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[carve]

Hi all. My 335i handles great, but the outside block of tread on the front tires is wearing WAY faster than the rest of the tire. It could be the prior owner had them underinflated, although that'd be hard with the TPMS bitchin' at you. I would say it need more negative camber, but feel is great, and I hear you have to drill out pins or something to dial in more negative camber.

Ideas?

[AlanAZ]

Get a wheel alignment (computerized), then you'll know. Also, I don't believe camber is normally adjustable on the front, only the back. Have the springs been changed? You'd want to do an alignment after that, perhaps that was skipped.

[pilotincommand]

I have a similar problem on my '07 335i. The outer edge is toast but not even close to the tread wear indicators in the center of the tire.

I assumed it was due to BMW's habit of dialing in more toe-in, but am starting to wonder if they turned the dial up too much on mine.

Apologies for the mediocre picture quality.

[Jeller]

Mine are the same way. I have never really worn a set of tires like this before. I have had the car aligned earlier this year too by BMW.
Tire pressures are always in spec. Other friends are noticing this too along with cupping to the outside tread blocks.
center of the tire has decent life left, but the outside tread blocks are almost smoked, what gives?

Should the car have more camber actually or is it the toe?

Jeller

[jaxxx]

mine did the same thing also.....could it be how BMWs alignment specs are???

[6Zylinder]

Mine were the same way, inside and outside worn and the middle still good. That was at 26000 miles. I assume due to the very hard sidewalls and very flexible middle tread, the tires don't wear evenly. RFT's SUCK!

[Year's_End]

RFTs will wear considerably faster on the outside if they're under-inflated.

[6Zylinder]

My tires have always 35 psi in front and it still happened.

[montreal red]

i have the same problem... but mine is because i go on the track... since the car understeers at the limit (unless you turn off traction control completely), the outer edge rubs against the road a lot and hence wears out much faster...

[eltoshan]

Originally Posted by montreal red

i have the same problem... but mine is because i go on the track... since the car understeers at the limit (unless you turn off traction control completely), the outer edge rubs against the road a lot and hence wears out much faster...

It happens even when you do have DSC/DTC turned off. Blame it on the crappy front suspension geometry and unadjustable camber.

[scheherazade]

Try either some toe-out or some more negative camber up front.


I use kmac stage 2 camber plates, in the front maximal camber&caster position.

I've also reduced my rear negative camber and added some toe-out so that I can get some more oversteer.

-scheherazade

[lonestar22]

mine started doing it so i added more air up front. im running 38-39psi up front. for the guy in the picture that definantly looks like an alignment issue. even if you get it aligned after it has been driven on so long the tire develops a wear pattern and will always wear that way.

[Peter@VMRWheels]

I would add some more negative camber up front... I believe the stock specs are around -.5* which feels a bit tame, and during hard cornering (understeering) you can easily start wearing down the shoulders. Turning it up to between -1.0 to -2.0 and it should improve the tire wear a bit.

[skiingmav]

I have the same problem, the inside edge is super worn in the same strange way and the outside in smooth. Tires have always been properely inflated (I check pressure once a week)

BMW NEEDS to pay for half the cost of our replacement tires, this is bullshit.

[Tallest]

OP, If you have one sided wear, first thing comes to mind is alighnemnt. More specifically, Camber. With Toe-in or Toe-out incorrectly you will most likely experience Feathering, not just one side wear like on pictures.

But if you think you have right alignment dont forget that if you had springs changed or suspension components are damaged, worn out, etc, an alighnment won't do the trick. Make sure ball joints, control arm bushings, even springs are all in good nick.

And someone here say they got worn out outsides - that's classic case of uner inflation. And i suspect its for those who switched from RFT to Non RFT and still running factory pressures. In fact the pressure should be a bit higher to compensate for softer sidewalls.


ON a side note, i am aware that BMW accepts that there is a problem with INSIDE tyre wear on 19in sport package wheels, at least in UK and they are investigating it. But thats rear tyres and RFTs at that.

In general RFTs seem to be very tricky in terms of wear.


PS. Alighnment should be done afaik with a car loaded as it is normally driven i.e. with something in place of the driver. Weight has big effect on alighnment. Hope the shops know this around where you are. Otherwise your alighnment is never exactly as it should be.

[Mud8541]

Mine, too.
2011 335d with ZSP and Bridgestones. 20k miles.
Crazy how similar mine are to pilotincommand's.

[Meeni]

Mine would have probably done that too, if I had not rotated front and rear often. Still, on the last rotation, the front shoulders were shot, while the tread was still somewhat useable in the center (reverse in the rear, center tread worn down to bald, shoulder still having some meat).

[NoTempoLimitN54]

I have the exact same wear pattern. CPO 2009 E92 335i with ZSP. Front tires are Michelin Pilot Sport PS2, wheels 8.5J x 19 ET 40. Haven't done an alignment yet.

It seems to me to be wear caused by aggressive cornering, excessive positive camber while cornering (insufficient negative camber, and too much body roll).

I'll see if I can post a pic yet (fairly new member). Anybody got an idea as to the cause of this wear?

[GetSomeE92]

I had the same problem. Tires would look nearly new in the middle and inside edges, but the outside was toast. Ended up being that there was way too much toe-in dialed into the alignment.

[Ryebread]

My outside is worn out, only on the passenger side front tire. No aftermarket parts. No replacement parts, no damage. 19,xxx. Could not rotate due to being staggered.

[GOTMH8N]

that's odd, the toe must be really messed up

[NoTempoLimitN54]

Thinking of doing M3 lower arms and tension links in the front. I'm at 49k so my bushings are probably fairly worn. I've heard the M3 parts will give you -0.7º camber without having to pull the alignment pins. Also better feel up front.

It seems to me that the suspension on our cars is tuned for the RFT tires. Everything (springs, shocks, bushings, sway bars) is softer to compensate the brick-like RFT's. If you've ditched the RFT's then a setup more like the M3 would work better.

What do you guys think?