PS4 Uneven center wear?

[BlaydeX15]

I've got ~13k miles on my PS4's so they're due for the grave anyway, but what I really find interesting is the wear pattern. I'm down the the wear bar on the middle groove (2/32, I think), but the inner and outer grooves still have ~4/32. What? The fronts are still fine, but I haven't measured to see if all 3 grooves in each front tire are experiencing similar uneven wear.

Normally with an issue like this, I would assume that someone just super overinflated their tires, but I keep mine religiously at 37PSI cold (measured with a calibrated gauge), so there's no way that's causing the problem.

Is it just a normal thing for this car/suspension/tire combo? Anyone else notice a similar issue?

 

[Revvdmedia]

You are correct that tires normally exhibit excessive center wear when overinflated. I still think this is the case even at 37PSI even though this is not considered over-inflated by KIA. Most cars have inward camber at least on the front wheels, so I would expect inner wear on the front tires at least, not in the center of the tire.

 

[Manaz]

Most cars have inward camber at least on the front wheels, so I would expect inner wear on the front tires at least, not in the center of the tire.

The front suspension on the Stinger has no camber adjustability from the factory, stock specification for camber on the front is 0°.

I was very surprised when I learned this.

Even on most cars where the factory set up does have some negative camber, it's normally such a small amount as to not have a significant impact on tyre wear (that said, the first IRS Commodore here in Australia were known for chewing out the inside of their rear tyres - they fixed that in subsequent releases though).

 

[SKStinger]

I've got ~13k miles on my PS4's so they're due for the grave anyway, but what I really find interesting is the wear pattern. I'm down the the wear bar on the middle groove (2/32, I think), but the inner and outer grooves still have ~4/32. What? The fronts are still fine, but I haven't measured to see if all 3 grooves in each front tire are experiencing similar uneven wear.

Normally with an issue like this, I would assume that someone just super overinflated their tires, but I keep mine religiously at 37PSI cold (measured with a calibrated gauge), so there's no way that's causing the problem.

Is it just a normal thing for this car/suspension/tire combo? Anyone else notice a similar issue?

It has been discussed here before. I have my rear tires at 33 cold psi to mitigate this issue. So far they appear to be wearing evenly. Although I am AWD so that mitigates some of the wheel spin you RWD owners experience.

Kia’s 36 cold psi appears to be too high based on the uneven wear some owners are reporting.

 

[BlaydeX15]

Some good info here, thanks guys! I'll get the new ones put on and leave them at 33 PSI, see if that helps.

 

[brancky3]

Doesn't the door sticker say 33 PSI?

 

[BlaydeX15]

Doesn't the door sticker say 33 PSI?

Nah, it says 36, 38, or 39 depending on the wheel configuration.

The GT RWD says 36 all around, but in all my years of driving, I've always filled to +1 because air never leaks into your tires, just out.

 

[brancky3]

Nah, it says 36, 38, or 39 depending on the wheel configuration.

The GT RWD says 36 all around, but in all my years of driving, I've always filled to +1 because air never leaks into your tires, just out.

I'm thinking of my wife's Q5 - you're right. I keep mine at around 34psi cold and it seems to work well. 295/30/19 rears and 255/35/19 fronts

 

[Kazz]

It has been discussed here before. I have my rear tires at 33 cold psi to mitigate this issue. So far they appear to be wearing evenly. Although I am AWD so that mitigates some of the wheel spin you RWD owners experience.

Kia’s 36 cold psi appears to be too high based on the uneven wear some owners are reporting.

Rears at 33psi in your AWD? What about your fronts? Thanks!

 

[falanger]

Anyone else notice a similar issue?

Had the same issue here when I replaced mine:

 

[Manaz]

Had the same issue here when I replaced mine: View attachment 27681

Those are right down into the tread-wear indicators. I'm not sure that the wear is terribly uneven - the only place you have tread left is the outer edges where the tyre starts to roll up into the side-walls (and even there, there's clear signs of significant wear).

Tyre wear due to over/under inflation looks like this:

Your wear is completely across the face...

 

[BlaydeX15]

Should have taken pictures of mine, was pretty bad once they were off and fully visible. Definitely more wear in the center groove than the outer 2, like 4/36ths left on the outsides, but the center was down to the bar.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Here are my rear Michelins at c. 16.5K miles. The center wear would be more severe; but 3 lbs were let out of them. For a couple of months, I was running all four at c. 40 psi cold. Now 40 psi front 37 psi rear.

Would dropping the cold psi to 35 front 32 rear be a smart move? Or would the increased risk of tire/rim damage more than offset the increased tread wear for keeping the psi closer to 40 psi?

 

[SKStinger]

Here are my rear Michelins at c. 16.5K miles. The center wear would be more severe; but 3 lbs were let out of them. For a couple of months, I was running all four at c. 40 psi cold. Now 40 psi front 37 psi rear.

Would dropping the cold psi to 35 front 32 rear be a smart move? Or would the increased risk of tire/rim damage more than offset the increased tread wear for keeping the psi closer to 40 psi?
View attachment 27719 View attachment 27720 View attachment 27721 View attachment 27722

Those look fairly evenly worn. Are these 255/35? Or are you running a wider and lower profile Michelin?

 

[MerlintheMad]

Those look fairly evenly worn. Are these 255/35? Or are you running a wider and lower profile Michelin?

OE 255/35, but stretched over these: 1995WAT395114B76L 19x9.5 5x114.30 39 6.800 DOUBLE BLACK - MATTE BLACK W/GLOSS BLACK FACE 76.1 1725 22 440.00 CCPCG18-T

 

[SKStinger]

OE 255/35, but stretched over these: 1995WAT395114B76L 19x9.5 5x114.30 39 6.800 DOUBLE BLACK - MATTE BLACK W/GLOSS BLACK FACE 76.1 1725 22 440.00 CCPCG18-T

Not really stretched. I'm running the same width wheel and tire. I think you'll be fine with 33 or 34 cold psi. I've had no issues.

37 is too high IMO but your old tires did wear pretty well.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Not really stretched. I'm running the same width wheel and tire. I think you'll be fine with 33 or 34 cold psi. I've had no issues.

37 is too high IMO but your old tires did wear pretty well.

Should we be downrating the OE psi card by two or three psi? Or just the rear tires? 38 front 33 rear? Or 35 front 33 rear? Or just run what the door card says and forget about it?

 

[Manaz]

Those look fairly evenly worn. Are these 255/35? Or are you running a wider and lower profile Michelin?

I concur. Those don't look to be exhibiting significantly uneven wear across the tread face.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I am assuming that having shoulder tread left is preferable to under inflation producing worn off shoulder tread while still having center tread left? So going the other way and under inflating would be worse than over inflating?

 

[Revvdmedia]

Even tire wear is the ideal desire. Both over-inflation and under-inflation not only produce uneven wear, but also undesirable handling traits when on the more extreme ends of the spectrum. On the performance end of things, for drag racing, under-inflation will usually result in more off the line traction in traction limited vehicles, but also adds some rolling resistance which then hurts your trap speed.