my rear tires are bumpy… in a repeating pattern like every 5 inches say.
they are run flat dunlops. and now are making a very rubbery sound at certain speeds.
i believe this is my fault for chronic underinflation… where they wore thin in a pattern to match that. and now that i have them inflated properly, they are bowed out in the opposite areas.
i know this is typically a suspension indication, but the cooper s sport has just about no suspension! and they check out fine for all the service checks.
so… how unsafe is this? (and how long for them to wear round again?)
Have you kept the tires rotated? This symptom is most commonly associated with lack of rotation or, in some cases when regular rotation doesn’t help, worn shocks/struts. If you have not kept up with tire rotations, this is the result. Underinflation will usually show up in the form of wear on both edges and evidence of heat damage on the sidewall. You can usually see a ring on the sidewalls that is slightly darker than the rest of the sidewall.
They will never “wear round” again. Once an abnormal wear pattern develops you’re stuck with it. They will continue to get more and more noisy until they are replaced.
This sounds like an expensive way to learn that checking tire pressures is part of normal maintenance.
I’d have the wheel alignment checked just to be sure it’s correct. The wear pattern you describe does not sound like wear from underinflation.
How many miles? Worn shocks/struts can cause that wear pattern.