Apparently both the I-load and I-max are well known for 'dynamic wheel alignment change' problems. Issue is under load (i.e. braking, acceleration & cornering), what can be the perfect static alignment setup degenerates to being all over the place - hence the unusual tyre wear. There are a number of aftermarket solutions to the problem, the closest I could find with a quick Google was.
Interesting. I'll have a good look after Top Gear finishes. Cheers Stevo
lookoutas,
Jan 11, 9:44pm
Hey - two foot brakers shouldn't criticise left footers. I'd try a lower pressure in the front. Sometimes obvious theories backfire. My thoughts are the sidewalls are so tight that the tyre rolls instead of the walls flexing to let the tread stay flat. And it's just come to me that I was told that by a mate who was in the trade.
You've got FA the moan about. I recently bought a car with 13500k's on the clock. One front tyre had a bulge in it, so that meant get two and have the other for a spare. I can wear that. Was getting to the serious stage and took good notice of the back ones, and they were virtually on the limit. Some hoon had clocked up a fair amount of those 13k standing still!
4.11,
Jan 12, 6:53am
can vouch for this crowd, they supply black lion tyres as well, which outlasted bridgestone duellers on overloaded hilux utes at the quarry
gazzat22,
Jan 12, 9:21am
If they,re a good brand of tyre with correct inflation the problem has to be behind the steering wheel.!
onl_148,
Jan 12, 10:39am
So the company that invented / designed / manufactured your vehicle recommend pressures of 42psi & 51psi and a local tyre company recommends 55psi & 60psi. what leads you to believe that the local tyre company knows better than the designer ?
stevo2,
Jan 12, 10:45am
Not 1 but 2 Local tyre shops recommended that pressure as I always carry 800kg of tools. If you are a tyre pro and you recommend 42 and 51psi, I will happily let some air out.
stevo2,
Jan 12, 10:49am
Ok, so just got back from having a new tyre fitted, an alignment and rotation done. This tyre shop pumped them to 52psi all round, Photo of alignment sheet attached https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1467453700.jpg I agree that I do drive briskly and I am possibly the reason my fronts are wearing on the shoulders.
realtrader1,
Jan 12, 11:40am
The thing is you will not get anywhere faster by cornering like that and U turns for that matter and all the more so with a heavy load. Sorry but I have to say this, it is rather inevitable. All you are doing is putting everything under much more strain, including the tyres and shaving down your bank balance. Slow down. Enjoy the ride. Chill:)
mrfxit,
Jan 12, 11:45am
Whats good for overseas roads & driver habits, doesn't often suit NZ roads & drivers habits.
An easy example to spot in ANY car tyre shop, is the wear patterns on low profile tyres.
80% of low profile tyres have bad shoulder wear due mostly from std manufactures recommenced pressures A chunk of that is the aftermarket wheels being fitted to cars that didn't come out of the factory on those tyres & sheep using the door card to set pressures. Vans are notorious for shoulder wear on factory pressures & not helped by ppl driving them in the same manner as a car. Heck, I even hear ppl refer to their van/ 4x4 / large SUV as a "car"
muzz67,
Jan 12, 12:48pm
Have an Imax as builders wagon, carries a fair load, tows etc,Hankook Dynapro 225/75 light duty suv tyres at 45psi, get 60 000km easily with normal wear pattern. Swap them around each Christmas break, turn on rim if necessary. Not had any issue with odd wear, never had an alignment.
lookoutas,
Jan 12, 1:50pm
Most of the load weight will be taken by the rear. I can't work out way you wanta make the fronts like over-fed pigs! Be interesting to fit one of those wheel-cams behind a front wheel and altering pressures until the desirable effect is seen. I'm putting my money on lower pressure being the best. One would think that low pressure as in FA, would wear the outsides. But it doesn't - centrifugal force will throw the center out and wear it. You are on the ridiculous other end of the scale. Not every expert is right all the time. Years ago I was doing big mileages and wearing the front insides. The first remedy was to flip the tyre and fit it to the other side every 6K. This was a PITA, and if I got busy as per normal, the positive effects were nullified. After some thinking, I went to my alignment guy and asked him to take some camber off the wheels. He told me it wasn't the specs and he shouldn't do that, but I told him it was what I wanted to try and it was my call. It felt a little bit funny for a start, but it worked.
In your case Stevo, it isn't working! Old Chinese saying; "If lot you doing no lerking - do sumpling differlent." "If you allrays do same ling - you allrays get same lesult."
mrfxit,
Jan 12, 2:33pm
Momentum & weight transfer. It happens everytime you turn the wheel & everytime you brake. Upwards of about 70% of the vehicles weight ends up leaning on the front wheels depending on how hard you are turning or braking. Done it the scary way one day on my pushbike where I had to brake as hard as I could & noticed that the back wheel was waving back at me
mechnificent,
Jan 12, 2:53pm
Yeah and if you've ever driven in an old vw beach buggy where you could look at the front wheels as you went around corners, you'd know how much slippage there is. It's quite amazing what happens even when you're just cornering moderately.
