Tyre Wear

[Kam-80]

Hi all...I have a tyre wear question, what does it mean when my front tyres are noticeably more worn on the outside half of the tyre? Looking at the tyre from th outside to the inside, the wear is very severe on the outside edge to the point where the grooves are more-or-less gone. 1/4 way across the tread is down to (or past) the indicator. At about the half-width the tyre steps up by about 3mm (there's literally a line going around the whole tyre with defined edge). At 3/4 width some of the tyre is down to the indicator but for the most part there's about 1mm-2mm of meat left and the inside edge still has usable tread.

Car was aligned at Centreline and front settings are about 3.5 degrees negative camber, also feels like there's a bit of toe-out. I didn't have the same wear with my RE55s on similar settings, these are A050s. I'm thinking maybe it's not alignment but they could be over-inflated past optimum? On my RE55s I found the car worked best at 32 PSI hot (and produced very even wear), but was told to run these at 34 PSI hot...I didn't ever check the tyre temps on these and now that it's time for a new set, I want to try and maximize their lifespan.

[lachlanw]

over pressure will wear the middle and not the shoulders . under pressure will do the opposite . the toe out might be doin it .

[Duncan1]

Hi all...I have a tyre wear question, what does it mean when my front tyres are noticeably more worn on the outside half of the tyre? Looking at the tyre from th outside to the inside, the wear is very severe on the outside edge to the point where the grooves are more-or-less gone. 1/4 way across the tread is down to (or past) the indicator. At about the half-width the tyre steps up by about 3mm (there's literally a line going around the whole tyre with defined edge). At 3/4 width some of the tyre is down to the indicator but for the most part there's about 1mm-2mm of meat left and the inside edge still has usable tread.

Car was aligned at Centreline and front settings are about 3.5 degrees negative camber, also feels like there's a bit of toe-out. I didn't have the same wear with my RE55s on similar settings, these are A050s. I'm thinking maybe it's not alignment but they could be over-inflated past optimum? On my RE55s I found the car worked best at 32 PSI hot (and produced very even wear), but was told to run these at 34 PSI hot...I didn't ever check the tyre temps on these and now that it's time for a new set, I want to try and maximize their lifespan.

I have experienced the very same thing with A050's. Toe might have something to do with it. Im more inclined to think its the tyre though, they are a medium as opposed to the SR2 re55 which is a hard compound. I put it down to that. I have gone back to Re55's for a little while and will run the A050's in winter. I actually spoke at length to Yokohama motorsport about the premature wear i had experienced.

they were very very helpful and i am looking forward to trying them again in cooler temps.

Next time check your pressures and see how high they are getting. Im convinced the A050 is a quick tyre, im equally as convinced though that the side wall is softer than Bridgestones.

Cheers

[Kam-80]

I ran a new set on the weekend along along with a friend of mine in his Evo, the tyre is definately faster than RE55 SR2s but after about 3 flying laps they start to go off. I think you're right about the softer compound and sidewall than the SR2, I'm going to swap left and right tyres every few track days to even up the wear.

[boxheadmr]

i let them get a bit too high in pressure and the centre is almost shagged with both edges still at about 50%, the pressure builds up very quickly in the A050's i found and you really need to watch them closely. Thinking it might be a good idea to invest in one of those tyre monitors.

Has anyone had much experience with them (tyre monitors) ?

[nismoman]

The A050's might be quick, but people seem to be going through them like toilet paper! At around $500 per tyre it gets very expensive.

How many track days do you expect to get out of a set? 2-3?

[boxheadmr]

i thought the wear was comparable to the re55's with the exception of the higher pressures. i have been so far on these tyres to two full days at phillip island with a fair bit of track time and a day at wakefield and they are around 50% or maybe more. It is hard to define the level of tread depth left as i don't have one of the tread depth measuring tools only a ruler and flat bit opf wood so is a little inaccurate.

That is the same as the RE55's from my experiences but there is a suggestion the A050's are a softer tyre

[Kam-80]

The wear has been comparable for me...the last set of A050s lasted around 8 track days, similar to the RE55s I had before that. I think I could have extracted another 1-2 days too, with s proper rotation strategy.

[nismoman]

That's good to hear about the wear. Not as bad as I thought then.

I know they are softer and idealy suited for sprints of only 3-5 laps so was curious about their longevity.

Lot's of hype around the A050's since Superlap.