Can anyone chime in and tell me what causes this kind of tire wear?

 

Ha! That's how my tires look. I have good tread on the outsides, none on the insides. It gets worse if you have wider wheels.

 

Alignment and lack or rotation might be the issue?? I think if the middle wears out first, it's a sign of over inflation so maybe lack of pressure caused the sides to do that??

 

too much camber

 

Thanks for the info. I'm assuming a competent alignment shop can correct this or is this something inherent with the 19 x 9.5 wheels I have ?

 

Yep wheels too big for the shock and coils so the set the alignment so you won't rub.

Wheels off set is incorrect.

 

HCTR,

What you see in those pixs is the huge negative caster the RX-8 comes with stock. My car had a rear camber of about -1.7 degrees. The technician dialed out as much as he could but my car still has -.7 degrees.



The effect is serious inside tire wear. The -1.7 number is the same no matter the width of the tire, but it does have bigger effect on wider tires. Even people with stock tires are having this problem. Some negative camber is good (say -.5 degrees) but -1.7 degrees is too much.

I have a staggered set-up similar to yours with 275's on the back and 245's on the front. My current tires are wearing much better than my first set, but with the -.6 degrees I still get more wear on the inside of the tire. This goes for the front and the back. (I don't know if the RX-8's front camber can be adjusted or the tech just left it as is.) I want to stress that even my stock tires had terrible inside wear and cupping.

Rotating helps a little but no matter what corner of the car you put the tire on, the inside is still the inside. The only way to fight the problem is to rotate your tires from one side of the vehicle to the other and remount them in the process (i.e. but the worn inside on the outside of the rim)

Good luck, agressive factory allignments are eating through people's tires. (oh, and making them noisey in the process)

-Mr. Wigggles