Page 1 of 1

Uneven tire wear

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 1:54 pm
by WillG974
I'm curious about tire wear on my 2008 NC Miata.I bought it used with high miles,but previous owner had put on new wheels and tires.Not sure how many miles he had put on the tires,but I have since put about 9-10,000 miles on them in three years of summer only use. I put progress springs along with koni yellows on the car the first thing after I bought it. I also had it aligned according to Brians' suggested specs. I rotated the tires once during this period. Two of the tires have way more wear in the center of the tread than the other two. My question is,do the rear tires tend to wear quicker than the fronts or vice or verser? I keep the air pressure at the recommended 29psi.

Re: Uneven tire wear

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 3:49 pm
by Brian
Way more wear in the center of the tire is usually about tire inflation. You might have 29 today, but at some point that wear suggests you had more, and/or your gauge is just not reporting the true pressure. There are some other situations where we see this, for example prior owner wanted fat tires stuffed, or 'pinched', onto narrow stock wheels. That oversize tire will be rather rounded on narrow wheel and tend to bulge out at the center and wear more in the center even at just 29psi.

Re: Uneven tire wear

Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 7:23 pm
by WillG974
Thanks Brian for your quick response to my inquiry. I'm running stock size tires 205/45/17 on Enkei 17x7.5 rims,so it must be that the tire pressure was off at some point in time.