is this a sign of suspension problems? Has anyone ever seen this or do I have a defective set of front Michellin Pilots? Tires came with the car which Ive had since May so I have no idea how old they are. I dont feel anything strange. Car runs fine. I do however hear a slight sound over bumps, what seems like a chain rattling..... Not rubbing anywhere I inspected the front wheel well areas ... Its on both tires inner and outer most .. The middle seems to be fine..... Any ideas? Im ready to call Michellin to have them inspected... I just started noticing this today so I presume it just started happening as I drove all the way from ATL to NYC..... Thanks for your time chaps.....

 

I suspect you have an alignment issue but whatever it is you have to start with getting an alignment. The usual ware pattern of a misaligned XJ is inside ware on the fronts. It's just the nature of the beast. I'm a bit concerned with the chewed up nature of your ware pattern so be sure your tire alignment guy is qualified to check for defective suspension components.

If those tires are "unidirectional" you can flop the tire on the wheel so that inner ware is now on the outside edge and vice versa. This allows you to squeeze a few more miles out of em but you can expect tire roar sooner or later.

It could also be that a previous owner has already flopped 1 or more of the tires thus accounting for the outside ware pattern. Stay with it Jse, you can sort it out and you will be delighted with the results.

 

Looks like "tire chunking" to me.

Have you been running very hard recently? I think this problem often occurs when a tire with lots of tread is run very hard and gets very hot and/or is underinflated. That's why the canyon racer guys shave their tires down to about 1/2 tread depth.

Just my 2 cents. I could be wrong

Cheers
DD

 

Doug,

If it is "tire chunking" can the tires be saved or is the damage permanent?

 

i mean i was driving it hard the other day but not f1 hard...

 

That looks pretty serious. I would change those two tires ASAP. And get an alignment.

The chain noise could just be loose caps on the lug nuts (they are famous for this!).

 

I reckon they could be shaved down, removing the damaged tread. Problem is, who has a tire lathe these days? A million years ago (1970s-80s) I worked at a shop that had one but, honestly, I haven't seen one since.

I'm sure they're out there, though. It'll take some searching.

Cheers
DD

 

JSE,

Looks like you got your plate full on this one. Don't asssume the tires are done for till you get a pro inspection and do keep us posted.

Did you say the tires were OK when you got the car in ATL?

 

how many wheels are like that?
could you have run over anything to cause it ?

 

Check that your pressures are to the specs in the manual.

What size are they, wide and low profile will scrub more compared to standard.

As with everyone else, get the alignment properly checked + bushes etc. You don't want this to happen to their replacements.

Your long run with poorly aligned and/or under-inflated tyres will have magnified the wear as the tyres got hot. Where as short trips around town would take much much longer to show this.

I don't reckon that you will be able to remove this problem but you might be able to wear through it by running them on the rear at the correct pressure.

Post up your findings on the alignment.

 

Does his car not have TPMS? Mine comes on whenever a tire is below 30 psi or so.

 

Looks like a long fairly fast run with a seriously underinflated tyre. If you have a tyre pressure warning system, I would not rely on it, use a decent pressure tester and check them about every fortnight.

Tyres are probably scrap now.

 

I don't have tpms and I have confirmed the chain sound to be the lug nuts. I have a meeting set up w Michelin reps to see if it's a warranty issue

 

Im just curious as to why these lug nuts make this annoying noise and what is the fix? who was the engineering genius behind this design?

 

Honestly, I haven't seen anything like this before , hopefully everything is gonna be OK for your way .

 

Yeah, it is a rather poor design. You can replace them with standards, but the size might be tricky. I know someone on hear did it a while back and found a supplier for the proper size.