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      08-27-2011, 11:00 AM   #1
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Are these Bridgestone Potenza RE050A normal after 10,500 miles?

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Brand new Bridgestone Potenza RE050A

Rear tyres of my car after 10,500 miles
NSR

OSR

As you can see the second section from the outside of both rear tyres have worn out more. The treads of the second section of NSR have nearly gone completely.

New car warranty only covers wheel alignment for the first 12 months or 12,000 miles. But can I still argue for a free wheel alignment check before putting 2 new tyres on? Or are Bridgestone just rubbish and have uneven wear pattern?
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      08-27-2011, 05:28 PM   #2
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Very soft tires check your tire pressure
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      08-27-2011, 06:08 PM   #3
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Normal?

This is a photo of my RE050A from this morning.

less than 18,000 km, or about 11,500 miles.

Yes, the white on the inside edge is canvas.
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      08-27-2011, 08:25 PM   #4
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I think those of you that are experiencing what I would call excessive inboard wear, have got to be on the high side or out of tolerance for negative camber. I would have the dealer check the alignment and reset it to the lowest possible negative camber that is still within spec. Rubbish if your dealer tells you this is normal.
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      08-28-2011, 02:30 AM   #5
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Dr stig.... what's your alignment specs?

Op: how aggressively do you drive?
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      08-28-2011, 02:53 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by persian54 View Post
Dr stig.... what's your alignment specs?
Persian,

Dont know - but I will be getting my tyre shop to look at it in the moorning when they fit the new Goodyear Asymetrics...

Visually, I am running a > 5 degree rear camber, which explains the tread wear. The contact surface is putting extreme pressure on the inside edges.
I dont drive agressively enough most of the time to justify such an agressive camber setting.
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      08-28-2011, 03:03 AM   #7
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I have to say that I do take corners at speed (average: 50 mph). I don't do motorway/highway journeys. Most journeys are twisty single-lane country roads.

Dr Stig: I think the wheel alignment of my car is okay then. I had searched Bridgestone RFT wear on the internet, and most E90/92 have very similar tyre wear pattern after 10,000 miles.

I set the front tyre at 2.5 bar and rear at 3.0 bar, which are recommended by BMW.

Last edited by shadowfax777; 08-28-2011 at 03:19 AM..
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      08-28-2011, 04:22 AM   #8
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These RE050A's have 28,000 km on them. 70% Autobahn, 30% "B" roads and about 50 laps on the Ring. My last set wore the inside edge off in 15,000 km, had the rear camber reduced to -1.5 when this set went on. There is a small reduction in cornering, but only noticable when pushing really hard but straight line stability has not changed. These are 255-30x19's on 313 wheels, and I usually drive it like I just stole it. Tire Pressure is maintained at 33 in front and 41 in the rear

BMW Camber settings have always been a bit agressive...
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Last edited by ChuckB; 08-28-2011 at 04:49 AM.. Reason: forgot to show negative camber
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      08-29-2011, 07:59 AM   #9
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Turns out the camber and toe on the left rear were all out of whack and the right rear toe was out as well. The tyre shop couldn't adjust them to spec so I'm taking it in to the dealer on friday to see what's wrong.

Ps the new Goodyear asymmetricals make a huge difference.
Only the rears fitted so far. The fronts arrive next week.
I'll post a review shortly thereafter to compare the non RFT with the OEM.
I can say already the goodyears have more grip.
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      08-29-2011, 08:01 AM   #10
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i noticed that rear wheels are a bit tilted so this would explain the uneven wear, i had the same issue on E92 335 back in 2007
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      08-30-2011, 04:53 PM   #11
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Mine ate tires until the dealer adjusted the camber, these have 12,000 miles on them and they're wearing pretty well.
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      08-30-2011, 07:41 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frunty View Post
Mine ate tires until the dealer adjusted the camber, these have 12,000 miles on them and they're wearing pretty well.
Adjusted to which settings?

Mine is going in on Friday (Thursday your time) and it would be good to tell them what to set it to.
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      08-30-2011, 08:11 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HerrK View Post
I think those of you that are experiencing what I would call excessive inboard wear, have got to be on the high side or out of tolerance for negative camber. I would have the dealer check the alignment and reset it to the lowest possible negative camber that is still within spec. Rubbish if your dealer tells you this is normal.
I agree 100%

As HerrK said

1) lowest negative chamber say 1% max and of course alignment is key.

I like to add what I was told by a well experience US Tire Shop Manager

2) He recommended that if you drive a lot with the top down, increase the rear tire pressure by 4 psi. In his own words he said "I've seen this a lot with cars like this roof in the trunk some luggage and that negative chamber will give you this kind of inside premature tire wear, add 10% more air to your rear wheels if you drive a lot with the top down"

My Z4 35i rear tires also showed extreme inside wear after some 13,303 KM road trip last year.
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      08-30-2011, 08:58 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Stig 2 View Post
Adjusted to which settings?

