I am autocrossing with 245/45/17 Azenis on stock 17" wheels and have noticed some unusual wear on them. I have 5 autocrosses and about 1000 highway miles on the tires. The fronts are wearing as I expected, little on the inside and a lot on the outside. The rears are wearing oddly. The inside of the 2 rears are already down to the wear bars while the outsides are at almost full depth. I realized this is because of the negative camber in the rear end but, has anyone else had wear like this. I am planning on rotating the rears up front for the next autocross since they now have negative camber worn into them. I was expecting the Azenis to last much longer than they appear to be. I am at 18000 miles on my stock 040s and I still have some time before I get to the wear bars in the back. Has anyone elses Azenis worn quickly?

 

Hrm. Pretty odd. I currently am running azenis for track events, and haven't noticed anything like this - I'll have to go double check, but certainly didn't notice it taking temps trackside. Unless you're running in the rain, you can just turn the tires around on the wheels. General consensus has been that they grip just as well, but then aren't very good in the wet.

So 245's fit ok on the oem 17" base/enthusiast front wheels? Since I've found some decent deals on RA-1's I think I'm going to switch over, but I'm only running 225's up front currently and was wondering how wide was safe on the stock wheels.

[EDIT] Sorry - meant to ask what kind of alignment numbers are you running?

ahm

 

on a sidenote ,falken will offer azenis in 18's next year.

 

The 245s fit on the stock front rims no problem. I have read about several people running 275/40s all the way around on the stock 17s.

 

Sounds like your toe is off perhaps?

 

I drove with the 245/45 Azenis on my car for ~2000 miles and they were wearing great. I changed the rear toe to 3mm toe out for an AutoX and after a 300 mile road trip, the inside rears had worn more than they did in the previous 2000 - well into the wear bars. Check your rear alignment, if the toe is off it can really screw up your tire wear. Once fixed, the wear was normal again.

And the 245/45R17 Azenis fit great on the stock 17" wheels. The 225s fit too, but the diameter is a lot smaller than stock, not to mention that's not very much tire for a car that weighs as much as a Z.

 

I am getting an alignment soon, so I will have them check then. My Potenzas aren't wearing quickly on the inside of the tires. If anything they are wearing more down the middle of the tires.

 

I would second checking the toe. What suspension are you running?

I run the same 245/45/17 all around on 17x9.0 wheels and the rears last about 5,000 miles of street driving with canyon runs and few track days.

I swap the rear tires left to right after a few thousand miles to increase life... only downside is you have much less grip/contact for the first few hundred miles after switch because they are worn at an angle.

Look out for the new Azenis RT615 for next season, should be similar price and better grip!

 

On a side note...

Don't do this if you've got any 'feathering' on the inside of the Falkens. My toe is way off (but it's a '71) and I've got feathering on the inside. When I reversed the direction, I couldn't drive it at speed the vibrations were so bad. FYI

-Stacy

 

My car is completely stock. The Nissan dealer checked my aligment about a month ago when they put my new front tires on. They said that my rear camber was off (~-2.5 each side). They didn't say anything about the toe. Then again, I am still impressed that my Nissan dealer knows what tires are but, that is a different issue.

 

I have Azenis in 18s so Im pretty sure they offer them now.
I LOVE THEM...no irregular wear here.

 

Do you have the Azenis ST115, or the Azenis Sport?

Azenis ST115:



Azenis Sport:

 

yea, i meant the azeni sports will be offered in 18 next year.

 

The Falken Azenis Sport RT615 (new design) should be available very shortly, I will be trying to get some of these this sunday at the Falken Drift Showoff. I know they have a good range of 17 and 18" sizes based on the ones they had at SEMA: 225-245-255-265-285-etc..