Wheel Alignment

Incorrect toe causes feathering on the tread blocks. I can imagine incorrect camber could cause uneven wear but I've never experienced that myself.

Well, the stick can be removed and replaced from the tag without losing its position. The tag is attached to the cleaned tread with double-sided tape like 3M VHB. The car is rolled so the tag goes over the top of the wheel. The other side has a strip of masking tape marked with a Sharpie so it can be scratched with the sharpened tip.

 

110,000km plus and the original factory alignment is still well within spec on all measurements. Mostly highway driving. Yes, I have hit a few potholes and bits of road debris but not enough to affect alignment.

In my experience inside tire wear can be from too much negative camber. But in 5K miles you would need some serious negative camber to wear out your tires. Also, camber increases with load so it's plausible that highway speeds + heavy loads + hot temperatures will accelerate inside edge tire wear (I destroyed my rear tires on a civic in less than 5K doing that). Tire wear is usually from too much toe. The wear pattern with excessive toe can be feathered edges on the tread blocks. Hope that helps.

 

Maybe I spoke too soon.... Went to the garage and had a look at the winter tires I just took off. The rears are a bit rounded on the inside edge. Photo shows comparison between rear inside edge and a front outside edge. Does that wear pattern look familiar to anyone? I'll have to keep a watch on it.

 

All my winter tires have been unidirectional, which makes switching sides inadvisable. However, I haven't tried all brands of winter tires, so my experience may be unique.

 

Hi Guys the EV has a rear TOE setting as well, i use the EU settings for both my cares front and rear its as close to zero as possible less than 1/64 inch or better, this gets me about 50,000 miles on a set and also on the EV over 8,000 miles at highway speeds 70 mph ave power use of 4.5 mls per kw jim

 

I've put an extra 8 psi in the rear tires to try and shift the wear pattern to the center of the tread. Actual rear camber measurements were -1.2 deg and -1.4 deg which should never cause wear like this. But I am not too worried since I plan on replacing Noah in about 35K and I think my two sets of tires will last that long.

 

Since my last post I have found info from owners of other models of Hyundais reporting excess inside edge rear tire wear and excess rear camber. So we're not alone.

To test the theory that camber and toe change with load, I checked the alignment again before leaving on vacation. With gear piled nearly to the roof and two bikes on the hitch rack Knoa was noticeably lower in the back when loaded. Fully loaded rear camber grew from -1.3 degrees to -2.0 degrees. Rear toe remained the same. I actually expected to see more change, so good job Hyundai on the suspension design. In my experience -2 degrees camber is usually about the limit before tire wear accelerates. After 2000km (including two days into ferocious headwinds) there doesn't appear to be any additional inside edge tire wear. But remember that I put the rear tire pressure up to 48psi cold, so maybe that's the key to make the rear tires wear better. Time will tell.

Of course, all of this is just one man's speculation. Perhaps others have experienced this as well?

 

My Primacy 4s were down to the thread with that sort of wear. Invisible to normal casual inspection.