Uneven Tire wear

[sleepydoc]

I got a set of the Vredestein Quatrac Pro tires about 18k miles ago. Rotated them once about 9k miles ago, took the car back in to get them rotated again and the tech said he couldn't rotate them because they were worn all the way through the outer layer on the insides of the tire. All 4 tires were like this. He told me "yeah, we see this on teslas"

Has anyone else seen this? I didn't have problems with my last tires but it seems like the wheel camber must be off for them to wear that much on just the inner sides of the tire.

 

[GHammer]

Everyone blames camber but it's usually too much negative toe. Common problem. Have an alignment done.

 

[QtownTaxiGreg]

Those tyres aren't shagged yet unless you have some very different legal wear limits there.

I was reading that the manual has a very broad spec for "in range" alignment. So what is the real deal?

 

[shoemakj]

Has anyone else seen this?

Yes, I rotated my tires last weekend after 18500 miles (don't judge and my left front (now left rear) looks like this. I suspect an errant pothole is to blame. The other tires were fine. The previous set of tires also had even wear across the tread when I replaced them last October. Looking for a decent alignment shop now...

 

[sleepydoc]

Those tyres aren't shagged yet unless you have some very different legal wear limits there.

I was reading that the manual has a very broad spec for "in range" alignment. So what is the real deal?

The wear is totally fine except the inner inch, where I have circled in red. the arrows point to areas where the out rubber layer has completely worn through.

 

[ngng]

Those tyres aren't shagged yet unless you have some very different legal wear limits there.

I was reading that the manual has a very broad spec for "in range" alignment. So what is the real deal?

Those tires are going to blow out soon.

 

[QtownTaxiGreg]

Those tires are going to blow out soon.

How so?

There is only undue wear on the inside shoulder but still some tread. So long as the alignment is fixed that area doesn't get hammered like the outside shoulder on the fronts can from turning. The rest of the tyre is well above the wear markers.

In NZ the main drainage treads must have 1.5mm which is grinding down the wear markers and pushing your luck, but not illegal. The worn down part of OP does not factor in emergency stopping on wet road so not measured.

 

[sleepydoc]

How so?

There is only undue wear on the inside shoulder but still some tread. So long as the alignment is fixed that area doesn't get hammered like the outside shoulder on the fronts can from turning. The rest of the tyre is well above the wear markers.

In NZ the main drainage treads must have 1.5mm which is grinding down the wear markers and pushing your luck, but not illegal. The worn down part of OP does not factor in emergency stopping on wet road so not measured.

The concern is the inner 2-3 cm of the tires has worn completely through the outer layer of rubber. Even if I got the alignment fixed routine wear would continue and it’s a matter of time before it becomes a structural issue.

I had a trip planned this we weekend and ended up taking our other car rather than drive long distances on those tires.

 

[QtownTaxiGreg]

inner 2-3 cm of the tires has worn completely through the outer layer of rubber.

Not what I see in your photo. Tread is badly worn in comparison to the rest but still visible. Perhaps there is extra 2 to 3cm missing where I can't see?

Unlikely. I think you are worrying about blowout unnecessarily.

I spend half my life running around on tyres that look exactly like that on the outside inch of tread from all the u turns we make in taxis. Every taxi loses that outside corner on the front passenger side faster than the rest. You rotate and rotate and if you keep it up the set can get down to 2mm on the rest of the tread. Outside of all are winding up fully bald but the outside longitudinal groove gets down further and you are done.

Nobody ever blew out a taxi tyre that I know of. It's a small town so word would get around.

The strength is in the steel and kevlar and whatever else is in there. When you damage that too badly is when you get a blowout. Not plain old punctures.

Drive on MacDuff!

 

[jofodo]

The concern is the inner 2-3 cm of the tires has worn completely through the outer layer of rubber. Even if I got the alignment fixed routine wear would continue and it’s a matter of time before it becomes a structural issue.

I had a trip planned this we weekend and ended up taking our other car rather than drive long distances on those tires.

My experience confirms the truth of this comment. Driving from Central Canada to Vancouver in winter, on Pirelli Scorpion winter tires, we had a blow-out East of Edmonton because the inner edge of the tire wore through the carcass. The tire place who ''rescued'' us put a thick patch on the remaining rubber so we could limp to Edmonton for new tires. When the snows were put on 2 months and about 2000 km before, there was noticeable wear, but the grooves and sipes were still visible. Subsequently had a wheel alignment done at a Tesla SC where I was told by the Service Manager to run the suspension in Medium position as this was a known issue for the Low. If that's true is there much point to having an adjustable suspension?
2020 Model X LR 91000 km

 

[sleepydoc]

Just as follow up, I had it in to my mechanic who said the suspension was quite a bit off.