Impreza tyre wear

[Reidy10_0]

How many miles should you get out a set of tyres.
I drive reasonably but have a hoon now and again but nothing crazy.

I have a 2006 WRX from new with 14K miles, when i asked the dealer why the car is eating front tyres he said i was lucky as most new WRX cars get new front tyres after 10K miles.

The tyres are worn on the outside edges, what would be the cause?
I have checked the tracking and it is spot on.

[mneame]

i've only ever had to change tyres once on my imprezas. i covered around 20k miles in mine and sold the car before the tyres needed replacing again.

get the car to someone who can do a 4 wheel geometry check and setup. where abouts are you? thre are 2 very good places i can think of in essex if that is of any help?

[rustybin]

That doesn't sound too bad to me. Outside edges wearing is generally a result of enthusiastic cornering. A touch more negative camber may help you out and make the front a little pointier.

[el_f*ckwit]

I had the same issue with 2005 WRX Wagon. Told by the dealer that outside edges are caused by enthusiastic cornering - but - I would also check the inside edges, not something that you can obviously see, but they wear there too. I lunched a front set in 7000 miles. In the end I got a (Hunter?) full laser geometry alignment check about 10 miles onto a new front set - the alignment was off on all four wheels although the rears were pretty mild. Again asked the dealer about the fact that the car is supposed to be checked in the UK off the boat from Japan and was told that it was definitely done - this accompanied by shrugs. The wear has definitely calmed down since the alignment check.

Next ones to watch out for are the clunking rear shocks - going slowly forward or even more noticeably, slowly in reverse (changed under warranty on mine) and the high pitched harmonic whine at around 62 mph that comes from the diff (again changed under warranty on mine - but back again already) because they all do that apparently.

Wouldn't change the car though as I love driving it. Going to get a performance pack? Definitely worth it in my opinion.

[ScoobieWRX]

I find my 02 WRX sportwagon goes through rear tyres (inside edges due to neg camber) a lot quicker than the fronts. In fact my fronts seem to last really well with no visible wear inside or outside edges, very even across the whole tread, so i rotate the tyres (when i can be bothered) to eek some more mileage out of them. I find my Toyo's are pretty hard wearing and do the job.

I must admit though that i had a geometry check on mine recently and the car was out all round so it has been reset to manufacturers spec and it drives really well again.

[Reidy10_0]

I had the tracking checked and they told me it was spot on and charged £30
Funny how most people accept what the dealer tells you so easily.
I dont think an answer like "your lucky most people only get 10K miles) is a very good one.
I will look in to getting the geometry checked but I will be well pi%^$£sed if it is also spot on.

What is the legal tyre tread depth spec.?
I remember hearing something along the lines of if the tread is legal and covers ¾ of the tyre the it is OK, is this correct?

Thanks for the advice

[cptsideways]

Understeer anyone

[GravelBen]

ScoobieWRX said:

I find my 02 WRX sportwagon goes through rear tyres (inside edges due to neg camber) a lot quicker than the fronts.

Same with the Legacies I've had, I tend to wear the outside edges of the rears quickest. Though I think that may be due more to driving style and gravel roads than the car.

Edited by GravelBen on Thursday 25th October 16:59

[pbsaxman]

Reidy10_0 said:

I had the tracking checked and they told me it was spot on and charged £30
Funny how most people accept what the dealer tells you so easily.
I dont think an answer like "your lucky most people only get 10K miles) is a very good one.
I will look in to getting the geometry checked but I will be well pi%^$£sed if it is also spot on.

What is the legal tyre tread depth spec.?
I remember hearing something along the lines of if the tread is legal and covers ¾ of the tyre the it is OK, is this correct?

Thanks for the advice

Centre 3/4 is correct but mine just failed its MOT on the rears. Inner and outer wear failed as the tester felt that it encroached into the 3/4. Not so in my view but no accurate width measurement taken just done by eye and you have little or no option but to accept or pay up and re-test somewhere else. The tyres were due to be changed two days later when I returned south to the tyre place that charges me £82 per tyre as opposed to the £97 that they wanted up here After a bit of 'negotiation' the place up here came down to £83 which I accepted. I only mention all this as it was the inner wear I hadn't noticed!!

[DocJock]

If you are getting inner and outer wear on the same tyre you are running them underinflated for your driving style.

[Evil.soup]

I also have an 06 WRX and changed the wheels and tyres at about 12-14k. To tell the fruth they were not too bad althought the outside front did have a little extra wear.

The car has just reached 20.5k and i have just replaced the wheels and tyres again, the last ones were about 50% worn but i have had fast road geometry so the wear is a little more on the inside now.

I think its fair to say that only a handful of lively runs is enough to take 4-6k off the life of the tyres, if you dont want to burn them, you will have to drive slower im afraid

[pbsaxman]

DocJock said:

If you are getting inner and outer wear on the same tyre you are running them underinflated for your driving style.

Run them at the book stated 33(F) 28(R). Handling is pretty good at that but open to suggestions

[ScoobieWRX]

For the 2002 WRX tyre pressures (manufacturers spec) are 33front 32rear and that is for 215/45/17's. TSL advise 34fronts 32rears and i imagine that's pretty spot on for most. I run mine 36fronts 34rears for my sportwagon, but the tyres are 225/45/17. Mines a bit heavier than the 4dr and although it runs ok on TSL specs, it feels better on my pressures and i've had nearly 3yrs to experiment.

For a trackday i would probably go a bit higher still, although if i went to Santa Pod for the 1/4 mile drag i would probably lower them to 25/26 all round for more take off grip

[cw42]

Reidy10_0 said:

How many miles should you get out a set of tyres.
I drive reasonably but have a hoon now and again but nothing crazy.

I have a 2006 WRX from new with 14K miles, when i asked the dealer why the car is eating front tyres he said i was lucky as most new WRX cars get new front tyres after 10K miles.

The tyres are worn on the outside edges, what would be the cause?
I have checked the tracking and it is spot on.

10k. Goodyear eagle f1's purchased just after my 40k service in August last year, just had to buy 2 new front tyres before my 50k service in august this year.
my03 sti. fast road geometry, whiteline arb, f&r. whiteline alk. f&r interior strut braces, stock suspension.
I'll be getting 2 new tyres for the rears at the end of november. They'll have done about 11k.
I always rotate my wheels, after being stung when I first got into scooby ownership and my old classic needed 2 new tyres that were worn on the inside edges.

[stevieb]

I have a 2004, the problem you may have is the geometry setting on the car..

I have the Prodrive setting with standard WRX suspension and my previous set lasted 25k miles (bridgestones). But i do a lot of easy moorway driving. My currnt rear tyres are well on the whole 4mm with the exception of the passenger side rear which has 4-5mm on the inside and is completely worn on the outseide edge due to hard cornering (current Set are Toyo- T1R).

Rotate your tyres every couple of months of 3k miles to even out the wear.

Last factor would be your tyre pressures.

[Reidy10_0]

Thanks for the advice.
It may be something to do with tyre pressure as i am bad for not checking them.
Can anyone tell me more about the problem with the rear shocks, mine do nock a bit but Subaru said they were fine.

Cheers

[stevieb]

Reidy10_0 said:

Thanks for the advice.
It may be something to do with tyre pressure as i am bad for not checking them.
Can anyone tell me more about the problem with the rear shocks, mine do nock a bit but Subaru said they were fine.

Cheers

Rear suspension is only a major factor on a Newage STi. Over speed humps etc my creaks and bangs a bit, but i have just come to live with it mine has covered 60k miles in 3.5 years and still all original.