Tires with extra outside shoulder tread?

[moribundman]

Due to my driving style I always wear out the outside shoulder tread prematurely. And no, don't even think it's an alignment issue -- it isn't. It's simply due to high curve speeds and due to lots of high speed turns during city driving. I'm wondering if anybody knows of any tire that has a bit extra outside shoulder thread. For the last few years I have been using Conti Sport Contact summer tires (205/55/16 W), which I like due their very balanced performance. I have over a quarter inch tread across the tire width left, but the outside shoulder is worn almost smooth after 8k miles.

The tires must be summer tires, they may be directional but must not be symmetrical. The speed rating should be at least V. Any suggestions?

 

[CharBaby]

My only suggestion is to keep the tires rotated at 5000 miles.

 

[GMorg]

Twenty five years ago, I had the same problem. It was induced by delivering pizza in the east Tennessee mountains (speed plus curves). I found that I could reduce (but not prevent) the problem by increased air pressure.

 

[moribundman]

One of the first tires that I put on the A4 was a set of Goodyear tires (the model escapes me right now; they were about $190 a piece in '97) that had extra shoulder tread, but they were symmetrical tires and they just weren't as well performing as I had hoped. The extra tread feature however did work.

I do rotate the tires and I do run higher than specified pressure. Across the contact patch they wear totally even. But I keep nibbling away at the shoulder...

 

[Quattro Pete]

What if you were to just slightly modify the alignment (negative camber)? Would that be a big no no? I don't know. I'm just asking. I know people who track their cars do it.

Another thing to consider would be wider tires (225/50). Since the weight of the car would be distributed over wider tread area, it might reduce wear, but then again, during hard cornering the majority of the weight is on the outside shoulder anyway, so it may not make a difference.

All I can says is, I'm jealous. I wish we had roads like this here, where I could wear out my tires in 8K miles.

 

[Dominic]

well one thing you could do is get some better swaybars to reduce the camber roll of the chassis. Tires come with the same tread depth all across, so if you're wearing the shoulders you need better camber control and higher pressure.

Try 40psi in a performance tire. Do you need snow traction?

 

[wantin150]

http://www.nittotire.com/index.html#index.tire.neogen.sizes

Supposed to be designed for sport compact vehicles with less than ideal alignment settings.

Not 100% your size but available in a 205-50-16.

 

[PRND3L]

I need tires and run the same size. I'm gonna' try the General Exclaim UHPs , which coincidentally have a relatively high UTQG for your requirements.

 

[benjamming]

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Do you need snow traction?

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He said summer tires in the first post, so I would safely assume no.

 

[Lorenzo]

There are some asymmetric tires like the Pirelli PZero with more robust tread blocks on the outside but these are ultra high performance tires that deliver very short life.

What kind of car is this, and what pressures are you running? How often do you rotate? My first guess is that you need to increase air pressure, and I wouldn't rule out an alignment problem.

If all else fails, you can always have the tires remounted to switch which sides are outside.

 

[ewetho]

You could try BFG tires, but what you have is an alignment issue. Not that it is out of manufacturer specification but out of driver needs specification. Look into getting more camber if possible and opening up the toe a bit.

My Neon is an exercise in this. I have had mine done about 10-12K now and showing a bit of outside wear myself from the same problem. However my wear is minimized by having about .8 degrees of negative camber on all corners and toe is near ZERO front and rear. The tire wear for the first half of life after modification was dead flat but more higher speed corners (While I push it a bit never past about 80% for safety sake) now shows outer wear fun continued fun driving.

 

[Rand]

I'd try rotating them often and putting an extra 6-10PSI of air in them. the air will make the center of the tire support more weight of the car and decrease the sidewall flex in turns.
you could also try upgrading your suspension... swaybars .. and maybe checking for excessive slop because 8000mi WOW thats fast. what kind of car??

 

[moribundman]

To all of you: It's not less wear I seek, it's more tread!

The alignment is perfect. Toe is practically zero. The car came from the factory with lots of toe-in. It was eating my tires alive. The wear issue is only due to curve speed, and I'm not going to change my driving style anymore. It's too late for that. I've had this issue with all my cars, even with my Chevy wagon. It's not the alignment, it's ME.

I don't want to go wider than 205 mm. Our roads are bad enough and I do not want to increase tramlining and the chance of picking up a nail or screw. I also don't have any horsepower to spare, since my A4's engine is a tad anemic.

I never had good luck with Pirelli tires. The tire I liked most was the Michelin Pilot Sport MXX3. It did have a sidewall that was extremely stiff, and that made the car run like on rails. The cost ($225 per tire back in '98) was just too high and they lasted less than 10k miles.

The suspension includes a fairly massive swaybar. I change the bushings and mounts every couple years. The tires do not show any signs of saw tooth or cupping. Tire pressure is as high as I can go without wrecking my tailbone.

The red area shows where I need more tread. Wear across the "normal" contact patch area is ideal.

 

[moribundman]

I looked through my records and found out that the Goodyear tire with the extra tread on the shoulder was the Eagle GS-C.

 

[moribundman]

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If all else fails, you can always have the tires remounted to switch which sides are outside.

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Unfortunately, these tires have an inside and an outside sidewall.

 

[eljefino]

Are you sure from the tire factory that the outside tread is cut as deeply as the middle tread? This is a poor example of what I'm talking about on a Kumho; the shoulder block has a half-deep groove to the middle channel:

In other words, despite being "bald", you may have 6/32" or so of rubber to wear off before getting down to "worn out" or the cords etc.

 

[Lorenzo]

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To all of you: It's not less wear I seek, it's more tread!

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I've never heard of a tire with more tread in any one portion of the tire. If you've verified your alignment, suspension and pressure is OK, then you might simply be experiencing the cost of aggressive driving. The next options would be harder tires with less performance or slowing down.

If it makes you feel any better, I just dropped about $400 on a set of tires for my motorcycle that will last one track weekend. So 8,000 miles doesn't sound that bad to me right now ...

 

[moribundman]

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Are you sure from the tire factory that the outside tread is cut as deeply as the middle tread?

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No, of course the tire has not as much tread on the shoulder as it has across the contact patch. The tread tapers to maybe only 2 mm depth. That's why I said I wanted a tire with more tread on the edge.

On your demo picture, the indicated wear is still on the "normal" contact patch" (still on top of a tread wear indicator). The wear I am talking about is farther out (See blue area):

 

[moribundman]

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To all of you: It's not less wear I seek, it's more tread!

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I've never heard of a tire with more tread in any one portion of the tire.

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I didn't ask for more thread on the shoulder than there was across the tire. I asked for more thread than there was on the shoulder to begin with. The tread depth is obviously highest across the contact patch are and than tapers (?) out to barely anything. I guess that 50 nice sharp turns can rub out the shoulder edge tread.

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If you've verified your alignment, suspension and pressure is OK, then you might simply be experiencing the cost of aggressive driving. The next options would be harder tires with less performance or slowing down. If it makes you feel any better, I just dropped about $400 on a set of tires for my motorcycle that will last one track weekend. So 8,000 miles doesn't sound that bad to me right now ...

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Yeah, I know. I was just HOPING that somebody would know of a tire that had a bit more meat on the shoulder. Maybe I should try the Eagle GS-C again? Surely they have it improved since I tried a set 8 or nine years ago?

 

[Lorenzo]

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Maybe I should try the Eagle GS-C again? Surely they have it improved since I tried a set 8 or nine years ago?

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I would look to the Tirerack reviews in the ultra high performance category. The Conti Sport Contact isn't rated very well over there, so perhaps there are better choices out there now.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresu...16&filter=y