Tried the search with no luck. I recently had my STR in for service at the dealer to check, among other things, tire balance and road noise. The dealer found no problems, but remarked the front tires are starting to cup on the inside. No mention of needing an alignment. The car drives straight with no pulling to either side.

Today I just checked the front tires and found that both front tires are almost worn down on the inside. Also, the cupping is very noticeable.

Is this normal for these cars/tires? I read the ContiSportContacts have an issue with cupping. They are the original tires and there are 11K miles on the car. Will things go back to normal with a different brand of tires or did I just waist a set of tires due to bad alignment?

Thanks in advance

 

I have no issues with cupping or uneven wear... my only problem is that I'm going through a set of rear tires every 5k miles and fronts every 8k.... and I cant figure out why.... maybe its because these pigs are soo heavy.. who knows..

 

hey Ron ive also had no problems with uneven wear. did you buy the car new or used? im thinking if its used there could have been a suspension problem, either damage or set up by the original owner that caused this and was then fixed before you bought it.

I will tell you i have sportcontact3's on my 7 series and they SUCK, and tire rack doesnt stand behind the tires they sell. They sent me 2 bad sets in a row and wouldnt do anything for me. [:'(]

Hope this helps

 

Ron, i would still recommend new tires and an alignment. If the front tires have opposite toe settings, it still won't pull, though the wear could still be there. you'll feel better with new tires anyway...then you can watch its wear patterns yourself.

 

Thanks for the replies.

We purchased the car used with 6000 miles. It's good to know this type of tire wear is not a typical problem. I'll go ahead with the alignment and new front tires. I'll also have them check the suspension for possible damage.

Thanks again for your help.

 

Ron,

My 2005 V6 S-Type was doing the same thing (cupping on the inside and the inside row of tread block wearing more than the rest) when I bought it. This is most often caused by an incorrect toe setting. In my case it was off by quite a bit. Is your steering wheel straight when going down the road? If it's not that's another indicator.

Just as an FYI, contrary to popular belief, front end alignment ALMOST NEVER causes a pull to either side. Just because your car goes straight down the road doesn't mean it's properly aligned. Toe is self centering and most cars do not have enough caster and camber adjustment range to force a pull. Most of the time when a car has a pull to one side it's caused by the tires (either inflation or what's known as radial tire pull).

Get it aligned before you smoke any more tires. Oh yeah, another common misconception is that a new car right from the factory is in alignment, most are not.

Later,
Wally

 

OK LETS SPIT OUT SOME FACTS, 03 AND UP STYPES HAD A FACTORY TOE SETTING CHANGE TO INCREASE TOE IN FOR TIRES BEING WORN OUT INSIDE WHICH INDICATES THERE TOO MUCH TOE OUT. MYSELF AND A COUPLE OTHER TECH HERE THAT ACTUALLY KNOW HOW TO DO ALIGNMENTS BASE ON WHAT WE SEE ON THE TIRES NOT JUST THE MACHINE KEPT TELLING JAGUAR THAT THE SPEC ARE INCORRECT, HOW ELSE DO YOU EXPLAIN THAT NEW CARS BACK THEN WHERE WEARING OUT TIRES IN FRONT IN LESS THAN 10K. AND SINCE IT WAS UNDER THE 12/12 JAGUAR WAS REPLACING THEM, GUESS WHAT, WHEN WE CHECKED THE ALIGNMENT IT SHOWED IT WAS RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE SPEC. WELL IN THIS CASE YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT THE TIRES ARE TELLING YOU THAT IT WANTS MORE TOE IN, JAGUAR FINALLY RELENTED AND CHANGED THE SPECS. NOW FOR THE FUN, THESE SHOULD HAVE BEEN LOADED INTO THE MACHINE, AND THEYLL SHOW UP AS CORRECTED SPECS, YOU HAVE TO SELCT THAT OR YOULL ALIGN TO THE OLD SPECS EVEN THEN WHEN DOING AN ALIGNMENT ON ALL CARS I PUSH OUT ON THE FRONT TIRES TO SIMULATE WHAT THEYLL DO DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD, AFTER ALL YOULL NEVER GET TO WORK SITTING ON AN ALIGNMENT MACHING. WHAT THIS DOES IS IT TAKES INTO ACCOUNT THE WEAR AND TOLERANCES IN YOUR CAR. IF I INITIALLY SET THE TOE AND PUSH OUT, AND THE TOE GOES OUT OF SPEC WITH TOO MUCH TOE OUT, I READJUST WITH MORE TOE IN UNTIL IT GOES INTO THE MIDDLE WHEN PUSHED OUT, AND MANY TIMES THIS MEENS I ACTUALLY TOE IN INTO THE RED OUT OF SPEC, BUT GUESS WHAT, MY ALIGNMENTS DONT WEAROUT TIRES. SO IF THE DEALERSHIP DOESNT SELECT THE UPDATED SPECS OR YOU LIKE TO GO ELSWHERE WHERE MOST DONT HAVE CORRECTED SPEC, THEN YOULL STILL END UP WITH INNNER TIRE WEAR. SIDE NOTE, THIS IS ALSO AN ISSUE WITH 04 AND UP XJ'S AS WELL BUT NO UPDATED SPECS, YOU JUST HAVE TO KNOW HOW TO ALIGN A CAR........ENOUGH OF CLASS FOR TODAY

