I recently got 25k out of my set of Kuhmo 712's before the inner tread wore down to nothing (leaving the outer tread looking like it would go another 10k miles). I thought, must be my camber or excessive toe-out. I purchased another set of Kumho's (they are still the best, being around $100 each), and proceeded to get my lifetime alignment at Firestone. Well, its been 20,000 miles since my last alignment and I was surprised to find that the alignment was within specs already, without needing adjustment. The only out of range adjustment was front driver camber, which was -1.3 degrees (normal range is -1.0 to 0.5 degrees). Its such a small camber change that i cannot imagine it would have a significant impact on tire wear.

I keep my tires inflated 38F/34R. This I think is a little over what I should be running, but it does not explain the inner tire wear.

Any ideas, anyone? This is more of an annoyance than a major issue for me, as these Kumho's are so inexpensive I do not mind if they wear out early. If they were Michelins, I would be kind of angry though.

 

I know exactly what you mean Eric. I have about 20k on my Kumhos and if I had better alignment, it could to 30k easy.

I had my toe/camber adjusted also. On 3-gens toe is adjustable on the rears also. I like yourself had one front tire slightly out of range at about -1.2 or so.

What I have found is that even 1 deg neg camber is more than enough to increase inner tire wear. Especially with 235-45-17 sized tires(my theory anyway). Even if -1 deg is within spec, it's still enough to affect tire wear. IMHO, -1 deg might be bad for a 205 width tire but widen that tire to 235 and I bet the tire wear differences to up significantly.

 

Good input. Nice to see the VTC Master is still reading posts written by moldy oldies like myself. This is the kind of question the BBS was built on. Then it migrated to clear taillights, 20 cent resistor mods, and whether purple HID's are better than the green ones.

 

What's funny is no one else has replied. Sorry for the grammer mistakes. I just saw about 3-4. haha.

I don't know what it would do for handling, but if you could get your front/rear camber settings to something like -0.8 or -0.5, it would really improve the tire wear.

I used to run about -1.5 neg camber in the back of my old 510. Bent a-arm trick. I didn't see much wear but then again, I had 185-60-14 sized tires w/ maxima 810 rims on it.

 

You know, I just read this thread and I'm thinking.

I have a mechanic that always checks and sets my alignment when I install new Michelin MVX Energy Plus tires on my Maxima.

I had my original Toyo's for 45,000 miles.
Now I am on my 3rd set of Michelin's and I am at 201,100 miles on the clock. These tires were installed at 162,500 miles on the car. Michelin tires come with 10/32" of tread.

My tires wear fine. Yes, I do rotate them according to the Tire Rack Recommendations. I'm sure I have the data sheets around here from the alignments and my alignment friend always tries to place the alignment of all parameters right in the middle of the specification tolerances.

I currently have 6/32" of tread in the center tracks and 5.5/32" on the inside and outside of all of the tires. These tires cost 118.00 each at the tire rack. I have 39,000 miles on these tires!

I got around 50,000 miles out of the last two sets of Michelins and I replaced them before I had 4/32" of tread left due to my concern about hydroplanning in wet weather rather then reaching the wear indicators on the tires.

My alignment seems to be pretty good. All of my tires prior to this set have had readings all the way through the life of the tires that were very close across the width of the tire.

Having 1/64" of variation on the treads on this last set seems to be due to my aggressive cornering now that I have my motor nicely broken in and I'm having a lot of fun in the twisty turns!

White96MaxSE

 

I think Jeff is right on with the camber issue. Some tires do ware faster then others. Running more then -.5 deg. of camber will increase your ware factor. Combine that with a tire with a softer tread compound and it starts to show. I just recently had my camber reset, my tires were fine (A2's) but the car wasn't easy to keep in a straight line anymore. I was always fighting it. I braught the camber back from -.9 to -.4 It made quite a bit of difference in the way the car drives. I think there's a fine line with camber on our cars. Anything over -.5 deg and things starts to get weird. There's a guy on here, can't remember his name.. runs his camber at 0.0 and says his car tracks perfect. I just wonder if the car still handles well setup like that, it's still within specs.

 

I think the wider tire makes the neg camber issue worse. I don't know how well 0 camber would work when you are really driving aggressively. IMHO, you need some neg camber to combat the wheel's tendency to go POS camber during cornering. Maybe -0.5 deg would be a good number?

 

I have to agree with you that -0.5 degrees of camber is a pretty good setting for aggressive cornering.

I used to always have my alignment set to that amount of camber on my Mustang GT running Goodyear Eagle Z rated tires, and it handled well, but wore out the inner edge of the tire. These were expensive tires and lasted only about 28,000 miles a set.

White96MaxSE

 

Thanks everyone. Looks like I'll be adjusting those camber bolts again and then getting the car realigned. I recall that last time my camber bolts are already at maximum positive camber. But I have to take the wheels off to check that. I might just have to live with uneven wearing tires. Oh well, no Michelins for the Maxima while that happens.

The real peeve is that I have to adjust the camber at home, then take it to the firestone to get it realigned. If you've ever adjusted your camber to be more positive (such as -1.0 to 0), which affects toe as well, and tried driving afterwards, it is a scary experience. Basically a wog-wog-wog-wog feeling on the steering wheel because both front wheels are way toed-out.

I'll let everyone know what happens after I get the camber done. Thanks!

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but I have KYB AGX struts. They are set 2 front, 4 rear. I don't think that after 1 year, they would be worn out.

 

How come the alignment people aren't smart enough to turn the camber bolts?

 

If you have ever gone to get an alignment at any Firestone (I have the lifetime alignment) you will find that if the manufacturer does not say it can be adjusted, they will not touch it for liability purposes. So while even the stock bolts can be adjusted for camber slightly, and the camber bolts even more, they will not do anything with that because "officially" it cannot be adjusted.

I wish it was not the case, but the lifetime alignment contract also says that it is void with "suspension modifications." Well, I don't say anything about camber bolts or lowering springs, and they do the alignment for free each time.

 

I just saw this thread. I ran into the SAME exact problem. My Kumho's had inner tire wear on the passanger side, because my camber was -1.5 on that side. The tires only lasted about 20K miles. And the fact that Kumho's are directional, you can only rotate them to the back.

Two weeks ago I replaced all the tires with the Dunlop A2 Sports. Yesterday I had camber bolts put in and had my alignment adjusted. Now my front is -0.1 and -0.2, so I don't think I should have the same tire wear problem. AND the A2's are not directional tires so if I begin to notice a little bit of wear I can rotate them to the other side to get a little more life out of them.

A few things to note:
1. Kumho's have a treadwear rating of 280, whereas the A2's are around 400+. So even with perfect alignment the Kumho's won't last too long.
2. The Kumho's have slightly better dry traction, but the A2's are better in the wet and TONS better in the snow.
3. The A2s are a little more than the Kumho's but will last much longer so over time you'll actually save money.
4. I felt that the A2's are quieter and provide a softer (in a good way) ride than the Kumho's.

I've had three sets of Kumho's and I've now switched to A2's and I'm very happy.