M3 rear tire wear

["Kevin M. Gregg" <kevingregg@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi-
I've owned a 100% stock 97 M3 coupe for about 7 weeks now.  This is my
first BMW.  The car has about 34200 miles on it.  The second set of rear
tires (245/40/17 Bridgestone Potenza RE 730s on the factory wheels) are
almost worn out.  (I haven't measured how many 32nds of tread are left but
there aren't many!)  The previous owner put these tires on the car in
October 2000 when it had 23,300 miles on it.  The fronts have very little
wear.  The rear tires are wearing evenly across the face of the tire (no
excessive wear on inner or outer edge).  The tires are not over/under
inflated.  I don't drive the car hard... no smoky burnouts and not too many
jackrabbit starts.  The car is my daily driver... maybe 35 miles/day
roundtrip highway commute to work.  No road racing.  No autocross.  No drag
racing.  I understand that the RE 730 tires are a soft compound and have
great grip (which I enjoy a lot).  But….they wear out too quickly for my
tastes.

What is it about the M3 that causes the rear tires to wear so quickly?

Thanks,


Kevin
kevingregg@domain.elided     http://members.home.net/kevingregg
1997 BMW M3 Estoril Blue coupe http://members.home.net/kevingregg/m3/
Columbia, MD

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