Rapid tire wear/failure inside rear - Replacement DU responsible?

[TR5642]

Today I had the pleasure of a rapid tire deflation on the road. :-( Tried the inflater with goo but no way, still hissing. Called roadside and they got me a loaner wheel fairly quickly. (good experience overall BTW)

However, when we took the wheel off, the wear was unreal (see below)

A few notes:

• Yes, this and the other three tires were at the end of their service life. But the visible parts were all still within tolerance (barely) Frankly, I was already researching what to put on next.
  Tips are welcome It uses 245/35 21s I had the ContiSportContact5 with Contisilent. But I wasn't impressed with their lifespan (est 15k miles came newish on used car 15months ago) I was considering the Pilot SuperSports instead as they have a much better rating on TireRack.
• All four tires were inspected during SC visit about a month ago. Overall wear was noted but NO specific, or abnormal wear was reported (and I asked)
• It was in the SC to replace the Drive Unit. Hmmmm

QUESTION: Could the new Drive Unit or its installation alignment be far enough to wipe out the inside edge of the tires so fast and so brutally? I've never seen such extremely abnormal wear on a street tire in 30 years of driving.

 

[bro1999]

Looks like someone like Ludicrous mode.

 

[artsci]

I’m guessing that the service center put you back on the road after the du replacement with that wheel badly out of alignment. But that’s just a guess.

 

[mongo]

Today I had the pleasure of a rapid tire deflation on the road. :-( Tried the inflater with goo but no way, still hissing. Called roadside and they got me a loaner wheel fairly quickly. (good experience overall BTW)

However, when we took the wheel off, the wear was unreal (see below)

A few notes:

• Yes, this and the other three tires were at the end of their service life. But the visible parts were all still within tolerance (barely) Frankly, I was already researching what to put on next.
  Tips are welcome It uses 245/35 21s I had the ContiSportContact5 with Contisilent. But I wasn't impressed with their lifespan (est 15k miles came newish on used car 15months ago) I was considering the Pilot SuperSports instead as they have a much better rating on TireRack.
• All four tires were inspected during SC visit about a month ago. Overall wear was noted but NO specific, or abnormal wear was reported (and I asked)
• It was in the SC to replace the Drive Unit. Hmmmm

QUESTION: Could the new Drive Unit or its installation alignment be far enough to wipe out the inside edge of the tires so fast and so brutally? I've never seen such extremely abnormal wear on a street tire in 30 years of driving.

Looks like camber and possibly toe were off. Still are, if you want to take it back to Svc to get realigned. I'm guessing the hubs need to be detached to remove DU, so it should have been aligned at that point.

 

[TR5642]

FWIW, it appears to have been misaligned toe. Left rear was -0.12 before and +0.22 after. Right was +0.03 before. No report on the alignment that should have been / may have been done after DU replacement. But it's aligned now with new tires. SC comped the labor due to possible oversight.

 

[Musterion]

FWIW, it appears to have been misaligned toe. Left rear was -0.12 before and +0.22 after. Right was +0.03 before. No report on the alignment that should have been / may have been done after DU replacement. But it's aligned now with new tires. SC comped the labor due to possible oversight.

How many miles did you run on these after the DU replacement? Also curious which SC did you use that apparently omitted the required alignment after DU replacement?

 

[AmpedRealtor]

It's a given that a DU replacement also requires a re-alignment. I'd be very concerned if a service center wasn't aware of this.

 

[Zaphod]

FWIW, it appears to have been misaligned toe. Left rear was -0.12 before and +0.22 after. Right was +0.03 before. No report on the alignment that should have been / may have been done after DU replacement. But it's aligned now with new tires. SC comped the labor due to possible oversight.

Yes, misaligned toe alignment will definitely chew up tires fast, much more than just misaligned camber.

 

[mongo]

I agree, toe will continually scrub the tire and wear it down, I'd just never seen it with such a progressive inner/outer wear pattern, that's why I postulated that it was on an angle to the ground due to camber and also toed. However, further reading turned up this link which says says that toe is all it takes to wear the shoulder out. How to Spot Tire Cupping and Other Tire Wear Patterns
Another with toe issues: Tire Wear Post-Mortem - 2013 Tesla Model S Long-Term Road Test this one wore more evenly, but still shows the extreme wear on the edge.

Glad it's fixed!

 

[TR5642]

Since they made right by me, I'm not going to publicly shame the specific SC. HOWEVER, if you have a DU replaced, ask for the alignment report. That damage was done in about 1000 miles. IOW they're done before you'll get under the car to check it. (of course, now I'm going to be crawling under the car every week :-( )