Last night I switched rims/tires from stock GS-R Blades w/195/55/15 ES100's to some 16" Sprint Harts with some Federals that are 205/45/16 (they came with the rims). I noticed that the tread on the tires has an odd wear pattern, where parts of it are sticking up. I didn't really think anything of it until I went to drive the car around. The car hums from about 30 mph and the hum increases in pitch with speed. Braking also feels a little rougher and there's some vibration at lower speeds. Has anyone experienced this due to tread pattern on tires? It wasn't like this at all with my ES100's. I'm thinking about rotating the tires when I get a chance because only two fronts on each side are doing this...


Modified by alfaaay at 6:33 PM 11/5/2005

 

It sounds like you're referring to cupping, a condition in which concave or scalloped areas, or "cups", appear on the surface of the tread. You can read more about it on this website, which was written for truck tires but almost everything they say applies to car tires, too. It's usually caused by an alignment or suspension problem (shocks, wheel bearings, etc) although it can also be caused by the tires not being balanced properly, which is easy enough to check.

If the tires are balanced, then it was caused by something on the car of the person who sold you the wheels/tires. At a minimum, I would make sure both affected tires are on the same axle at all times. Putting them on the rear axle of a FWD car will probably make the vibration less noticeable (although they will also wear slower back there).

 

Is it okay to drive on them if the car drives fine (other than being really annoying)? I'm pretty sure it's on both tires I've got up front and not on the tires on the back. I'd like to wear them down to an even tread if possible, which probably won't ever happen if I put them on the back; the fronts overall also have more tread.

hmm...smokeshow?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by alfaaay &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is it okay to drive on them if the car drives fine (other than being really annoying)? I'm pretty sure it's on both tires I've got up front and not on the tires on the back. I'd like to wear them down to an even tread if possible, which probably won't ever happen if I put them on the back; the fronts overall also have more tread.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, it's okay (and that makes sense). Just take a close look at the tread every once in a while to make sure there are no visible problems.