Yseterday was the sad day that i decided to winterize my car and place the snow tires/rims back and raise my car back to near stock height. After taking off the summer rims and raising the car up, out of curiousity I decided to measure the tire wear. Now bear with me, i'm no expert on measuring this so i basically did a rudimentary measurement. I did this by measuring 1'' inwards from a shared marking on both sides of the tires. At this 1" mark I measured tread depth on both inner and outer tire treads. I'm hoping this was correct. I have to add that I drove 5K miles on this setup, mostly highway. I did do alot of spirited driving on this setup, but not in a sense that i was doing burnouts and drifts everywhere I went like some people i know. In any event, here are my findings:

1. Front Tires - No noticeable uneven tire wear. This was good news since the car was lowered 1.5" in the front and I didn't get an alignment done. Tire wear was minimal throughout the tread.
2. Rear Tires - There was about 2/16" difference of tire wear between the inner and outer tire, inner tire being more worn of course due to the more negative displacement of the camber after a 1" drop. The outer tread seemed barely worn, so I am assuming that overall there was approximately only 2/16" wear throughout the tire.
So, after the long hours of winterizing my car and measuring tread depths and storing the rims and tires, what have I learned? Not a damn thing, since I have no clue what normal tread wear is supposed to be. But maybe this info will give you more insight as to how much the recommended drop (1.5" for the front, 1 for the rear) on Tein Flex's affect tire wear. Can any tire/suspension guru's give some insight to this? For ***** and giggles, i added some pics of my rear rims compared to a stock rear.

04 DG/G/6MT/Premium/Nav/Clear Bra/19x9.5(f)19x10.5(r) Volk SF Winnings/BFGoodrich 245/35(f)275/30(r)/Tein Flex Coilovers/Tein EDFC
Sponsored by BFGoodrich, Ai Design (www.aidesign.com)


388820-IMGP1705.jpg

 

another angle

04 DG/G/6MT/Premium/Nav/Clear Bra/19x9.5(f)19x10.5(r) Volk SF Winnings/BFGoodrich 245/35(f)275/30(r)/Tein Flex Coilovers/Tein EDFC
Sponsored by BFGoodrich, Ai Design (www.aidesign.com)


388821-IMGP1707.jpg

 

i was simply amazed at the difference of width.

04 DG/G/6MT/Premium/Nav/Clear Bra/19x9.5(f)19x10.5(r) Volk SF Winnings/BFGoodrich 245/35(f)275/30(r)/Tein Flex Coilovers/Tein EDFC
Sponsored by BFGoodrich, Ai Design (www.aidesign.com)


388822-IMGP1708.jpg

 

be very carfefully I dropped my car with Tein CS coilover about the same as you 1 1/2"and I had to throw away perfectly good tires the thing is both my front tires still had a decent amount of tread on them but the outer edge of the inner tire was worn down to the band after about 7000 miles, I got to my rear tires just in time to rotate them, look into a camber kit it will be worth every penny

 

I really cant get a good look at the first pic but I can see the inner part of the tire a little and it looks something like my tires did, it doesnt really look that bad but once you see the bands coming through you sh*t out of luck.

 

I'd suggest getting a camber kit if you plan on going ~0.7 inches and lower. There are camber kits from 1) 350evo, 2) Performance Nissan, 3) SPC, and 4) Kinetix. There are probably other camber kits out there...

04.5 G35C TB/Graphite 6 speed, XM Radio, Premo Package, Navi, OEM Chin Spoiler, Hard wired V1

 

Oh dont worry. The fronts will wear just as bad. I am running 245 on a 19" rim and with a 1" drop. The inside treads are bare...the outsides arent even touched. Had to order a new set today. Ran about 20K on them already. They were
S-03's so yes they were a little soft.

Still if you can afford it...the front camber kit might be a good investment. Either that or be more aware of what tires you choose to buy.

 

20K on performance tires aint bad is it? i guess i'm used to my last car where a new set on my slammed integra went no more than 2500 miles b4 showing terrible wear.

04 DG/G/6MT/Premium/Nav/Clear Bra/19x9.5(f)19x10.5(r) Volk SF Winnings/BFGoodrich 245/35(f)275/30(r)/Tein Flex Coilovers/Tein EDFC
Sponsored by BFGoodrich, Ai Design (www.aidesign.com)

 

Quick question...... you mentioned raising the suspension back to stock height - is it possible to set the Tein Flex and Tein CS to stock height with no drop? I am aware of the tire wear issue and don't really want to go through them like bubble gums.

 

yes, just get the heights from a stock car and adjust your coils accordingly until you get the desired height. y would u wanna do that tho? just keep the stock suspension in there. or go a cheaper route and buy lowering springs that don't lower yer car much and aftermarket shocks. the only reason i raised my car was because of the snow that we aren't having (dammit i wanna get some usage out of these expensive *** snow tires)