I need some input and knowledge about Hankooks in regards to tire wear. I have been dealing with some issues regarding my tires/ alignment for the last few months. For background, I am lowered on Tanabe coils with a rear camber kit, no front camber kit. I am running GT30's 245/35/20 front and 275/30/20 rear.

In regards to my current problem:

I purchased new Hankooks (rears in October and fronts in January) and had an alignment done afterwards. About a month ago, I started to experience a shaking steering wheel at highway speeds, which I immediately thought was a wheel balance issue. I had the tires balanced and was told that my rim is bent. I went to have my rim checked out and repaired and was told that the rim was fine, that the problem was with the tire. Went to the tire shop and was told that there were waves (feathering?) developing on the inside of my front wheels. My driver's side is worse than the passenger side. I was told by the tire shop (Discount Tire) that it was because the Hankooks are directional tires and that I need asymmetrical tires. So, my question is how does directional vs asymmetrical tires affect tire wear? Is this normal because I don't have a front camber kit. As for alignment, at the dealer I was told my alignment is fine.

 

i have slight feathering issues (front driver and passenger) as well... except that they're on the outside. when running my hands through the tire in a clockwise fashion, the tread blocks go from high to low. Much investigation with my alignment guys and research of my own, revealed that my issue actually comes from the stock rubber bushings that are 'giving' too much, which in turn causes the toe to temporarily go out of whack (in very extreme cases). The best resolution, for me, would be to swap out to solid bushings (poly would not be acceptable in regards to stiction in those areas).
My sitation is actually somewhat opposite from most other feathering issues Gs and Zs have (which tend to be on the inside and going from low to high).

An alternative resolution which is why i decided to post this, would be to switch to asymmetrical tires. Since my abnormal wear is specific to one side of the tire (outside), asymmetrical tires would allow me to swap the front drivers with front passengers because asymmetrical tires only cares about a particular side of the sidewall facing outside (it has no preference regarding direction of rotation). Having done that, the wear on the newly 'rotated' tires would reversed and further driving would negate the wear.

there are different types of feathering and different causes. in my opinion, you should first seek to analyze how exactly the tire wearing abnormally.

 

It has nothing to do with directional or none directional tires or soft bushings. If it was that then most car on the road will have to have tires replaced every 10k miles! Unless you have bent or broken suspension parts, it is a alignment (toe) issues if you have uneven tire wear. These tire shop alignment skill is hit or miss (mostly miss). First you need to confirm if your camber is not excessive (more then -2) and even, then concentrates on toe spec. You want to find a performance alignment shop or learn to align using strings.

 

Do you have the print out from the dealership on the alignment? Or you're just going by their word.

 

Well put CG^^It's a shame but it seems like finding a good alignment shop that actually takes the time to get the settings correct (or as correct as can be) is hard to find. Luckily there's one in my town and about a dozen that are hit or miss (mainly miss). When you find a competent alignment shop w/ the guy in charge that is always there overlooking the work, it's worth the search

Feathered tread is almost always tires fighting the road through toe issues.

 

not sure if you were referring to me or the OP.
if me then my response would be:
- i presented a justification to why asymmetrical tires could be a temporary solution (in defense, of OPs tire-n-alignemnt guy's suggestion) to feathering tires, *not* why they are the cause of them
- camber does not cause feathered wear. it causes accelerated wear biased towards a particular side. there are plenty of people with worst than -2 camber without tire feathering. like what blnewt says, it's usually the toe (or your car's inability to hold toe). to your credit, bent suspension or frames can cause feathered wear as well.
- depending on your caster (which usually isn't a neutral 0), changing camber will almost always change the toe and vice versa. so first making sure your camber is less than an arbitrary -2 then adjusting toe -> isn't get you exactly what you expect
- i get my stuff done at west end, beyond well respected here in southern california

 

I was responding to the OP. But if you don't believe in adjusting camber before adjusting toe then suit yourself, it's your car.

 

Thanks for your inputs. I am just dealing with the tires. Sometimes it feels like the whole car is shaking and other times it is super smooth. Not sure what to do. Do I need the front camber kit?

 

first, before you got the new tires were your old tires wearing unevenly with feathering? if not what changed on your car other than tires and alignment. are you lowered or have any suspension mods? do you have spacers on your car? check the installation of those aftermarket parts. as far as wheel balancing, did they use a high speed load balancer? try to get your alignment done correctly preferably at a shop that has a laser 4 wheel alignment machine that can give you a print out to see how far out of spec you are. that will determine if you need a camber kit. with that said because your tires are already feathered the shaking in the wheel will not go away till you get new tires. that is why it is recommended that you get an alignment done soon after you do any suspension work or when you get new tires.

 

My old tires front and rear were cupping and felt like the car was hopping going down the highway. Currently it feels like a lot of vibration when driving. I am lowered on Tanabe coils, about 26" all around. I have an SPC camber kit in the rear. Before this year, I did not drive the car much. I began the last October with around 26k and I am near 35k now. I went to firestone and they did an alignment using the same machine as the dealer however they could not center the steering wheel, even when they locked it in place. The dealer was able to correct that but I do not have the spec sheet. However, after the dealer did the alignment, I noticed that many times when accelerating I would have to pull the wheel towards the right. Anything under highway speeds feels fine in the car and sometimes at highway speeds it does feel smooth.

 

Since all your symptoms point toward alignment issues I'd be sure to get it aligned with a full spec printout, it's leaving you in the dark when you really need to know what's going on w/ your setup. If this means going to a different shop so be it, sure it's another $120 out of pocket but you need to know this info IMO.

 

If I can an alignment now do I still need to replace the tires?

 

Assuming the alignment corrects the problem, that will result in proper tire wear, but if your tires are really worn on the edges or uneven wear it really depends on the severity of the wear. If you know a friend in the tire business that's "unbiased" they should be able to tell you the extent of the wear. You could post pics here, and although I'm no expert there's folks here that could help w/ that.

 

I found a place that does alignments but they said unless I get a front camber/ toe kit they won't align the car because it will be a waste of time and money.

 

I must have missed that you didn't have the front arms, at 26" to the fender you will need them unless you really want to run higher camber. I'm guessing your camber is in the -2.2 to -2.5 range, and although they can get the toe in spec the camber isn't adjustable in the front w/ the OEM arms so I could see why the shop said what they said. I'd bite the bullet and get the arms unless you want to raise it up at least a 1/2".