OK to ask tire shop for "highway alignment"?

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: stranger706
OK, so do you think getting the alignment helped at all to prolong the tread life? As opposed to not getting an alignment, and the letting the irregular wear continue.


I've seen tires with irregular wear due to alignment problems last a long time after the alignment was fixed. Those tires have a lot of life left.

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
The negative camber causes inside tread wearing faster than outside tread. To prolong the tire life, you may consider to flip the tires inside out when the inside tread wear down to about 6/32.


I don't have a lot of miles on my Mazda3, but none of the tires I've used have had any accelerated inside edge wear. It doesn't seem like the ones on the back wear at all.

 

[stranger706]

Sounds good, thanks for the info.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Originally Posted By: stranger706

Those Generals have 54k miles on them?



Really?

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Originally Posted By: lasmacgod
However, reversing the tires on the rims will create another problem; increasing the chances of hydroplaning.

Most directional tires are superior for hydroplaning resistance. The center of the "V" pattern hits the ground first, forcing the water to follow the "V" grooves toward the outside of the tread. Reversing this will cause the tires to actually pump water to the center of the tread, thus causing the tires to hydroplane at a much lower speed than normal.

I doubt that's what he meant. Removing them from the wheels and re-mounting the lefts on the right and the rights on the left in the proper rotation is what was suggested. Pricey, but it would even out the wear eventually and get the most life out of the tires.

But otherwise, you cartainly are right. I can't stand seeing tires mounted on a car the wrong way. I actually had to tell some kid installing directional tires on my Honda years ago that he was about to mount one wrong. He didn't seem to appreciate it much at the time, but hey, pay attention!

 

[stranger706]

Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder

Those Generals have 54k miles on them?



Really?


Yes. Mostly hwy/interstate.

 

[lasmacgod]

Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
Originally Posted By: lasmacgod
However, reversing the tires on the rims will create another problem; increasing the chances of hydroplaning.

Most directional tires are superior for hydroplaning resistance. The center of the "V" pattern hits the ground first, forcing the water to follow the "V" grooves toward the outside of the tread. Reversing this will cause the tires to actually pump water to the center of the tread, thus causing the tires to hydroplane at a much lower speed than normal.

I doubt that's what he meant. Removing them from the wheels and re-mounting the lefts on the right and the rights on the left in the proper rotation is what was suggested. Pricey, but it would even out the wear eventually and get the most life out of the tires.



Doh! That didn't even process in my mind at the time. That might work, but at that point, I'd probably just have new tires installed for the time and cost of having things moved around.

 

[FusilliJerry82]

It wouldn't cost a ton. Walmart (some) will charge $20 for doing this to 2 tires. $5 a tire for mounting and $5 for balancing. The first one I went to refused because of liability reasons (I don't know why, they weren't directional) and one in a more rural area did it without question.

Personally however, I never would do it with directional tires.