Rear tire wear
#1
Pro
Thread Starter
Rear tire wear
I do mostly Interstate driving and my car is always smooth as glass. Yesterday I noticed an unusual vibration that felt like a rear tire is out of balance. Today I got under it and found this on the inside rear tire on the passenger side. The car has 13500 miles on it. Never tracked, always babied. Any thoughts as to whats going on? I am scheduling in to my dealer for service this coming week.
Last edited by AJay; 08-11-2018 at 12:45 PM.
The following users liked this post:
vdavenp802 (08-13-2018)
#3
Le Mans Master
yep. Op needs a street alignment. You get one alignment within the first couple thousand miles free under the warranty program. 13k miles is pretty good. With a street alignment looking at the op’s Tires. I bet a set of the factory issue Michelin’s would go near 20 maybe 25k miles
Last edited by Mr. Gizmo; 08-11-2018 at 04:52 PM.
#4
Drifting
Mine looked like that at about 14,000 miles. Took it to the dealer who agreed the alignment was off however GM would only realign at less than 7500 miles. New tires and an alignment are needed for you my friend.
#6
Burning Brakes
Alignment for sure. As folks above said. And, yes, two new rear tires. When I had alignment done at 25,000 miles, I was surprised by how far the alignment was off. Now I have it checked more often.
#7
yep. Op needs a street alignment. You get one alignment within the first couple thousand miles free under the warranty program. 13k miles is pretty good. With a street alignment looking at the op’s Tires. I bet a set of the factory issue Michelin’s would go near 20 maybe 25k miles
would you happen to have the data supporting the warranty providing the free alignment? thanks!
#9
Melting Slicks
Looks pretty normal for a car that comes setup for performance driving. Highway driving will cause that kind of wear. You can change the alignment to a better highway setup.
#10
Pro
Thread Starter
Other then the obvious (tire life) is there a noticeable trade off in the way the car handles on twisty roads by changing the alignment for highway driving? Again, I don't track the car.
#11
Safety Car
Inside edge wear like that which comes on quickly is usually from toe out, often caused when one of the adjusters slips. Toe out on the rear makes the car rotate more, making it a bit less stable, but very agile in the turns. It's viewed as "unstable" and not desirable in a "street" or "highway" alignment at all.
Inside edge wear like that which happens over longer distances (thousands of miles) is usually from excessive negative camber. More negative camber gives more grip when cornering. If you get a "highway" alignment which keeps the balance from front to rear, the handling balance won't change much. If you had excessive camber at the rear, but the front was OK, taking camber out of the rear but not changing the front might make the thing a bit more "tail happy" or "loose" in the handling department, especially in hard cornering (the technical term is oversteer).
Once you have an alignment you are happy with, be sure to mark all the adjustment points with a paint pen (or nail polish or "whiteout"). That way you can make a quick visual inspection from time to time to make sure nothing has moved. In extreme maneuvers, it's possible for an adjuster that isn't quite tight enough to slip and rotate, changing the alignment. Often, it will go in the direction of toe-out on these cars, and if you don't notice it quickly, it will eat a tire or two with inner edge wear.
Last edited by C6_Racer_X; 08-12-2018 at 09:22 AM.
#12
Le Mans Master
i read it on a thread here and that most ask for the complimentary check and alignment at 500 mile oil change which I did. Mine was way off and would have resulted in the op’s experience at 7 to 10k miles.
#13
Drifting
Member Since: Feb 2015
Location: Syracuse-Central Square New York Winer of the all Corvette race WGI 8/23!
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OP, I bet you have more of a rear toe issue than camber. Make sure your dealer has and knows how to use the rear caster gauge and bracket. If they don't I would not let them align your car.... cause they can't, period!
#14
Safety Car
I agree it looks like a case of a slipped adjuster and "sudden onset" toe-out. Especially since only one tire is involved.
#16
Drifting
Thanks for starting this thread. It's a good reminder for everyone to keep a closer eye on their tires instead of being complacent & assuming everything is fine until it's too late. Especially for those who don't track their cars & aren't always thinking about/looking at their tires.
#17
yep. Op needs a street alignment. You get one alignment within the first couple thousand miles free under the warranty program. 13k miles is pretty good. With a street alignment looking at the op’s Tires. I bet a set of the factory issue Michelin’s would go near 20 maybe 25k miles
Get a street alignment.
#19
Melting Slicks
13,500 is not that bad out of a set of these tires.
#20
Took my 2018 Z in today for an oil change at 11 months and 1460 miles. Mentioned that the car slowly tracks to the right during my 65-75 mph trip. They have a quick check machine that showed the right front camber was slightly out of spec and FAILED the check. The Service Writer said that Chev will check alignments for 2 years and up to 7500 miles under warranty and they did an alignment. He also said that my car had a STREET alignment at the factory. It does not have the Z07 option.