Holy Tire Wear, Batman!!!

[orange260z]

So as many of you know, I installed a new set of Bridgestone S04 Pole Position tires in the factory sizes on my 135s last year around this time. I have a factory suspension and alignment setup, and the car is used for daily summer commuting 70/30 highway/city about 65kms/day. Note that my car is an automatic and I couldn't spin the rear tires if I tried. My driving style IS aggressive, I really don't like to slow down for corners/turns. That said, I rarely have the DSC kink in, typically only if there is dust or something in the turn.

Since my purchase, I've put about 10,000kms (6,000 miles) on the car. About 3,000kms was PURE highway trips, and the remaining 7,000 my 70/30 commute.

My rears are down from the original 10/32nds to 4.5/32nds, slightly more wear on the inside and a little less on the outside (to be expected due to the factory camber). At this rate, the tire will hit 2/32nds (end of useful life) at about 13,000kms (8,000 miles). This is absolutely insane. I'm in a relatively low-powered car, not doing burnouts, and I get this mileage?

In the Boxster that this car replaced (more rear negative camber, weight on the rear tires, known for poor rear tire life) I got 40,000kms from my last set of RE050 Pole Positions and 30,000kms from Continental SportContact 2s. I drove the crap out of that car.

I've never gotten less than 20,000kms out of a set of tires, no matter how sticky and how hard I drove them. I've gotten over 15,000kms from R-compounds as daily drivers with track days mixed in! The Bstone dealer tells me this is normal and "this is a high-performance tire" bullshit, and refuses to open a warranty claim with Bstone. I'm trying to reach Bstone directly now.:mob

[zhpnsnv]

Doesn't seem too far outside the norm to me. Interested to see how bstone handles your request. Maybe you have an alignment issue?

[az3579]

Doesn't seem too far outside the norm to me. Interested to see how bstone handles your request. Maybe you have an alignment issue?

It most DEFINITELY is not normal. I haven't yet had a set of tires that lasted less than 30k MILES, and I've tracked every set of tires I've had up until my current set, which is daily driving only.

I have the S04's on right now and currently at about 15k of usage right now with plenty of tread left.


OP:
I'd say there's either something wrong with your suspension (if the tire wear isn't even across the tread -- a little more inside wear is normal) OR it's your driving style.

Note, I am the same way as you: I like to drive in an enthusiastic way when it comes to corners's but that's it. I don't slow down for turns. I also do not accelerate or brake hard, unless I'm on an exit or on ramp with nobody in front of me.


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[slater]

hey ayan!

definitely sounds like an alignment issue - have you replaced your RTABs?

peter

[Vas]

Something is up for sure. I bought a full set of the same tires at 107k and now at 117k and I still got plenty of tread left. And my driving style is pretty aggressive when it comes to cornering. Car is a daily driver.

[danewilson77]

That wear is not typical. Must be a soft compound?

The friendliest forum on the planet!

[ZHP Dave]

That wear is not typical. Must be a soft compound?

The friendliest forum on the planet!

They're soft, but not THAT soft. My Dunlop ZII's, a much softer tire, are at 10k and have about half their life left. I have about -2.5 of camber, with only a bit of toe in on the rear, 0 in front. They are on a car roughly 400lbs lighter than the ZHP though.

[az3579]

That wear is not typical. Must be a soft compound?

The friendliest forum on the planet!

If it was that soft, we'd all have the same wear characteristics, with very minor variations.



P.S. - I didn't even realize it was you posting this Ayan... I should read more carefully. :rofl

Is it possible your gauge is reading incorrectly for tire tread measurement?

[brettbimmer]

Greetings Ayan! Do we know what the treadwear rating is for this particular tire? Perhaps Brent has been borrowing the keys in the overnight!! :ducking:biggrin

[SoarinZHP]

I just took off a set of Pole Position S04's....very disappointing. I didn't get 20,000 miles out of a set and I drive 90% highway. The tread wore unusually quick.

Replaced with a set of Continental Extreme Contact DW. We'll see how those go. They are sticky.

[Vas]

S-04 pole position specs

SERVICE DESCRIPTION: 91W*
UTQG TREAD-WEAR RATING: 280 AA A*
LOAD: STANDARD
PERFORMANCE CATEGORY: MAX
TREAD DEPTH, IN: 10/32

Review of summer tires here from Car and Driver.
http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/bridgestone-potenza-s-04-pole-position-page-9

Not sure why some people are getting such low mileage out of them. What do you guys inflate them to? Alignment specs? What kind of wear?

[Johal E32]

Alignment ok?

