rotating rear tires on rwd drive

[TechBoyJK]

hey guys.. i have a z4, and my rear tires wear much quicker on the inside tread than outside.

would it be ok to have the tires pulled off, and swapped so that the driver's rear tire gets moved to the passenger rear so that the the outside (not worn much) becomes the inside?

 

[Howard]

Camber.

It'll work if they're non-directional tires, but just follow a regular tire rotation procedure in any case.

 

[sdifox]

alignment work first

then move the rears to the front. Unless you are staggered.

 

[exdeath]

Keep your tires inflated. Negative camber (normal on any kind of sports oriented car) + under inflation = rapid inner tire wear.

More than likely you can't rotate any of the tires. They are probably unidirectional so they can't swap sides, and staggered (wider in the rear) so you can't swap front to rear.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Rtfm

 

[Skurge]

Keep your tires inflated. Negative camber (normal on any kind of sports oriented car) + under inflation = rapid inner tire wear.

More than likely you can't rotate any of the tires. They are probably unidirectional so they can't swap sides, and staggered (wider in the rear) so you can't swap front to rear.

Can you explain unidirectional? I've had trouble understanding the concept.

 

[punjabiplaya]

A unidirectional tire is only designed to rotate in one direction. So if you move it to the other side of the car (ie driver side to passenger side) the treads, etc... will not work properly as it is designed to rotate in the opposite direction.

 

[sdifox]

A unidirectional tire is only designed to rotate in one direction. So if you move it to the other side of the car (ie driver side to passenger side) the treads, etc... will not work properly as it is designed to rotate in the opposite direction.

I think he means taking the tire off the rim and swap them.

 

[overst33r]

I would say toe out is much more likely to cause inner tire wear than neg camber. Especially because you'd have to run 3+ degrees to even notice the wear with neg camber.

 

[thomsbrain]

This is only a problem if you have asymmetrical and directional tires, meaning you have assigned left and right tires that can only be mounted in one direction. Those tires can only be "rotated" front to back, and the Z4 probably has staggered tire sizes that make that impossible, too.

But your typical directional tire can be rotated side to side, as long as you actually remove the tires from the rims to do it. If you just swap rims, they'll end up facing backwards.

As for the tire wear, it is typical for cars with high negative rear camber that are not driven hard to wear on the inside. Plenty of less-spirited S2000 drivers report the same wear patterns. The solution is to turn faster.

 

[speedy2]

I would even say the tire swap wouldn't work either since a lot of these tires also are only meant to be mounted 1 way. Meaning only a certain side facing out. Add staggered sizes front to back, and that leaves you with 1 tire for each corner. Live with it, fix the problem, or get new tires.

 

[TechBoyJK]

-The Tread is directional.
-Wheels are staggered. Rear's are wider than fronts.
-Checked receipt, nothing is noted about the tires being different from left to right.
-I was told the z4's rear tires would wear like that by design.. Dealer even said that.
-I "have fun" in the car, so I'm sure I accelerated the wear

My idea was that I remove the tires from the rear wheels, and simply swap sides. This would put the sidewalls that face the outside, on the inside, so it would reverse what side is getting worn.

Tires are about $230 new.. so if it costs $40 to rotate them like that and I get a few more months out of them, then I'm thinking it's worth it.

 

[obamanation]

Camber.

It'll work if they're non-directional tires, but just follow a regular tire rotation procedure in any case.

believe it or not, toe can have a larger effect than camber.. Really, the OP just needs to get an alignment to make sure the car is within spec, and if he's paranoid about tire longevity and doesn't care about handling, he could just have the alignment zeroed out.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I've noticed a lot of BMW cars have a lot of rear camber. I'm not talking about modified ones either.

 

[JulesMaximus]

-The Tread is directional.
-Wheels are staggered. Rear's are wider than fronts.
-Checked receipt, nothing is noted about the tires being different from left to right.
-I was told the z4's rear tires would wear like that by design.. Dealer even said that.
-I "have fun" in the car, so I'm sure I accelerated the wear

My idea was that I remove the tires from the rear wheels, and simply swap sides. This would put the sidewalls that face the outside, on the inside, so it would reverse what side is getting worn.

Tires are about $230 new.. so if it costs $40 to rotate them like that and I get a few more months out of them, then I'm thinking it's worth it.

