Prologue: I have a 2008 G37S coupe lowered on Tein S-Tech springs with SPC camber arms and toe bolts. I drive pretty gingerly, never launched the car, spun the tires, don't track it or anything. A few months ago I got new rear tires installed at one shop and then went to another shop to get an alignment because they had the Hunter Hawkeye Elite alignment machine to ensure I got a proper alignment. I had to go back three times after the initial alignment because my steering wheel was off center. The car didn't pull and the steering wheel was as close to center as it could be so I assumed I was finally good to go.


Fast forward to last week, I was driving in the rain and it felt like I was losing the rear which was odd with the tires I had, Bridgestone Pole Position S-04 max performance summer tires. I was on my way to catch the train for work so I told myself check it over the weekend. I normally do a lookover on the car every oil change, 3,750 miles, and I have not driven that many miles on these tires yet. I come to find out that my rear tires are completely bald. There is absolutely no tread left, you can make out a faint tread line on the inside of each wheel. My front tires look fine. Before the alignment I had winter tires on the car from January until April and they are in my garage looking perfect.


My question is, what do you think caused this?

 

How many miles on your G? Not sure but don't those Bridgestones have a treadwear rating of like 180? It is amazing how quick some of these tires will wear out, that may just be the case, especially if it was even wear.

 

The treadwear rating is 280. Even at 180, that is about 13K miles. These tires didn't make it to 4K miles! Before I bought them I did extensive review research and found G35 and Z owners making claims of 20K-25K miles of use. I even saw one that had almost 27K miles.

 

I had a similar issue after having my car lowered. I had my Eibach springs and F&R SPC kits installed about an hour from my house, so I had them align the car the same day the springs were installed- the car was fully in spec. Fast forward a month the car seemed to sway/bounce side to side when going over bumps, opposed to up and down. Driving in the rain on the highway was scary since the car would sway side to side and then you could feel the traction start to give way. I immediately brought it in at this point and the car was pretty far out of spec, I am assuming due to the springs settling. They re-aligned the car, and so far, so good. In that time, the tires did take a beating though. Not even really camber wear or anything, they just wore at a much faster pace than before the car was lowered.

 

Exactly. All the research I did pointed to getting an alignment after the springs settle. I was really far out of spec after the initial install so I chose to align it at that time too but I had to align it twice since then. It was far off alignment both of those times as well.

One thing that struck me odd is that you say your steering wheel is off center. Is that how you've been driving it and do you have a recent spec sheet? Any time my steering wheel has been off center the alignment is also out of spec.

 

If your tires are wearing that quick (had no idea you only had 4k on them) then obviously your alignment is way off, sounds like you must have toe that's really eating your tires. If you hit a pothole or some other hard jarring force you could have knocked your toe off spec, and your tires will be fighting the road any time they're rolling. But the fact that both tires are bald it sounds like spring settling on both sides caused your alignment to go off. Either that or your alignment was improper from the start.

I'd definitely get new tires ASAP along w/ a quality alignment. Hopefully that shop did a good job and you just had bad luck w/ settling or another cause, otherwise I'd look elsewhere.

BTW do you have your alignment print out?

 

Take spring settling out of the equation. The car was lowered over a year before the alignment. I had my winter tires on from January to April and got new tires because my previous summer tires had some negative camber wear. The only thing that changed was new tires, camber arm install and alignment all in the same day.

I only have a printout of the first alignment, not the subsequent three. My camber and toe are all in the green for the rear according to that printout. I plan on going to another alignment shop to see where my alignment is now and compare it.

If the alignment was the cause, can I hold that shop liable for my tires?

 

Doubtful that you could hold the shop liable, they could always say that it was in spec when it left their shop (and have the print out to prove it).
There was another thread not long ago where some shop was fudging the numbers on the alignment sheet or program to show the car in spec when in fact it wasn't, just when you think you've heard it all

Since your spring settling is out of the equation then it's got to be your toe/camber settings or some rear suspension damage.

 

Great, seriously just when you think you heard it all... The fact that they had to do the alignment four times and did not give me a printout any of the last three times should mean something.