Rear Tire Wear???

[Marauderjack]

Hey Folks....

I have 7K miles on my car and it seems ever since someone reported rapid wear on the rears I've watched the center tread GO AWAY and I have dropped the inflation to 26psi.......Still wearing in the center!!! :fire:

I don't suppose there is any chance of under inflation causes more wear in the center on these tires is there?? The fronts are at 35psi and look like new!! :confused:

Has anyone asked BFG what's going on?? :help:

At this rate I'll need rears before 15K miles!!! :bigcry:

BTW.....No spinning or rough treatment......yet!! ;)

Marauderjack :D

[bryanknie]

It seems as if half of us have this problem and the other half does not.

I had the same problem as you and replaced both my rears at 17K. I have now been running them with 28lbs and have 23K on the car. The fronts look good except for inside tire wear. So far the backs seem ok, but my original set looked good at 10K, then all of a sudden the center wear showed up. I just have the feeling that every 17K we are going to have to replace the tires. Personally if I could find a brand with a harder compound, I would give up some hookup for better wear. At least the BFG tires are not real expensive.

I am in sales and do a lot of highway driving at 70 - 80mph, I wonder if this is a factor

Bryan

[Marauderjack]

Bryan...

You may have just answered the riddle!! :)

I talked to BFG and the guy said to inflate to Mercury specs which is 35 PSI....Conventional wisdom says mine would be gone now if I had not let them down to 26 PSI!!!!

One thing you and I do that many don't is ride at 75-80 MPH for many hours each week and quite possibly centrifugal force slings the tire out of shape to the point we ride more on the center tread especially when under inflated?? :( Could be that 35 PSI for the highway is what we need...I don't know!!

The BFG guy said that Z-Rated tires are designed for 10-20K miles only so 17K miles is OK!!

Funny thing is the fronts still look new but they do have 35 PSI in them!!

Marauderjack :cool:

[TAF]

I have mine at 35 psi all the way around if I'm going to be on the road, (I do a LOT of that 70-80mph cruising on the highway) and 32 psi front, 28 psi rear if I'm going to be just around town.

I have no problem replacing these tires every 20K for the price.

[Petrograde]

I don't suppose there is any chance of under inflation causes more wear in the center on these tires is there??

Well,.. under inflation would typically cause wear on the outsides of the tire.

I'm just about to roll over 12,000 miles. I usually keep 32 psi on all four corners. I don't have a hell of a lot of wear. In fact, I spin the tires or power brake at least three times a week.

Tom

[MMdriver03]

35 lbs all around with 25,000 plus miles. 70 to 80 mph average NO problems at all ;)

[TripleTransAm]

The BFG guy said that Z-Rated tires are designed for 10-20K miles only so 17K miles is OK!!

Malarkey...

BS...

20k miles is expected when you spin the tires at EVERY intersection, maybe. Consider that I've gotten 40k+ miles on Goodyear F1 GS Steel tires with many many trips to the track (w/ obligatory warmup burnouts at the line), several day-long lapping sessions at a road course, tons of 'fun' on the streets, you name it. And I still would have squeezed another year of use out of them if it wasn't for the fact I wanted to maintain top grip (expecially wet) for my son's safety and I got a killer deal on replacements with even better performance characteristics. While the F1s were not drag slicks by any measure, they had no trouble propelling a 13.4 out of my 350 hp 3800+ lb monster.

Maybe BFGs have a poor wear number, but no one can blame it on the Z rating...

[TripleTransAm]

Here's a theory I've discussed with at least one of you folks before...

First of all, I think we do have something with this pressure thing. However, I think it must also have something to do with driving style, road surface, and average speed. I can believe the higher speeds might balloon the center of the tire, causing increased wear. But why not the fronts too??

Here's my theory: Our front and rear wheels are identical, no? But yet the rear tires are wider than the fronts. So as a manufacturer looking to cut corners with such a funky setup, what are the options?
1. make the wheel as wide as one of the tires... perhaps the front? That would result in a grossly oversized tire on the rear, possibly making it dangerous in that only a small strip in the middle of the tire would contact the pavement. How about making it as wide as the rear? That would result in a grossly undersized tire up front which would put undue stress on the sidewalls and limit contact patch surface through cupping of the center.
2. make the wheel somewhere in between. So you get a slightly oversized rear tire, and a slightly undersized front tire. There would still be a slight crown in the rear, and up front there would be a slight cupping.

So let's say option 2 was selected: coupled with driver speed and driving style (not to mention particular road surfaces) perhaps this could result in excessive center wear unless pressures were slightly increased?

And up front, coupled with aggressive alignment values, might this result in increased wear on the sides of the tread, which thanks to the alignment would accentuate wear on the inside?

What do y'all think?

