I went to Twin City Mazda to have my oil changed and the tires rotated.The rear tires show quite a bit more wear than the front. when I got my car back it looked like the tires had not been rotated. The Mechanic told me that the rx8 wears the rear more because of the 50 50 weight distribution. I do not do burnouts or accelerate hard very much. I live in an area with a lot of curves so most of my faster driving is turning. I check my tire pressure regularly and maintain 32 psi. Has anyone noticed that their rear tires wear more than the front? Thanks

 

regardless of driving style the drive wheels almost always wear out faster than the non-driving wheels, so yes the rear tires on the 8 wear out faster than the fronts.

 

Some more opinions: https://www.rx8club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56704

 

what do you do more accelerate or stop?

I usualy get even tread ware with my cars, with a little more on the rear wheels (RWD)

If you do a lot of quick accele or you get on the gas a lot the rears (drive wheels) should go first...

if your really easy on it, they will be even or maby a bit on the rear.

Also when driving do you feel a lot of understeer? or oversteer?

 

Thanks for the info. I must be gettin senile in my old age.I do a lot of fast turning going to and from work as I live in Townsend Tn right next to the Great Smoky Mtns park line. It is pretty curvy for about 8 mi. of my 20 mile trip to work .It only makes sense that the drive wheels will wear a little faster on a rwd car. Guess I need to rotate my tires again!! Thanks all.

 

To revisit this - I've read a number of different things.

EricMeyer (who clearly knows his stuff) and one other guy posted on here saying that, at least in a TRACK situation, fronts will wear more because of all the turning. And tire scrubbing, etc. From two measly track days, I think i'd have to agree with this myself.

I would imagine that most powerful RWD cars would wear the rears before the fronts, especially with lots of heavy acceleration and/or tire chirping.

But what do we think is the case for the rx8 with normal, or more aggressive, street driving?? I never do any burnouts or anything, but I do a lot of hard twisty-road-driving.
Anyone have any personal experience about this??

This thread suggests it's the rears, but people say conflicting things:
https://www.rx8club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56704

(I'm mostly asking cause i'm in a bind with a weird tire situation after getting a puncture, and it matters to me fixing it. Thaaaaanks)

 

This sounded like a riddle to me. Here's one for you what came first the chicken or the egg?

 

mmmmmmm nope. actually hoping to hear people's experiences with this...

 

It's always better to put something like this out of your mind.
Checking the wear and rotating your tires is something everyone should be doing.
When your tire gets near/below the recommended tread depth, replace.

Provided your rotating your tires then you should have near enough wear to justify replacing all four tires, even if you dont, replace them all anyway. People will spend 1200 bucks on a CF intake, 2400 on a lithium battery, 6500 on a body kit, 4500 on a new paint job.. and we all "ooo" and "ahhh".

Now match that to people going out and finding some killer deal on tires, buying 4 super duper no name tires, getting them mounted and balanced, and filled with donkey sperm for 500 bucks. People still applaud that and it makes baby jesus cry.

The tires are one of the most dramatic changes you can make to your car and people really need to start getting onboard and looking at them that way.


/end rant


Sorry all, i'm super sick right now and it's making me very "get off my lawn you young kids"

 

alignment could play a role in this as well.

+1 to what laythor said.

 

very +1.

Alignment is very important and one of those things you want to get local recommendations about where to go to get one done.

 

Guys, I don't want to be a dick here, but I merely asked for some info about people's experiences. I'm WELL informed about the basics of tire rotation, the need for it, and so on.

I had a puncture and one corner now has a slightly different tire on it for the moment. I'm just trying to optimize tire rotation after that incident, feel it out, and see if it justifies spending six hundred dollars on 2 new pirelli's for the front axle when the honest answer is probably "no".

Also, in my experience, the rears wear faster on the street, but after a track day the fronts have been scrubbed more noticeably. I don't have any quanitfiable data on this, which is why I'm asking.

So please don't make assumptions. My alignment is fine. You assumed I was having uneven F-R wear problems, when I never stated any such thing. I just asked generalized questions. Instead you just insulted me based on your ungrounded assumptions.

I thought I laid out a pretty reasonable background for my question, and just asked if people have any thoughts on the matter.

 

Well do not get your panties all twisted. FWIW I was actually responding to the original post and did not realize you bumped the thread. LOL my bad...

 

with temp, tire composition, condition of surface you're driving on, and how you drive all being personal and varied.. i really don't think we'll ever see a universally accepted method for which wear out faster.

If you're trying to get the most out of the oddball tire I would say just keep a close eye on all tires and do a standard rotation. As long as you're staying on top of them you shouldn't end up with any issues.

 

Ok, here's good data.

My stock sport GT 6spd auto with Kumho SPT's was wearing the the rears twice as fast, and I'm obviously not chirping them on acceleration.

The rear camber was about -2.1 deg, but when I realigned with -1.65 rear camber, and -1.7 front on Hankook Ventus V12's all 4 tires are wearing evenly with maybe the most wear on the inside front since I track, and the fronts are slight toe out.

My theory is with the rears straightened up there is less camber flex from up and down motion of the rears, and also the right rear was always setting off the DSC when turning right, but not anymore.

 

hrmm ok, thanks. thats what most people seem to be saying regarding street use. Though I do get the feeling some people are just saying "obviously" the rears bc its a rwd car, and not actually based on their experience with the tires.

yea a lot of camber seems to kill tires pretty quickly on this car. pretty aggressive stuff...

 

I know, i know! The chicken! If there is no chicken, there is no egg