[SoarinZHP]

For me it was the rears that wore. Twice as fast as the fronts - but I wasn't going to put another set on the rear and replaced all 4 with the DW's. Hah - DW. Anyway... Just did the RTAB and alignment. The car feels more neutral - but doesn't track any different. Never pulled left or right... I inflate them to 39 front/47 back according to the door placard.

[orange260z]

Hey all, thanks for the replies.

My tire wear is quite even, no strange wear. Slightly more wear on the inside, which is normal for a highway-driven car with negative camber. The car tracks dead straight. Inflation pressures are whatever was on the card (I think 31F 36R or something like that)

My driving style is definitely aggressive, but considering that this is a heavy 225hp car with a slushbox the tires are never spinning. I corner hard, but the outer shoulders are holding up fine. I generally get 25,000-40,000kms from this class of tire.

Note that my rears are at 4.5-5.5/32, the fronts are at 7 to 8/32.

I am projecting a useable life of 13,000kms (8,000 miles) from the rears and 20,000kms from the fronts. That's gotta be way outside the norm!

[Rovert]

Does the tire have warranty? Maybe they made a bad batch and you are one of the lucky winners

[Vas]

For me it was the rears that wore. Twice as fast as the fronts - but I wasn't going to put another set on the rear and replaced all 4 with the DW's. Hah - DW. Anyway... Just did the RTAB and alignment. The car feels more neutral - but doesn't track any different. Never pulled left or right... I inflate them to 39 front/47 back according to the door placard.

Provide some reviews of the DW if you can. How is steering input on them versus the S-04?

[Rovert]

DW's were comfy and noise free on my ZHP. Past tires that were on the ZHP were Falken FK452, Toyo T1S and Toyo T1R. They all felt to be similar tires. The DWs have enough grip to give me 1G of lateral on aftermarket coil overs & sways which is the same grip as a stock Corvette Z06.

People say the sidewalls are soft but I have no reference to that as I have never used Pilot Sport ___ tires. I'm running Bridgestone RE050 on my ///M3 right now and they feel similar with stock ///M suspension so I would think they might have harder sidewalls for quicker reaction with aftermarket suspension. I'll be mounting my ZHP's DWs on the M3 as soon as the wet weather commences in Vancouver so I'll be able to better compare how the tire reacts on this car.

[stephenkirsh]

I've completely worn through my Michelin pilot sport A/S tires in a few thousand miles and 4 autocross sessions.

I have an auto and can get the tires to spin in some conditions easily.

[az3579]

Ayan,
Out of curiosity, have you done RTABs yet on that car? Also, how are the fronts wearing in relation to the rear?
Perhaps it's time to do RTABs and an alignment at the dealer using a Hunter Hawkeye machine. I got the RTABs replaced with AKG poly bushings and got an alignment done with the Hawkeye machine (the latest from what I'm told) and my tire wear has been phenomenal since.

[orange260z]

Ok, so I had the wheels off the car on Saturday when doing the brakes, and I used the opportunity to re-measure the tread depth from a more comfortable angle and with a more accurate gauge (made in USA vs China). It turns out that these tires have other "raised" areas in the grooves besides the wear bars, cutting across at an angle. I may have been hitting these and getting strange measurements.

The rears are at 7/32 on the inside and 6/32 on the outside on the right rear, 1/32nd better on the left rear. This is a lot of wear in 6000miles, but consistent with my hard-cornering driving style. More wear on the right rear makes sense as I do tend to take some left-handers fairly fast on my commute, and also due to the one-wheel drive nature of the car (aka open diff). As these tires are only asymmetrical but not directional, I have swapped them side to side in the back to even out the wear. Based on the 6/32 measurement I project 20,000kms from the tires which is on the low end of acceptable, but within the range.

The fronts are at 8/32 all the way across on both, which is acceptable wear. I didn't rotate these as I had one side of the front lifted at a time. I should get at least 30,000kms from these.

Last year when I bought the car the RTABs & FCABs were inspected at a well-respected BMW specialist in Toronto, and one of each was changed. The other was fine at the time. Is there any noticeable feel difference when these are gone or going?

I will have to hunt down a Hawkeye machine next time I get an alignment. I usually call Hunter Canada before balancing to find out who in the area has had their machine calibrated recently and has well-trained techs operating them.

[az3579]

^ Good deal, man. Still high wear, but is a number that quite a few people have reported on their ZHP's so it's not unheard of.

I still don't know why I get way better tire wear than a lot of people on this forum, but maybe my car is aligned more conversatively? I remember my buddy told me he aligned it with slightly less camber so it doesn't chew the tires as quickly, and so far it's working without any impact to handling. :dunno