the day before the trip and were set to 32 front 35 rear as specified by BMW. They got up to about 38 front and 40 rear on hard runs through the dragon. But mostly sat in the mid 30s most of the time.

[SwankPeRFection]

What’s the BMW spec for the tow up front? Honestly, without the sheet, it’s hard to see where they put it. Sometimes 0 toe isn’t all that good either. Geometry changes a lot during the full swing of the steering, so that also plays a part. All that said, 32 is a bit low for aggressive driving. You sure you’re not just squishing/riding onto the inner sidewall as you’re turning in? Michelins aren’t known for their robust sidewalls and the stupid low pressure the stickers on these cars tell you to run them isn’t a good thing for a car as heavy as this. It’s weird to be getting that cording there with not very much wear on the inner treads. I’d start looking at the pressures up front and the aggressive driving with turns you’re making.

[sadams930]

Originally Posted by SwankPeRFection

What’s the BMW spec for the tow up front? Honestly, without the sheet, it’s hard to see where they put it. Sometimes 0 toe isn’t all that good either. Geometry changes a lot during the full swing of the steering, so that also plays a part. All that said, 32 is a bit low for aggressive driving. You sure you’re not just squishing/riding onto the inner sidewall as you’re turning in? Michelins aren’t known for their robust sidewalls and the stupid low pressure the stickers on these cars tell you to run them isn’t a good thing for a car as heavy as this. It’s weird to be getting that cording there with not very much wear on the inner treads. I’d start looking at the pressures up front and the aggressive driving with turns you’re making.

The sheet says the same thing I just did. Toe up front was set to dead 0.00 on both front wheels. Before the alignment it was 0.05-0.06 toe in per side. I'm a weirdo with my alignment specs, I make them hit it on the nose before I take it back from them. Some shops hate that, as they just want to bang out toe and go alignments every ten minutes for $100+ a pop. But I've found a couple shops that love the details and want to dial in suspensions. So the specs listed on the sheet were exactly what I listed above.

And I agree on the psi recommendations, and even BMW states in the vehicle that higher speed driving needs higher pressures. But even if I was getting a lot of rolling over of the sidewall, that would wear out the outer edge before the inner edge.

The whole thing is just not making sense and I didn't know if this was something common with our vehicles if they are driven mostly hard back country miles and not highway queens.

[BroDoze]

5k miles is surprising. Considering many of us can toast a set of tires in a single track day though…
When you say you’re driving hard, it sounds like you are.
Holy crap I hope I’m not going to be buying new tires every 5K mi.

[SwankPeRFection]

Originally Posted by sadams930

And I agree on the psi recommendations, and even BMW states in the vehicle that higher speed driving needs higher pressures. But even if I was getting a lot of rolling over of the sidewall, that would wear out the outer edge before the inner edge.

I didn’t say you’d get “rollover wear” on the outside. When you turn left, the wheels angles change so the left wheel goes positive camber and the right wheel goes even more negative comber, which means the inner sidewall and edge on the right wheel will wear even more if you’re not going fast enough to shift weight to get the patch of the tire flatter on the ground. Add to that Ackermann angle that changes toe alignment and without sufficient pressure or even proper toe, you’ll scrub that inner edge fast and in no time. Like I said, either what you’re running isn’t correct or your pressures are too low and you’re not driving as aggressively as you think you are to flatten out the patch. The poster above me brought up the point of where you should be seeing the wear line… look for that. If it’s high up the tire (closer to the wheel) then you’re too low on pressures. Putting this amount of wear in 5k miles is not possible without some kind of messed up suspension issue or other problem. The rest of your tread is fine, which means you’re doing something to aggravate the wear on that inner edge. I’d start with higher pressures if you’re running stupid low ones. Low pressure are for comfort and straight line driving… higher pressures are required when driving with lots of turns because with turns, the outer edges of the tires (both inner and outer) are prone to wearing more in those situations.