 

Great info Brutal.

 

I autocross my Honda, and take it toa shop that will set the toe to specs I give. If you can find a shop to do that, I'd recommend it.
Aside from the tire wear, another way to tell you have too much toe out is if the car wanders or ruts and bumps make the wheels change direction at speed.

 

THE BEST WAY TO MONITOR IF YOUR CAR LIKES THE PRESENT TOE SETTING IS THIS, WITH A TIRE DEPTH GAUGE MEASURE THE INSIDE, THEN THE OUTSIDE TREAD BLOCKS. THERE SHOULD NEVER BE MORE THAN 2/32NDS OR 2MM DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE 2. IF THERE IS YOU NEED TO ADJUST THE TOE SETTING. FOR WHICHEVER IS WORN MORE, INNER OR OUTER TREAD BLOCKS. INSIDE WORNOUT, YOU NEED MORE TOE IN, OUTSIDE WORNOUT, YOUO NEED LESS TOE IN THAN PRESENT. AND POKER THATS BUMPSTEER, SO NAMED BECAUSE WHEN YOU HIT A BUMP THE SUSPENSION GEOMETRY ACTUALLY CHANGES THE STEERING DIRECTION SLIGHTLY. THE PREDOMINATE CAUSE IS A CAR NOT SET UP WITH ZERO BUMPSTEER. THE INNER TIE ROD PIVOT POINT AND LOWER CONTROL ARM PIVOT POINTS IN THE FRAME HAVE TO FOLLOW THE SAME ARC, OTHERWISE WHEN YOU HIT A BUMP AND THE SUSPENSION COMPRESSES, THE TIRE IS ACTUALLY PULLED OR PUSHED(SHORTENED OR LENGTHEN) AND CAUSES THIS. NOW WANDERING ON THE ROAD IS MOST OFTEN CAUSED(IS TIRES ARE OK) BY INSUFFIECIENT POSTIVE CASTER. ALL CAR HAVE TO HAVE POSITIVE CASTER BUT THE MORE YOU HAVE THE MORE THE CAR WANTS TO DRIVE STRAIGHT AND THE LESS IT WANDERS. ITS ALITTLE HARDER TO TURN AS CASTER IS WHAT MAKES A CAR RETURN TO CENTER AFTER YOU LET GO OF THE WHEEL IN A TURN. THIS ISNT A WEAR ANGLE, NEITHER IS POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE CAMBER UNTIL IT APRROACHES -2/+2 DEGREES. THE BIGGEST WEAR ANGLE IS THE TOE SETTING FRONT AND REAR. THATS WHY ON MY DRAG CAR IT CHANGED THE UPPER A ARMS AND MOUNTS TO ALLOW WAY MORE CASTER THAN THE FACTORY SETUP COULD GIVE, AFTER ALL I NEEDED IT TO STAY STRAIGHT AT 160MPH AND DONT EXACTLY TURN ON THE STRIP

 

Too much toe out makes the car want to change direction (at higher speed) too. At higher speeds, the tires tend totoe out leading to wander.

