Managed to use up a set of rear tires in 5400 miles...

[Lyon]

And I LOVED every moment of it. Too bad that's going to eat into all that gas savings quite considerably. Now I'm trying to make an effort not to hit the go pedal quite so quickly all the time.

The good news is that the front tires look great still. :biggrin:


So, here's a PSA: There's not such thing as a free launch.








*ducks*

 

[brianman]

Pictures!

 

[efusco]

So, here's a PSA: There's not such thing as a free launch.
*ducks*

Yow! Nice.

21" tires I assume?

 

[Lyon]

Pictures!

 

[efusco]

I'm no expert, but that wear looks wrong to me. Is that the outside edge of the tire?
The center of the tire still has good tread depth and isn't quite down to the wear bars.

 

[Johan]

Wow... lolachampcar wasn't wrong about the negative camber and resulting asymmetrical wear. I take it this is the left rear tire photographed from the front end (hence wear on the outer edge)?

 

[nrcooled]

And I LOVED every moment of it. Too bad that's going to eat into all that gas savings quite considerably. Now I'm trying to make an effort not to hit the go pedal quite so quickly all the time.

The good news is that the front tires look great still. :biggrin:


So, here's a PSA: There's not such thing as a free launch.








*ducks*

Are the 21" contis directional? If not you should rotate your tires more often to get better wear charatceristics/life out of them. I've got the 19" and a S85 but I have already rotated mine.

 

[dflye]

Thought it was the inside edge getting gnawed off on my tires (had them rotate my 21" around 6k miles), which was why I hadn't really noticed myself, not as visible when washing the car when the wear is hidden away. Although since the tires have an inside/outside orientation, maybe should have just let the rears wear out and be replaced, leaving the front set to last a lot longer?

 

[Lyon]

I'm no expert, but that wear looks wrong to me. Is that the outside edge of the tire?
The center of the tire still has good tread depth and isn't quite down to the wear bars.

Sorry the picture got oriented funny by my phone. The worn part is the inside edge where it had gone through the tread compound and was into the harder stuff underneath. I probably could have gotten another 400 miles or so out of them but I was there and they had the tires and I had the time so...

- - - Updated - - -

Are the 21" contis directional? If not you should rotate your tires more often to get better wear charatceristics/life out of them. I've got the 19" and a S85 but I have already rotated mine.

Yeah, they're directional. Frankly, I was caught off-guard by how quickly they wore out. I've never gone through a set of tires that quickly. Then again, I've never had a rear wheel drive car with this much power and regenerative breaking before either.

- - - Updated - - -

Wow... lolachampcar wasn't wrong about the negative camber and resulting asymmetrical wear. I take it this is the left rear tire photographed from the front end (hence wear on the outer edge)?

Just the opposite. Left rear taken from behind. The wear is on the inside edge of the tire... as one would expect with negative camber.

 

[Park2670]

All is well. You admitted to having fun, and know it was a fact of life driving the way you do. The least I have gotten was 8k miles on my previous 335i. But those were 8k miles of absolute fun.

 

[Johan]

Just the opposite. Left rear taken from behind. The wear is on the inside edge of the tire... as one would expect with negative camber.

Well of course... Confusion on my part. I meant inner edge, but got twisted in my head.

 

[Dave EV]

The wear looks excessive to me for 5,400 miles - only the the inside blocks are done while the outside looks new. It's quite a bit of rubber to be throwing away - they'd easily last twice as long with better alignment. The tires don't show any real signs of hard driving.

The only other option would be frequent rotations - probably every 2,000 miles given the wear, and to really wear them evenly you'd probably have to rotate them through a 3rd pair of tires.

 

[ckessel]

Yea, the default 21s are really sticky. I'm definitely going to find a longer lasting tire next time, though I know I'll sacrifice some performance for it. Mostly poorer cornering I guess, but I'm not as wild there as on straight launches.

