Folks, I have Michellin Pilot Super Sport tires on my 2013 GS350 F-Sport. There's behavior in the car I can't make sense of and wondered if any of you have experienced this:

1. When making slow full turns (wheels fully turned) such as into our out of a driveway on the street, the car kind of slips a little, like it rolled over a small branch or something. That's the best way I can describe it.
2. Sometimes there's grinding sounds when I make the above kind of slow turns.
3. The wear on the inside of the front tires are chipped - as in missing pieces. See photos

I need to get new tires obviously. I bought these about two years ago so and I intend to replace them right away after discovering these tread issues. My driving is predominantly Los Angeles city driving; streets and freeways.

Mileage when I got these in December 2015: 55,424.
Mileage today when I took these photos: 74,867

 

You're playing with fire with those tires. Most of your issues should disappear once you replace them. If it were me I would not drive anymore on those tires. Take the wheels off and take them to your local tire store and have new ones mounted.

 

Absolutely. I agree with you. I new it was time to replace base on when I got them and when they felt strange I took a look yesterday and took these photos this morning. Guess I'll go to the Pilot Sport 4s which is the replacement.

Any ideas on what's causing those things I mentioned above. The tire doesn't have to be old to experience that by the way. That kind of bump slide happens even when the tires are n't that old. And what's causing them to get chipped like that?

 

Your car needs an alignment. Is the suspension and the wheels stock?

 

Suspension is stock. Wheels are second set and if I remember correctly, the last set of Pilot Super Sports had the same chipping and the same slight jump/slide when moving in a full turn. I've had the alignment done as well.

 

I know that Michelin had some issues with their performance tires on the Z06 Corvettes a while back. You might want to research some other brands on Tire Rack and see what some of the reviews say. Look up that model of tire and see what other others are saying about their experience with them. You need to act ASAP with those tires, way too dangerous!

 

It's very obvious that the inside is wearing tremendously faster than the outside. That is not a problem with the tire itself. Your alignment is way off and the tires are scrubbing off rubber even when you drive straight.

Whoever has been doing your alignments is not doing it correctly...or you have hit enough potholes to mess up the alignment. You're lucky they've lasted that long...

 

Make sure that who ever does your alignment sees those. If the current toe setting shows toe-out it increases the scrub in turns and coupled with lower tire pressures eats off the inside edges. The soft LCA bushing deflects making this worse.

Bottom line is this, just because the alignment dude has the car in spec, it may need more toe in than it has.
Going forward, run the tire pressure a couple psi higher in the front, add some toe in, and try to reduce those sharp full lock parking lot turns. Also you might install IS-F LCA bushings as they are stiffer and will maintain toe and camber better under load.

 

OP - When and who did your last alignment? And, when was the alignment last checked to see if alignment adjustments was needed?

 

 

The OP should read about Ackermann Steering Geometry and also about Scrub Radius and Squirm.

When a RWD car with a tight suspension and wide tires makes a small radius turn at a slow speed, it is typical that one of the front tires can slip, jump or jerk.



You'll find it slips/skips easier when you drive over a surface that has both dry and wet patches - with the wet surface making it slip more of course due to less friction/traction ... or when turning sharply on a surface where there are painted lines (e.g. a parking lot) - the paint eliminates the normally rough surface texture that provides friction/traction.

 

+1, +1,+1. Those tires should've been replaced already. And time to check the alignment. Ever rotated tires, and tire pressure been kept on spec.? OP, your car is dangerous with those worn tires. If you lived in Germany, car would have been impounded for unsafe driving.

 

Holy Jesus. Have mercy on those tires. Don’t let this guy die by driving on those death bands any longer.

Damn dude. Change those puppies out. Get An alignment. Make them show you the before and after.

 

Those tires are rolling death, get rid of them asap... and get that car to a well-regarded alignment shop.... cause something definitely ain't right there.

-Mike

 

To me that is a diffidently a negatively camber problem. The car that I owned had that same problem.