I had a bit of toe out put on my autocross car to give me better turn in to take advantage of that direction change desire. I didn't phrase it properly, I didn't mean to confuse with bumpsteer.

 

I've got an '03 STR that had that problem. Print out the TSB that was created to fix the pre-mature inner wear...it's a modified toe setting. I took the TSB with me to my shop and told them to use it when doing the alignment...that was about 5K miles ago, and have not noticed any uneven wear since. (I had it done the day after I bought a new set of front tires btw)...the old P-Zeros were wrecked because of the improper setting the last shop did on the alignment.

 

Just received a call from the dealer.

They put the car on the alignment rack and found no problems with the current settings. They say the cupping is from the tires being out of balance. I find it hard to believe both fronts are equally out of balance. Unfortunately, the tire wear will not recover with balancing so they are installing 2 new ContiSports on the front and balancing the rears.

Hopefully this will do the trick until the rears wear out and I can go with some Michelins.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

Were the "current settings" they mentioned the actual settings specified in the TSB that corrects the problem? If not, the settings could still look correct to them, but you will have the same problem with your new tires. Make sure they follow that TSB to a T or else you will be your Tire store's favorite customer.

P.S.
How did you like the ContiSports? I put Khumos on mine and they feel just as good as the P-Zeros...a little quieter too. Just curious...

 

I will have to follow up on the settings. Being a holiday weekend, they didn't have my paperwork ready so they are going to mail it to me.

As for the ContiSports, they will be great if I can get rid of this cupping issue. The car sounds like a 4X4 when coming to a stop. I read on one of the BMW sites that others have had cupping issues with the ContiSports. However, they also complained of the tires wearing fast which I'm not seeing (other than the cupping of course).

The ContiSportContacts I have now are discontinued. They have been replaced by ContiSportContact 2s which according to the dealer have a different tread pattern (I still have my old tires on the car).

So you like the Khumos? I sure like the price.... I'm thinking I might just change out all 4. I don't want different tires between the front and back.

 

Did you get the specs from the TSB? Or maybe Brutal can give you the numbers. Out of balance tires hop, they don't wear unevenly. Also, get the print out from the alignment.



BTW, I've got Kumho Ecsta ASXs on mine. I like them alot, except in light snow or worse. Dry and wet handling is pretty good, and they aren't loud.

 

I don't have the alignment specs. I have the TSB number from this site so I thought I would verify with the dealer that they are using the updated toe settings.

I saw the alignment printout at the dealer. Since I didn't have anything to compare with, the numbers didn't mean much to me. All where within spec though (all settings where marked green).

 

Well, I decided to replace all 4 tires. Based on the great reviews on TireRack, I went with the ridiculously priced Michelin PS2s.

After driving on a mixture of freeways and surface streets, I would have to agree with the TireRack reviews. These tires are quiet. I'm sure there are touring tires that are quieter, but they are very impressive for a performance tire. They also seem to be much smoother than the ContiSportContacts. Small bumps do not resonate as much through the structure of the car with the PS2s.

As for handling, the ContiSports seemed to have a quicker initial turn in. The PS2s are smoother (there I go using that word again) through the turn. Compared to the PS2s the ContiSports are more jittery on the road. The car feels more connected to the road with the PS2s.

Oh, and the best part is the 4x4 tire growl is completely gone. I'm very happy Jaguar owner.

 

Brutal, others:
This is an older thread I know but is very helpful to me as I'm trying to understand the following scenario.

Dealer put new Khumos on at 39K miles with 4 wheel align/balance
We saw equal inner tire wear on fronts (no cupping) at 50K
- 4 wheel align/balance and rotate by dealer
Dealer replaced P/S rack and pinion at 52K with 4 wheel align/balance
- Toe set to 0.07 deg front left, 0.08 deg front right
- Spec used (as shown on summary sheet) was - 0.05 to + 0.15 deg
Now, at 58K we are getting the same equal inner tire wear.

I can't access the TSB yet (activation period??) so can you say if this is the original or the revised spec?

 

This is the latest thread on alignment and tire wear issues:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=34962

There is also a PDF or Word doc with a summary of Brutals recommended specs in there somewhere. Hope this helps.