Any ideas what causes this type of tire wear?

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Street_Lethal

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Hello I'm new here and I have a question. I recently bought new Falken tires and had them installed on my 2008 Hyundai Sonata...they replaced a set of Cooper CS5s (V rated) with 30,000 miles on them. Prior to the CS5s I had the CS4s (V rated) which I got 34,000 miles out of them and they wore evenly. They were better tires in my opinion. Anyway, my front end was checked by Hyundai about two months ago and they said everything looked fine. Alignment was in spec. Nothing needed to be replaced which they said was impressive for the amount of miles on it. 95% of the miles on the car are highway miles. Anyway, I've had nothing but issues withe CS5s, there was always a slight vibration which was non-existent with the CS4 set or the tires prior to that. They were balanced three times within 30,000 miles by two separate shops. The last shop that balanced them said they were out of round and showed me while they were spinning them on the balancing machine. Basically I think I got a defective set or there's a design flaw with the tire. I have attached a photo of the wear pattern that is identical on all four tires. They were rotated every 5,000 miles. Everything is worn evenly at 3/32nds except the outer tread channel which is 4/32nds. This is the same for all of them. Somebody suggested it's the tire not the car. I was also told I won't see more than 30,000 to 40,000 miles out of a V rated tire because of the soft rubber. I do travel up and down a short gravel road daily. Any thoughts? By the way, all vibration is gone with the Falkens. Much smoother ride. Thanks.
 
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The over inflation makes sense. I ran them at 35 - 36 psi. I liked the feel of the ride a bit better than the 30psi the tag on the door frame calls for. A friend of mine chewed me out for running them at 35 - 36 psi. The alignment (all four wheels) was checked two months ago by Hyundai, they said it was in spec, the tech did one minor tweak because he wanted it "nuts on" but he told me he didn't even have to do it.
 
Keep in mind the tire is off the rim in that photo which I assume you guys figured out. I think over inflation is most likely the culprit since I had them at 35 - 36 psi the entire time they were on the car and as I mentioned the alignment was in spec. I'll keep this set at 30 psi and see what happens. If anybody else wants to chime in be my guest. Thanks for your time.
 
Originally Posted By: toneydoc
Maybe you do not rotate them often enough?
Thing is, if he rotated them often enough, he'd loose feedback info, so he wouldn't have much to ask about, and we wouldn't have much to say, apart from maybe:- "Maybe you rotate them too often?"
 
Originally Posted By: Ducked
Originally Posted By: toneydoc
Maybe you do not rotate them often enough?
Thing is, if he rotated them often enough, he'd loose feedback info, so he wouldn't have much to ask about, and we wouldn't have much to say, apart from maybe:- "Maybe you rotate them too often?"
What?
 
Well, at first the picture of your tire really through me for a loop! Then I realized it is not mounted on the rim! Duh.... That's why it is so distorted and almost impossible to read. Its a good thing you measured it and highlighted it for us to see! What it does show for a fact, is that over a long period of time your frontend has worn slightly negative in camber, which is perfectly normal and to be expected. When it is worn out of spec, you should be able to have a camber adjustment kit installed to correct the negative camber. The Hyundai dealer was correct, your front end does look fine to me. That tire on the other hand looks like poopoo..... P.S. me, 35 years body paint collision business, 30 year shop owner, 30 years had the advertisement contract with Hyundai corporate in Fountain Valley Ca. I've seen a few Hyundai's. "Welcome to the site"
 
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Camber is off, if it was overinflation the center would be worn and both side would be equal.
 
1/32 dfference is not mutch to fret over. You will change the tires at the same. Interval with that small level of unevenness. I would check hyundai sonata specific discussion forums for their tire recomendations. Maybe and H or T rated tire would last longer. General rt43 is on my wifes monivan and they are 75k rated. He previous tire was hakook optimo 747. They had a 90k mile warranty and lasted much lnger than the original dunlops. (24k). Vans are hard on tires due to the weight. So this was impressive. Buth the hankook abd general are in the same price range as the cooper and falkin lines.
 
This looks kind of normal to my eye - particularly considering that pretty much all cars nowadays call for more camber than is good for even tire wear. Put another way, it should be expected that tires should wear a little unevenly because vehicle manufacturers specify a bit too much camber so the car feels good, but that tends to lead to uneven wear if the toe is even a little bit off (even though it is within the tolerance) But if you want to get rid of that wear, the alignment needs to be set with as little camber as possible - and that might mean a camber kit. (or should that be a de-camber kit?)
 
Originally Posted By: AZjeff
Originally Posted By: krismoriah72
Over inflated. Do the chalk test next time.
Be interested to hear what Capriracer says about the chalk test.
I am not a fan of *The Chalk Test*. Here's why: This is the same tire loaded and inflated to different levels. Notice how evenly the pressure distribution is across the width of the tire. What's really different is the length of the footprint. This tire should give pretty much the same result in *The Chalk Test* regardless of the load or inflation pressure. That's why I am not a fan.
 
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