Premature outer edge tire wear

[StatenEye]

Hi Guys,

I have 15mm spacers on the front. 21" wheels with stock offset. PSS tires 285 35 21 in the fronts and 325 30 21 in the rear. Issue is; the front have worn terribly uneven. After about 8k miles the chords have some through the outer edge. The rest of the tire seems to have at least 60-70% left. the rears are fine, wearing evenly.

I'm guessing the front needs a camber adjustment? Anything else that would cause this? Both fronts have worn the same.

thanks guys.

[serge1]

Bad toe is what wears a tire. Camber decides where the wear would occur.
Because on X5s, camber is at zero (or even negative?), your bad toe results in wear there.
Check and have shop set toe at 0.02 IN.

[RichardR0404]

mine have the same issue too. i am thinking getting a alignment soon with my lower spring.

[yco]

if you post a pic it can be better.. but one way or another your car needs an alignment in the end naturally..

[StatenEye]

Originally Posted by yco

if you post a pic it can be better.. but one way or another your car needs an alignment in the end naturally..

Attached

[yco]

WOW. !!

StatenEye.. never seen such wear.. wrong toe setup can do this but but this looks more serious than only toe.. almost the sidewall is worn also with soft Michelin rubber.. alignment is needed ASAP.. it can be nice to write here after figuring it out..

[StatenEye]

Originally Posted by yco

WOW. !!

StatenEye.. never seen such wear.. wrong toe setup can do this but but this looks more serious than only toe.. almost the sidewall is worn also with soft Michelin rubber.. alignment is needed ASAP.. it can be nice to write here after figuring it out..

Yea, I always had new cars, so i never had an issue like this. I have two new fronts coming, so ill get those mounted and balanced and then get an alignment. I just got the rear airbags replace last year I thought they did an alignment then, guess not. I have a ton of steering wheel vibration at high speed but I was assuming I had a bent wheel that I was going to diagnose and replace next month.

Here we go.

[NicksM]

also interested in the end results, i have never seen inner tire wear on my M's even my E46 M3 has never done that so if it solves your issue i will follow the adjustments after i buy new tires

[pawdwrth]

I am getting new tires this morning on my 2020 BMW X 3 Competition. I have 7000 miles. The outer edges of all the tires have worn unevenly like the picture above (no metal yet). The dealership told me this is normal. M models have aggressive "stances" and wear like this.

[pawdwrth]

Here are the photos after 4000 miles

[benton]

Was your issue equal on both sides?

Aggressive/incorrect/worn:
Camber, toe on front axle
Asymmetric alignment on rear axle (constant scrubbing of front tires due to pulling)
Dual tread compound
Tire pressure
Worn wheel bearings
Driving habits and conditions
Ball joints/bushings (undesired dynamic alignment change)
Tire/wheel roundness
Static tire balance
Dynamic tire imbalance - causes a phenomenon called "nibble" which is severe for tire wear
edit: increasing scrub radius by adding wheel spacers
...and others

all can contribute to abnormal or increased rate of front axle tire wear. It's probably a compounding of more than one issue.

Is the steering wheel oscillating left/right agressively, or is it more of a vertical vibration?
Do you feel the vibration in your butt, or not so much?
Does the vibration increase in frequency with speed, or only in severity?
Does the steering wheel vibration fade in/out at a constant speed or does it stay at a constant force?

Pilot Super Sport and Pilot Sport 4S (and likely others) have asymmetric dual compounds. I assume that's why the mud on the tire above looks so strange; it's right at the compound division. Perhaps why the X3 is wearing the outer edges, although I personally have not experienced strange wear with PSS on other vehicles.

Quick summary of tire balance and wheel runout: https://www.derekweaver.com/learn/wheel-balancer/