Mine is going in on Friday (Thursday your time) and it would be good to tell them what to set it to.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Silver-Bolt View Post
Most dealers do not have alignment racks in house. They farm it out. In the NW we have a chain of tire stores Les Schwab that does great work.

According to my print out from them here are the specs.

"BMW - e89 sport suspension (includind VDC suspension/adaptive M suspension) 19" wheels". (2009-up)

Front:

Camber: -.1 to -1.1 degrees
Caster: 6.5 degrees (no range listed)
Toe: .02 deg to .22 deg
SAI: 14.2 deg
Included Angle: 13.6 deg

Rear:

Camber: -1.9 to -2.8 deg
Toe: .05 deg to .25 deg.

Those are listed as the factory recommended specs.
Have them set it at the minimum -1.9°. I estimate/measure -1.6° on mine using the carpenter square method with car unloaded (no weight & 1/2 tank gas). Most BMW alignments require some weight in the pass & driver seat to account for real world.

No excessive inboard tire wear issue on mine at ~13K miles.
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      08-31-2011, 12:50 AM   #15
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Hope this doesn't scare you guys too much:



That's 5k miles and 6 track days on my M3

I was being ignorant and not watching the tire pressure

I also need more neg camber

I'll be needing a new set of tires every 6 months. o well
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      09-02-2011, 02:08 AM   #16
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Hey Guys,

Dealer adjusted them today.

Rear camber now

L -1deg 39min
R -1deg 39min

Which is the BMW minimum allowable tolerance.

Rear Toe

L +0deg 10min
R +0deg 11min

Fronts made more upright as well.

Steering feels lighter already.
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      09-02-2011, 04:27 AM   #17
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Rear camber should be closer to -2 deg and front camber close to -0.5.
Rear toe 0.09, front 0.07
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      09-02-2011, 08:28 AM   #18
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i had the same thing with my 3 series, the rear wheel allignment is a little different from front. ( camber adjustment needed )and you dont have much to play with.
i had new tires installed and 4 wheel allignment done !! the car is allover the road now.
i have another appointment scheduled for re-allignment. make sure have someone know what he is doing to do allingnment
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      09-02-2011, 05:06 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jannisa View Post
Rear camber should be closer to -2 deg and front camber close to -0.5.
Rear toe 0.09, front 0.07
Those figures are the centre of the acceptable range Jannisa.

They quote -2 deg 04 mins plus or minus 25 minutes as the range for the rear camber.
I merely had mine set to the minimum camber (-1,39') to try and offset the uneven tyre wear (and short life) of the rear tyres.

Likewise, the rear toe is +9 minutes plus or minus 6 minutes, so 10 or 11 minutes is within the acceptable range.

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      09-03-2011, 06:18 AM   #20
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I suggested to set the rear camber at the minimum recommended tollerance of -2 deg because the adaptive suspension has a mind of its own while accelerating through corners. Even if you select sport or sport+ you will feel the rear end a bit floaty and giving in when you accelerate hard while cornering or even in a straight line because the edc module dials in the force applied and attempts to "knee in" to allow the tires to gain maximum contact on the tarmac. Setting the camber lower will absorb this effect to a smaller percent and you will feel the rear end more grounded.

Either way you are absolutely fine at the moment, I 'm just saying that we shouldn't be afraid of the lower limits of the rear camber.
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      09-03-2011, 11:03 PM   #21
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if anyone is interested, i have a 255/35/18 tire from my 09 Z4 FS

I personally never drove on them, but they have about 9k miles

see:
http://e89.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=579488
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      09-07-2011, 09:15 PM   #22
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Tyre Update

Road Test

Goodyear F1 Assymetric 2 (non-RFT)

Wheels: 326M with 225/35R19 front and 255/30R19 rears.

I've had the rear tyres on for nearly two weeks now, and they offer much more grip than the OEM Bridgestone RE050 RFTs.
It was hard to tell about ride quality when the fronts were still the Bridgestones but I could hear and feel a noticable difference in the thump when you hit even the smallest road obstacle between the front and rear tyre. (eg a cat's eye)

This morning the fronts arrived and I now have the Goodyears all round.

Wow!

Why oh why did I wait this long to ditch the RFT?

The car feels softer, with slightly more roll in the corners (only slightly) but the ride quality over bumps and lumps is massively improved.
In overall grip they are not a huge step forward, but they are better none the less.
In the last two weeks I have felt the front go into understeer far more than ever before, as the back keep pushing and the front gave up the ghost.

I haven't tested the limit of the lateral G as yet, but initial indications are we are on a winner.
Two thumbs up.

Next step is to book the Zed in for a rattle repair at the dealer, and see how long it lasts with the more compliant ride.

PS - my new Contour GPS camera has arrived and has been fixed (took three cameras and three days to do it) so I can now do some in car videoing with associated GPS speed and location monitoring.
The GPS only works on 4Hz though, so it is not a replacement for a good video V Box system for mapping out acceleration times, but fine for mountain drives and track days.
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