With rear tires on turbos wearing out every 3-4 oil changes (12-15k miles) and sort of pricey, has anyone considered swopping rears as they start to wear on the inner part of the tire?

It costs ~$50 to do this, and would prolong the tire life by at least 5-7k miles, saving you a set of rears for every two new sets.

Yee, I get it - if you can afford a $50k-$100k car, you can afford $400-600 in tires every 10k miles, but I'm just curious if anyone has done this and what are the issues?

I understand tire manufacturers print inside/outside on the tires for a reason, but I never knew why.

Is the in/out sidewall stiffness different? Would it be dangerous to do this?

Curious to learn!

TK

 

In the dry most times it really doesn't matter. Some tires are definitively directional and will suck in wet conditions, that would really be your only concern. For the most part though you will be fine doing that.

We do it on the track all the time.

 

Is your car lowered? Aftermarket links (dog bones?) can fix too much rear camber and dramatically reduce tire wear (wears on the inside edges on lowered cars).

 

I figured it was something to do w/ traction and the tire makers getting you to buy more sooner?

 

Makes sense!

Yes, it is on JICs (GT2 height), and you are absolutely right about links. I do like the way my car is planted in the corners with some camber, so I'm not sure if I want to sacrifice this. Tire rotation may be my only out .

I work in marketing, so I'm suspicious tire manufacturer have a hand in this as well !

 

I don't think i've ever seen tire sidewalls marked as inside/outside. Rotation definitely, so rotating the tires from side to side would involve dismounting/remounting then rebalancing.

As for too much wear on the inside of the tread, have the alignment checked out. Perhaps the toe is off and causing excessive scrubbing.

If the toe is fine, then either get the car aligned to have less negative camber, or start taking corners faster so that the wear evens out across the tire.

 

I like this idea!!!

 

Lol, I like the last suggestion..... But I think that's actually part of the problem - if you think about it, when you're ripping through corners (say a lefty), the right tire is flat on the ground, but it's the left tire that is screaming on the inside edge trying to hold on... that is, unless I can get the car to wheelie a bit in the rear

 

Yes, but the left tire in the example you used has only a fraction of the weight of the car on it. So wear will not be that intense.

This is how race cars can run -5 degrees of camber and get even tire wear. Taking turns real fast and loading the weight bearing tires.

For street driving this is near impossible, so please understand this is a joke, street tires simply are not developed for large degrees of negative camber. You may be forced to dial some out if you want the tires to last longer.

Your inside wear is coming from driving straight with negative camber. You can soften your suspension to help a little bit.

 

lol.... I wasn't taking the "drive faster through corners" comment serious.... Even if I could load the car in the corners on the street, 99.9% of street miles are still straight line :-)

I guess I need to take some camber out in the back...

 

If you have directional tires this will work for awhile. Tread pattern and tire construction is the same left to right (hence the arrows indication rotational direction on both the inside and outside sidewalls). Its just a PIA to remount and rebalance the tires every few thousand miles. Asymetrical tires will not work as they have an specific inside and outside edge design (hence the print on the sidewalls). The back end of a lowered 996TT has too much neg camber and toe for the street. If you have 19" wheels the problem only gets worse. You need dog bones and adjustable toe links. Without them you'll be running about -2.5 neg camber, and/or too much toe in, and you'll be lucky to get 5k out of the tires. Also change your drop links to adjustable length. The stock ones break all the time anyway.

 

I rotate the rears on my car - Toyo T1Rs are directional and can be swapped side-to-side for extra mileage.

 

So you REALLY do swap your tires on your TT ?

I've been thinking the same swapping my front tires too, as my left front tire wears quicker than the right front tire, as when I hit it the accelerator, my left front tire will break loose and spin, thus wearing out quicker. I also believe my right rear tire wears qucker than the left (driver's side) rear tire.

Thanks and PLS advise - JIM in Texas

r. ston paright re,

 

Unless you drive in NASCAR, and only turn one way, your wear shouldn't be worse at particular corners, or sides of the car. While the rear tires, individually, will not wear evenly, as a set they should wear out at about the same time after street driving. You probably need an alignment.

 

buy some sumitomo htr z IIIs?