Tire feathering on the Avon 550's...ROAR...
 

Hi all,

I know DaveB had a few threads on the tire feathering issue but I figured, I shouldn't bring back a thread from last year. :icon38:

Anyway, for the last few months the tire roaring was really annoying so I finally rotated the tires today.

http://i30.tinypic.com/350teol.jpg

As you can see from the picture, the inner tires worn alot more than the outside. The last time I rotated was 1 yr 5 months ago with under 9,000 miles. I guess I have to rotate more often now or I'll have to replace the tires soon.

Don't think I'll do what DaveB did, which was to swap the direction of the tires. Just curious how many people are having these tire roar feathering issue? I rotated the front tires to the back today and most of the noise went away. I can finally listen to my music instead of tire roars... :D

what's ur suspension setup?

I had Z spring setup for 1,000 miles with these two tires in the back at a -2.5 camber. Then went back to stock spring. Then these two back tires went to the front for almost 9,000 miles, probably feathering pretty bad the last 3 months and the picture you are looking at is the consequence.

My G did fine running them backwards for 4K miles, but it's your car and if you don't feel safe then definitely don't do it. Unfortunately, the damage is done and they're going to be loud until you replace them. Even after running my M550s backwards for 4K miles, they were still loud overall.

I've learned there things about owning a G with a Z drop up front:

1) Never run directional tires like the M550s. The suspension geometry is such that it is pure hell on the directional design. It simply doesn't work.

2) Buy asymetric tires. That way you can rotate side to side and safely knock down any feathering.

3) Rotate every 2 to 2.5K up front. Don't swap front to rear. Just rotate side to side. The rears can handle the camber. The fronts can't because of camber, caster, and toe issues.

Yeah, I won't run the directional backward because I have a 15 month old daughter riding in the back. But I am running stock suspensions since 9,000 miles ago and still feather in the front? Or maybe that was caused by the 1,000 miles of -2.5 cambers when I had the z springs?

I will find out soon since the two tires in the front now are evenly wear.

I've also done alignment when my car went back to stock so not too sure how this feathering thing started.

What tires do you have now? I have 18k miles on the Avon's now. They are 245/45/18. Aside from the inner part, the rest of the tire still have plenty of thread left. The other two tires are not affected.

DaveB,

Are you still running the Avon's and how many miles you have on it. Just wondering what you will replace them with. I probably need new tires next year the way it's going. There seems to be more choices for my 18 sports rim sizes nowadays than a few years ago.

I am looking for ultra high performance A/S and the choices are
Avon M550
BFGoodrich g-Force Super Sport A/S
Continental ContiExtremeContact
Goodyear Eagle GT
Kumho Ecsta ASX

Anyone has experience with the BFGoodrich, Conti, Goodyear on the G35? I have the Kumho Ecsta Asx on my Sentra and they are pretty sticky A/S tires. Don't think I will buy Avon's again.

Whatever you choose, make sure it's asymetric. I think the Kuhmo ASXs would be a good choice. Lots of people on this site have them and like them, they're asymetric, and they're cheap. That's probably route I'll go.

Right now, I'm running my 18" rims with PZeros (worlds better!), but when November rolls around, I'll put my OEM rims back on. Right now I have about 18K miles on the M550s and they'll last the winter season. After that, they'll get replaced (about 22-24K miles).

Ohhhhh...I thought they were directional. I have them on my sentra and it's pretty good and cheap too. The thread patterns don't look as aggressive as the Avon's though.

What's weird is when I bought the Kuhmo's for my sentra, even when it was brand new, the thread wasn't deep at all. The Avon's at that time had about 15k miles on and still has deeper threads than the new Kuhmos. The ratings of the Kuhmo is like 400 so it should have a long life. Maybe the compounds don't wear as fast? Just weird, of all the tires I have in the past (Pirellis, Bridgestones, Avon, Dunlop, Goodyear, etc). The Kumho's had the thinnest thread. It's almost like it's half used when I got them. But it's new because it still has the little rubber hair. I got it from tirerack. :confused2: :confused2:

DaveB,

I know you had said you did alignment and the feathering came back. Should I even waste another $60 bucks for alignment? I rotated the tires a little over a month ago and now I can see the front set of tires start to roar and feather already. :dunno:

It's not like I never did alignment on the car. It was done after I put the z springs on and it was aligned again when I put it back to stock springs about 2 years ago and it's been riding on the avon's ever since.