If they are already worn you might notice even worse handling by doing that because now you have a smaller contact patch in the rear. You might get oversteer by doing that.

 

[Pariah]

-The Tread is directional.
-Wheels are staggered. Rear's are wider than fronts.
-Checked receipt, nothing is noted about the tires being different from left to right.
-I was told the z4's rear tires would wear like that by design.. Dealer even said that.
-I "have fun" in the car, so I'm sure I accelerated the wear

My idea was that I remove the tires from the rear wheels, and simply swap sides. This would put the sidewalls that face the outside, on the inside, so it would reverse what side is getting worn.

Tires are about $230 new.. so if it costs $40 to rotate them like that and I get a few more months out of them, then I'm thinking it's worth it.

There's no such thing as a left or right tire. What makes them left or right is if the tread is unidirectional like yours are. If you mount the tire on a wheel you have on the right side of the car, then the tire needs to stay on the right side of the tire, unless you unmount the tire and flip it around on the wheel, then it has to go on the left side of the car.

Unmounting the tire and flipping it wouldn't make any sense. Assuming you have similar inner tire wear on both rear tires, swapping them side to side wouldn't serve any purpose. It would likely cost more than $40 to have 2 tires unmounted and remounted and rotated. Get an alignment. If the wear is bad, replace the rear tires as well.

 

[TechBoyJK]

There's no such thing as a left or right tire. What makes them left or right is if the tread is unidirectional like yours are. If you mount the tire on a wheel you have on the right side of the car, then the tire needs to stay on the right side of the tire, unless you unmount the tire and flip it around on the wheel, then it has to go on the left side of the car.

Unmounting the tire and flipping it wouldn't make any sense. Assuming you have similar inner tire wear on both rear tires, swapping them side to side wouldn't serve any purpose. It would likely cost more than $40 to have 2 tires unmounted and remounted and rotated. Get an alignment. If the wear is bad, replace the rear tires as well.

I think you are missing the point..

They are directional.. If I pull the tires off and swap them around, but keep the directions correct, what was once the inside of the tire will be on the outside. On the driver's rear, the right side of the tire is on the inside. If I were to place that tire on the passenger's rear, the right side would be on the outside.

 

[TechBoyJK]

I've noticed a lot of BMW cars have a lot of rear camber. I'm not talking about modified ones either.

The dealer told me that.. It's by design to create grip and I can expect the inside tread to wear quicker than the outside. If I switch around the tires on the rear (but keep the direction forward) it would swap which side is inside... placing the good tread in where it wears quickest.

 

[TechBoyJK]

my question is.. would it get me by for a few months and save some tread? I'm wanting to get nicer tires and will have the money to buy good ones (all weather tires) in about two months. So I'm just wondering if it would be a ok quick fix. it's not as bad as the pic above but it's getting there. THe front tires are fine. Probably last at least another year. I've had them for almost a year and don't look worn much at all. (the fronts).

The outside tread on the rear looks like the fronts. Still really good. It's the inside tread on the rears that is starting to get run down. I had the dealer look at it and they said thats how it is. NTB tech said the same thing when I bought the tires. They are Generals summer tires.

 

[LTC8K6]

The dealer told me that.. It's by design to create grip and I can expect the inside tread to wear quicker than the outside. If I switch around the tires on the rear (but keep the direction forward) it would swap which side is inside... placing the good tread in where it wears quickest.

Yes, you can do that. Dismount and swap sides.

However, if it's only going to be two months until you get new tires, you can probably just wait and be okay if you don't beat on them too much.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Yes, you can do that. Dismount and swap sides.

However, if it's only going to be two months until you get new tires, you can probably just wait and be okay if you don't beat on them too much.

Well, if it would last longer, I would wait to swap them. I drove down my last rear tires until they popped.. tread was still great on the outside. these were expensive all weather run flats too. $550 each. I bought cheaper, non runflats this time around, so I kind of want to experiment to see how these react to swapping sides.. That way if I buy the better tires, I'll know if I can do that again.

 

[jtvang125]

If it's not too badly worn on the inside then yes you can swap them to get a few more miles out of them. If they're practically bald then I wouldn't risk it and just get new tires and do an alignment.

 

[LTC8K6]

I can't see any problem with the swap. I'd try it if it were my money.