(anyone know if there was a wheel width change over the 2003 model year that would account for some complaining of rear center wear and others having no problem?)

[Marauderman]

This post does seem to be repeating itself---that word please ( )..anyway--I've answered this before as have many--anyway the
average seems to be 34 all around to me--anyway--thats mine and at 11k
normal wear--seem like new---( I believe this is a pre-S/C post)--but since the winter weather even here in NC has been wet so much--the tire wear hasn't had a chance to diff much lately--am told it will change according to other S/C users>>>>>but just the same--

Tire press is probably best overall at 34----my .02........Tom

[Glenn]

After having my MM in the garage all week due to the rain, I finally got a chance to drive it today. No sooner than I parked it at work and I got a thumbs-up by one of my employees, and another at lunch and another when I went to drive home.

I actually scared myself, when I just got a full tank of 93 octane gas at Sam's and nailed it entering the interstate entrance ramp. A week without driving it, I was not used to the terrific lunge the car makes when down shifting and how quickly you reach 80/90 mph. Yes, my rear tires are going bald at 17,000, but I love every minute of it. I am going to get the rear rims widen to 9 1/2" and go with the Z Eagles and not have to worry about tire wear as much and I have a life time free tire replacement from Ford. In other words, I bought the car for performance and it delivers big time.

Glenn

[Marauderjack]

TTA....

Your theory may be the answer??!! I'm going to up the pressure in the rears to 35-38 and see what happens......I do know the "footprint" will be smaller and likelyhood of spinning increased..... :) :up: !!!

BTW....I called Mercury after speaking with BFG yesterday and BOY DID I GET MAD!!! :fire: The "BIMBO" on the Merc line was more interested in my computer profile and various zip codes than addressing the ???'s I have!!! :flamer: After 15 minutes of her crap and finally suggesting I visit my dealer...I HUNG UP ON HER!!! :argue: Oh Yeah....She argued that I was not the owner of the car with my VIN!!!! GO FIGURE!!!! :(

Makes me sooooo MAD!!! :fire:

I finally told her that the tires are only $85 each and she had wasted so much of my time...I didn't care if they had to be replaced tomorrow!!!! :nono:

Never Again!!
Marauderjack :(

[mtnh]

I have seen this, written about it inside this site, and on my lincoln LS and on that site as well, and I am sticking with my theory that the centrifugal force is allowing the center patch of the tire to bow out, assisted by lower than optimal air pressure. The reason that the rears only show this problem is due to the propulsion of the drive train pushing the car into the wind. The faster you drive, the more wind cutting power you have to send to the rears, as the air resistance increases non-linearly as you add speed. Burning out does not increase wear in only the center, as the entire tire surface is more involved in the burning. That would promote even wear across the tread. This could also be somewhat aggravated by any tire tread face distortion that may be occuring at higher speeds, coupled with the drive power forces.

It's all theory, but on my LS, the problem shows up in short time, as in less than 10k miles, if you don't rotate the tires. Driving slower would also be a huge assist, but with me, it's not an option. :pimp:

Mike

[TripleTransAm]

Funny thing is that I've never seen centrifugal force related center wear on any other of my cars, all with equal or wider tires than on the Marauder. Once I sell my Honda, my Marauder will have the narrowest tires in my fleet, up front. Do you have BFGs on your LS as well?

[bryanknie]

I ran 35 - 38 lbs in my rear tires for the first 17K before they were replaced, maybe we need to run 40? Right now I am running about 28lbs on the new set, if the centers wear again, maybe on the next set, I will try 40.

I wish we could rotate the tires on our MM's but the front and rear tires are different.

[mtnh]

Funny thing is that I've never seen centrifugal force related center wear on any other of my cars, all with equal or wider tires than on the Marauder. Once I sell my Honda, my Marauder will have the narrowest tires in my fleet, up front. Do you have BFGs on your LS as well?

Steve,

The LS uses Firestone Firehawks, 235-VR50/17 , but folks running Toyo Proxis (sp), Michelin Pilot A/S, all see this, and they all share the same ddriving technique: fast cruising.

I am trying to keep the MM's tires at 35 psi rear when the stock tires (not snows) are running, but still see slight wear in the centers. Funny thing about this, is, if you take a rear tire that is still mounted on the rim, and take it off the car, then stand it on the garage floor, you can see light under the entire center of the tire's contact patch! That proves to me that the wear is coming from centrifugal tire distortion.

Mike

[TripleTransAm]

Very interesting... I will check the myriad of tires I have in my basement shortly (gotta peel myself off the couch... been feeling horrible all day). If I don't spot the same thing on my unmounted tires downstairs (ranging from smallish 185mm to 275 mm), then it's either the tire construction or improper tire width -to- wheel width matching.

I have heard of speed related center wear before, not that I think of it, but it was always in relation to cheaper tires.