 

[StephenM]

Yea, the default 21s are really sticky. I'm definitely going to find a longer lasting tire next time, though I know I'll sacrifice some performance for it. Mostly poorer cornering I guess, but I'm not as wild there as on straight launches.

The Hankook Ventus? Everything else costs significantly more than the OEM Contis.

 

[yobigd20]

I just had my stock 19" goodyear's rotated today. @5900 miles. I have a gauge and I had between 8-8.5/32" on my rears and still 9.5-10/32" on the fronts. consistent rotating front to back every 6k miles should get me between 30-36k miles until I get below 4/32" and need replacement.

I don't know what to tell those with the 21s. You don't have many choices. On Tirerack, @340 the UTQG treadwear rating on the stock continentals are the best ones you could possibly get. All the other 21s are 280, 220, 140. My advice if you don't want to be replacing 21s every 6-8k miles would be to ditch the 21s, get the 19" rims from Tesla, and get yourself some of the 500+ treadwear rated tires like the Michelin Primacy MXM4 LRR ....

 

[lolachampcar]

Three cars now (including MS) with camber changed to a more tire friendly number and all are doing much better wearing the whole tire. I typically double my tire life (on the first two, I do not know on the MS as I just changed it based on the other two before eating up $520 each tires). Life on those sticky high performance tires is always going to be less than "normal" tires and I tend to use the right pedal which makes things worse. I just can not stomach the work of moving tires across the car every three thousand miles to get the full wear out of them thus the camber change.

 

[dsm363]

Three cars now (including MS) with camber changed to a more tire friendly number and all are doing much better wearing the whole tire. I typically double my tire life (on the first two, I do not know on the MS as I just changed it based on the other two before eating up $520 each tires). Life on those sticky high performance tires is always going to be less than "normal" tires and I tend to use the right pedal which makes things worse. I just can not stomach the work of moving tires across the car every three thousand miles to get the full wear out of them thus the camber change.

Could you explain the camber change again and what it would mean for regular drivers (non-track drivers)? If it is something Tesla could do, I could have them take a look at it but wouldn't be able to make any adjustments myself. Thanks.

 

[stevezzzz]

So, here's a PSA: There's not such thing as a free launch.



*ducks*

You didn't duck quite fast enough: I nailed you between the eyes with a solid groan. Surprised that no one else did, actually.

 

[strider]

Could you explain the camber change again and what it would mean for regular drivers (non-track drivers)? If it is something Tesla could do, I could have them take a look at it but wouldn't be able to make any adjustments myself. Thanks.

Negative Camber in the Rear and Expensive Tires

- - - Updated - - -

The wear looks excessive to me for 5,400 miles - only the the inside blocks are done while the outside looks new. It's quite a bit of rubber to be throwing away - they'd easily last twice as long with better alignment. The tires don't show any real signs of hard driving.

The only other option would be frequent rotations - probably every 2,000 miles given the wear, and to really wear them evenly you'd probably have to rotate them through a 3rd pair of tires.

The alignment is like that on purpose to prevent lift throttle oversteer. Basically when people get into a corner too hot they instinctively lift off the throttle which will cause the rear end to break loose and come around. So until all drivers of high performance cars are required to take a Skip Barber school the manufacturers dial in lots of negative camber in the rear to combat the oversteer tendency. Start looking at BMW, Audis, etc if you're stopped behind one at a light and you'll see the rear tires are noticeably tilted inwards at the top.

Rotating the tires won't help - you would have to have them dismounted and remounted on the other side wheel for two reasons. 1) the tires are directional, and 2) if you took the left rear tire and moved it to the right rear the same part of the tire would be to the inside so you would still be wearing the same part of the tire.

For me, the Contis are cheap enough to not bother with remounting. However if I had the Michelin Pilots or the 265's (P+ package) I think it would make economic sense to have them swapped to get full tire life.

 

[dsm363]

Thanks! I'm down to 4.5mm on the rears at 7,500 miles on the Conti DWs and rotated the tires at 3,000 miles. Probably won't get more than 8,500 miles.