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Are adjustable toe arms necessary for better rear tire wear?
- Thread starter njmurvin
- Start date
Will definitely post what they say … but I agree they’ll probably say to replace them. I would have flipped my last set as a test but the farthest inner tread was at the wear bars already and I didn’t feel comfortable putting that on the outside edge. That’s why I threw out the notion of flipping every 5k miles.
I don’t think these tires are unidirectional. If they were, I wouldn’t even consider flipping them. However, looking at the tread, they do appear to be asymmetrical (groove position and orientation in the center treads). Unless this poses a hazard in some way, I would be willing to try flipping them.
I don’t think these tires are unidirectional. If they were, I wouldn’t even consider flipping them. However, looking at the tread, they do appear to be asymmetrical (groove position and orientation in the center treads). Unless this poses a hazard in some way, I would be willing to try flipping them.
So, this response from Kumho surprised me. Now I just have to decide how often to flip them …
“Hello,
Yes the tires can be flipped over on the same rims (i.e. bring the inside to the outside) and as long as there is enough tread.
Kumho Tire Warranty
800-445-8646 option 2
[email protected]”
“Hello,
Yes the tires can be flipped over on the same rims (i.e. bring the inside to the outside) and as long as there is enough tread.
Kumho Tire Warranty
800-445-8646 option 2
[email protected]”
I've never heard the term "unidirectional" but I'm assuming it means the same thing as "directional" which means they are supposed to rotate in a specific direction when driving forward and have arrows on the sidewall to indicate as much. I'm curious as to why you wouldn't flip (and simultaneously cross-rotate) in this scenario (as suggested in #19). Effectively, the tires keep spinning the same direction, and the side that was inside is now outside...
Maybe I am wrong about what "unidirectional" means? I just did a search for "unidirectional tires" and all of the results only use the word "directional." To be clear, a tire can't rotate in a specific direction on both sides of the vehicle if the same side of the tire is outside on both sides. It seems likely to me that you are confusing "asymmetric" with "directional" (and throwing in a "uni" for good measure). Some tires need to have a certain side out because of how the tread is designed (these are "asymmetric") while other tires need to rotate a certain way because of how the tread is designed (these are "directional"). If "unidirectional" is anything other than a longer form of "directional," please educate me.
He means directional. I've never rotated tires on any vehicle I've owned. Keep them aligned, resulting in even wear. Then there is no need.
geordi
Mr Fusion V.1
The idea with rotation is that you will never perfectly set up a car for a completely flat and even contact patch with the road - nor should you. Some variation in camber and toe has its purposes. Rotating the tires evens this out.
The term unidirectional with tires is the same thing as directional - there is no such term of an "omnidirectional" tire. Either they are designed to only rotate in one direction... Or they don't care. The other poster's use of the term unidirectional was a mistake in that context. Unless the tread pattern specifically cares which direction it rotates in, it can be reversed.
The term unidirectional with tires is the same thing as directional - there is no such term of an "omnidirectional" tire. Either they are designed to only rotate in one direction... Or they don't care. The other poster's use of the term unidirectional was a mistake in that context. Unless the tread pattern specifically cares which direction it rotates in, it can be reversed.
As I said before, if your tires are waring evenly, there is no need to rotate them. There may be differences between the front and rear, but on an X, we can't rotate front to rear anyway.
Just for clarity, is the consensus here that it's better to flip the tire 180 deg and keep it on the same rim, which would mean it's rotating in the opposite direction and flipping inside to outside, or swap it to the opposite side wheel (i.e. translation without rotation), keeping rotation in the same direction but swapping inside to outside. Seems like the latter would be less problematic in terms of tread pattern if they're directional, but if the pattern is intended to discharge water to the outside of the car, maybe the former is preferable.
Is it possible for some of this to be driving habit related? Not saying you all are driving like hooligans, but I have the 21" arachnids on my Model S and use low ride height for all driving and my tires looked fine when I swapped them for an aftermarket wheel/tire setup at around 5-6k miles. They had near perfect wear across the tread and no indication of premature wear on the inner sidewalls. Is this problem worse on the X than the S? I thought it was the low ride setting that increased camber too much in both applications.
Is it possible for some of this to be driving habit related? Not saying you all are driving like hooligans, but I have the 21" arachnids on my Model S and use low ride height for all driving and my tires looked fine when I swapped them for an aftermarket wheel/tire setup at around 5-6k miles. They had near perfect wear across the tread and no indication of premature wear on the inner sidewalls. Is this problem worse on the X than the S? I thought it was the low ride setting that increased camber too much in both applications.
geordi
Mr Fusion V.1
A tread pattern that is specifically designed to eject water (Michelin Crossclimate2 with that DEEP V design for example) must always rotate in the same direction. Translation (good word BTW) of the rubber from left to right is the ONLY option for moving their position if you want the inside edge to become the outside edge. Tires have to be dismounted for this.
Front to back swapping of either the rubber or the whole wheel can only work if you have a "square" setup and not the OEM rims which are staggered on some applications.
As far as ride height, I only operate my S and X in medium height, and had wear issues on the S before I got the camber arms. The X already had them when I bought it (and I was happy for that) and I got the Crossclimate tires for it. I have now put at least 20k on them... and without rotation, they are showing no visible wear differences. I'm really happy with that performance.
I cannot recommend enough the N2itive kit : it completely changed the handling of our car, I had the alignment done in the low profile and the rear tires are no more eating up on the inside. Just for the pleasure of having the handling we now have, it's worth every penny to me.
The person that posted before me said that legacy X did not have toe adjustment.
If OEM toe specification is garbage, what is your recommended setting?
This is a good explanation of the issue. The tricky part is the fix depends which year vehicle you have as the suspension has changed a few times. Also the software on the X now defaults to "low" where previously it defaulted higher. The 21+ models have more adjustment available with the factory toe arms than the older models. The factory camber arms are fixed in all models. N2itive could really use to update some of their documenation for the newer models. For example, their alignment specs are for the ride height of medium. Through reading lots of info, no more than -1.0 seems to be a consensus on rear camber on low suspension setting.
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