Tire Wear Question

[mailman]

The facts: 2009 Stock Wrx with 25K on the clock. Stock tires, but i have a set of winter tires and rims that i use from November to April every year. So the summers probably have 15K miles on them. I have alignments done every time i switch sets of tires at which time i also move the fronts to the back.

Now, onto the question. haha. So i have been having a really rough ride recently (shaking at 80 or so with a shaky steering wheel). Took to car to a tire shop for a balance as i have not yet had that done. They did that and it got a little better but they said that the rear tired were "chopping" on the inside edge. I felt the tire and sure enough they were. Each tread block starts low and gets higher, almost like a small "ramp" if that makes any sense.

so the ride is still rough and i will eventually need to replace the tires. but is there something going on that would cause this? I hesitate to buy new tires if there is an underlying problem. then it will happen to the new tires as well. Thanks all!

[Psychoreo]

Low/High tire pressure?

[mailman]

yeah that's a possibility i suppose. They are all at 32 or 33 psi right now. I typically run 35. The guy at the tire shop said that the tpms will kick in much before any tire damage will occur. not sure i really belive that though cause i thought it had to be in the mid to high 20s before it kicked on.

[Psychoreo]

35 seems high. What's the door plate say for pressures? You should really follow those.

[mailman]

33 front 32 rear. that's about where it is now. but i suppose its been higher than that for most of the time i've had them. maybe 35

[Antihero]

Lol @ door tires pressures.

I run mine at 35, and set customers' tires at that as well. I find that 33/32 is too low.

Are any of your shocks/struts blown or leaking? That can cause tire chop.

[Bulldog3Romeo]

pics of the tire would help

[boxer3maine]

toe in or out does that.
subes are usually einstein there.. I would try spotting error by eyeball.


is it rear left?

[SicRedGt]

Are your tires directional? If not, when you rotate, you want to do a cross rotate to knock down the cupping. Get your alignment checked first.

[mailman]

Lol @ door tires pressures.

I run mine at 35, and set customers' tires at that as well. I find that 33/32 is too low.

Are any of your shocks/struts blown or leaking? That can cause tire chop.

well i was worried about shocks and struts. how would i knwo if they were blown or leaking? take them to subie? i'm mechanically challenged for the most part.

[mailman]

pics of the tire would help

thanks. i'll try to get some later tonight,..

[mailman]

toe in or out does that.
subes are usually einstein there.. I would try spotting error by eyeball.


is it rear left?
both left and right rear actually.

[mailman]

Are your tires directional? If not, when you rotate, you want to do a cross rotate to knock down the cupping. Get your alignment checked first.

yup. they are directional. so all you can do is front to back when rotating. which is done every year (8-9K miles)

[SicRedGt]

I'm all done with directionals just because of this issue. Neva again!

[DHGurs]

Are your tires directional? If not, when you rotate, you want to do a cross rotate to knock down the cupping. Get your alignment checked first.

I'm all done with directionals just because of this issue. Neva again!

If they are OEM tires they are NOT directional, they just have a specific outside and inside.

[Seraphinwolf]

Toe settings in the rear maybe?

[Snowman87]

This sounds more like a toe issue than anything else. High or low pressure would cause the center or shoulders to wear faster, not individual blocks. This sound like the blocks are being twisted as the come into and leave contact with the road. Did you notice this after you rotated the fronts to the rear?

[mailman]

This sounds more like a toe issue than anything else. High or low pressure would cause the center or shoulders to wear faster, not individual blocks. This sound like the blocks are being twisted as the come into and leave contact with the road. Did you notice this after you rotated the fronts to the rear?

yeah. pretty much. i rotated the fronts to the rear when i switched over to summer tired. so probably april. i really started to notice it very recently though. like withing the last month.

i am still working on getting pictures up here...