I recently rotated my tires on my Series 2 and noticed that one of the rear tires was close to bald, mainly in the middle but with noticeably more wear across the tread. The other side looked normal. I check the pressure in the tires regularly and have never put more than 32 lbs. in the rear. I never mistake this car for a drag racer and have never “lit up” the tires. Any ideas as to what would cause wear on one side assuming it was never over inflated?
A brake that’s dragging or a bad differential? (Just guessing)
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First order of business is to perform a comprehensive 4-wheel alignment check.
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That was my plan but that kind of expertise is hard to find in Idaho. Do the rear ends of E-Types have that kind of adjustability? I was also wondering if there could be another cause I need to check out.
The only thing that is readily adjustable is camber: all the rest is determined by everything else being in good shape. It’s possible you have a bad trailing arm bushing.
Excessive wear down the middle only - reduce the tire pressure on that wheel.
Camber or toe will show excessive wear on the inside or outside. Center- only is almost always over inflation, significant corner weighting imbalance, or someone swapped in an open diff.
MMinnich - You missed this sentence in the OP’s initial post (emphasis in mine) :
I had a Firestone 500 radial (back in the day) where the carcass started coming apart and exhibited significant center tread wear. Fortunately I noticed this before it spontaneously disassembled itself.
So just to eliminate a delaminating tire carcass as the culprit, you might lift the car and use some string to measure the circumference of the worn tire and compare it to a good one. If the worn tire has a larger radius, the tire is failing.
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I didn’t miss it. The tire is not making a full contact patch (treadblock is crowned). If all other factors can be ruled out, drop the pressure a few pounds. There’s a big difference between ‘recommended tire pressure’ and the pressure that results ìn good road manners and even tire wear.
I may not have described the wear precisely enough. The entire width of the tread shows significant wear with the center being almost bald. However, the edges are not far behind. I would love if the answer was overinflation as that would be the easiest to remedy, but I am pretty anal about checking the tire pressures. I typically run the fronts at 30 psi and the rears at 32. The car does live at 6,000 feet if that makes a difference, but you would still expect both sides to wear similarly which they definitely did not. The trailing arms appear to be in good condition. Thanks to Wiggles for that suggestion.
Can you post a photo(s) of the wear on the tire?
Are the tire treads smooth (flatish across tread), rough/wavy, sharp edges on one side of each tread pattern, etc?
I could, but I am feeling lazy. It is now relegated to the spare. My description is accurate, but stated another way, the tire is almost bald with the only appearance of tread left on the outer edges where it is about 3/32nds deep.