Shoulder wear on both shoulders is normally low pressure Could also be a consistent tight turning left AND right corners but not that common to be that consistent.
Could be any combo of caster/camber & toe in singularly out or any combo to cause bot sides to chew out. Possibly a twisted suspension or chassis & in very rare cases, direct from the factory like that.
Most times when I have seen both sides chewed, it's low pressure & hard cornering. A loose ball joint/ wheel bearing along with hard cornering, can cause that under stress & one I had personally was a cracked cross member letting it all flex. Do you know of anybody else with the same van that doesn't have your problem & get their current alignment spec checked along with their tyre pressures & tyre size.
scuba,
Jan 12, 3:53pm
stevo2 wrote: Ok, so just got back from having a new tyre fitted, an alignment and rotation done. This tyre shop pumped them to 52psi all round, Photo of alignment sheet attached https://trademe.tmcdn.co.nz/photoserver/full/1467453700.jpg I agree that I do drive briskly and I am possibly the reason my fronts are wearing on the shoulders.[/quote
I would have pumped all tyres up to 60 to allow for the harder cornering/ weight transfer and see how they felt when driving. Also big fan of rotate every 10000kms.fronts to rears. Obviously drop pressure back to 55 if they felt too hard riding or affect handling. but majority of vans can wear shoulders due to weight transfer when turning , cornering and braking. The comment about centre of the tread rising/wearing when tyres under inflated i have only seen on wider lower profile tyres as a rule but yes it can cause a reversal of normal wear patterns.
what width are the rims? years ago people fitting 205/70 14 to 7 inch rims would wear edges as the tyre was narrow in the shoulder for the rim width.
Please let us know how you get on.
s_nz,
Jan 12, 4:01pm
Each of those posted alignments has excessive front toe corrected.
I haven't owned a van before, but most of the wheel ligaments I have done on cars only need alignment changes if the likes of suspension components have been changed. Surprised so many changes have been needed in the van.
Some cars if they are typically run loaded, respond well to having the alignment done with a load in the vehicle.
Good finding by SR2 regarding aftermarket ball joint's to resolve issues with OEM dynamic alignment
Given OP's van is both loaded with 800kg which is close to max paylaod on that van (1098kg), and they drive it hard, there seems good odds that this issue is happening.
redhead18,
Jan 12, 4:01pm
Drop em down to 45 all round as per post37 for a month and see the difference.
stevo2,
Jan 12, 4:16pm
This tyre shop recommended 52psi so thats 3 shops with similar recommendations. They checked all bushes etc while under there and said nothing amiss. The rims are aftermarket alloys, same diameter as OEM but 1/2" wider (7" instead of 6.5" I think) The tyres are the same, 215/70x16. I will rotate every Xmas from now on and see how it pans out. May look at dropping pressures if abnormal wear continues. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind replacing tyres but its a little soul destroying when the shoulders are bald and there's 4 or 5mm in the centre.
redhead18,
Jan 12, 4:24pm
Yeah people that sell tyres recomend. 52.
Reality is the old adage of high pressure wear centre. low pressure wear edges is from way back cross ply days. Nowadays radial tyres. kapeesh. no way in hell i would drive on 52 psi
socram,
Jan 12, 7:50pm
Has anyone considered fitting stiffer springs/shocks at the front? If carrying hefty weights regularly and an exuberant driving style, as posted earlier, weight transfer won't help.
mrcat1,
Jan 12, 8:17pm
Those Hankooks with a load rating of 108 has a loading of 1000kg, so is your van with load more than 4000kg? On the tyres will be a maximum load at a certain pressure, have you actually seen what it says? I'm picking they are either to hard or at the maximum pressure.
mrcat1,
Jan 12, 8:17pm
Do they squeal going around corners?
scuba,
Jan 12, 8:20pm
people also say not to rotate tyres any more. bullshit. The different tyre wear between front and rear wheels was attributed to rear wheel drive wearing flat across the thread or centre tread while fronts were more likely to wear the shoulders due to steering and suspension loads while cornering- not so much crossply or radial differences. There is a line of thought that due to the ultra low profiles and wider tyres of today that the wear pattern changes so under inflated tyres the tyre profile lifts in the centre and wears the centre tread and when over inflated the tyre wears the shoulders. I would think a 215 wide tyre would possibly be susceptible to shoulder wear on a 7 inch rim but hey I've been out of the trade a fair while and others would probably have a better idea. Normally i would look at the width of the tread and tyre profile and see how it sat in relation to the rim.If the tyre profile looks rounded rather than square in relation to the rim often it will wear accordingly but its not an exact science. Sometimes the tyre looks stretched a bit wide on the rim.
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