I did my 10K service today and had the dealer rotate & balance my tires. I noticed the tires that WERE on the front both more wear on the outer edges. The car did NOT vibrate or pull to one side. What causes this? Steering geometry, underpressure, aggressive cornering perhaps? I'm just wondering if they all are like this. BTW, I'm running 16" runflats.
Thanks*
Greg

 

First guess is aggressive cornering, primarily because you suggested it which could mean you do it. But I think you would see more overall wear as well. Is that the case? How did the rest of the tread on the fronts look compared to the back?
Second guess is toe-in at both corners if overall tread wear appears normal.

....Les

 

I would go with the toe.. mine from the factor had way to much toe in and caused the same thing.. wore out the front tires in under 10k.

if interested 1-1/8" of toe in was the factory setting for mine. Which is 1" to much for me =)

 

Wear on the outside shoulder of the front tires is due to not having enough camber in the front while cornering agressively. And all MINIs have this problem. Which is why people put camber plates on the front of the cars - to add more negative camber and even out the tire wear.

So... nothing's wrong with your MINI, they're all like that.

 

Thanks, Fellas. There was far more wear on the fronts than the rears. The rears look pretty much new and even. The rest of the front tires looked to be wearing evenly, cept for the thinning at the other edges of both. I do corner hard. The cars ability to do that was main reason I bought it.

Greg

 

What you discribe is normal wear on front tires only with aggressive cornering under normal street conditions.

The MINI lacks front negative camber as mentioned so your ability to use ALL of the front tire is severly limited. So as you corner at speed your tires have no choice but to wear out on the outer edges. So on a hard left turn you wear out your right front tire's outer edge.

What to do about it-
Rotate tires more often- about 4000-5000 miles or even sooner if you like. 10,000 miles is too long.
Flip your tires- put the right front on the left front and reverse them to the worn edge faces the inner edge- watch out that the tread is facing the right direction (directional tires).
Don't corner so hard on the street- save it for track and autocross using tires that are built for that. Otherwise be prepared to wear tires faster in the front.
Add fixed or adjustable camber plates in the front to allow for more negative camber up to about -2.3 degrees.
Check toe settings on alignment and put them into factory specs on both sides- this will give you the smoothest ride. Do this about once per year if you drive on poor quality roads with lots of potholes or if you change tires.
Make sure that air pressures are enough in all tires- about 33-37 psi will work for most drivers.

You can rotate your old rear tires to the front and put your worn tires on the rear but if they are realy worn out then just replace the pair from the fronts.

 

I have had good luck with the 16" Dunlop RF tires by rotating every 4 - 5,000 miles and keeping the front tyre pressure at 38psi and the rear at 30psi. Hnadling seems fine and no problem with the tire pressure monitor.