3000 miles ago I bought a front pair of Hankook tyres with AI marks around the tyre in a series of indents on the outer and inner tread. The purpose is that they should show equal amount of wear and to see if your tracking is out, or I suppose camber.  I have attached a picture of the driver's side outer tread as an example. As anyone else experienced this feature and how accurate is it in practice? I have found their is minimal extra wear on the passenger's tyre with the small indentation with less depth

but does road camber have to be considered?

Edited 9 June, 20223 yr by edbostan
typo

1 hour ago, edbostan said:

AI marks around the tyre in a series of indents on the outer and inner tread.

I'm not sure from your photo how what I'm looking at is any different to a Tread Wear Indicator (TWI), which have been around for literally decades.

@edbostan @nta16 Ah, I was looking at the wrong mark. I'm not sure how those circular indentations will show anything once the tyre is about 1/3 worn.

7 hours ago, edbostan said:

see if your tracking is out, or I suppose camber.

For most cars the tyre will wear the inside edges more on the front tyres partly because of the camber.

On most cars the front camber is NOT adjustable.

 

Just rub your tyres to check for alignment issues.

 

7 hours ago, edbostan said:

extra wear on the passenger's tyre

Perfectly normal as we do more turns to the right, so more pressure on the N-S tyre.

 

Thanks, AG Falco

Seems like a great idea to me. Gives the observant owner an early heads-up about an alignment issue well before a new tyre or two might get ruined and wasted. 

3 hours ago, KenONeill said:

@edbostan @nta16 Ah, I was looking at the wrong mark. I'm not sure how those circular indentations will show anything once the tyre is about 1/3 worn.

They are not intended to.

 

They would be far more usefull to me if there was also one in the centre of the tread.

Edited 9 June, 20223 yr by J.R.

I can't find info on Hankook UK but this from where tyres are spelt with an 'i' (Jun 19th 2019) -

 

"The Ventus V12 Evo2 was designed with Alignment Indicators, which are located on its shoulders.  The tire’s shoulders feature four dots parallel to one another (two on each shoulder), at specific intervals throughout the tire’s shoulder.  The manner in which they wear out represents the vehicle’s alignment.

If the two parallel indicators wear in the same manner, it means the tire has a good alignment and the tire tread wear is even.  However, when there is a difference between the two parallel indicators the tire is wearing in an uneven manner and the vehicle’s alignment should be checked.  This features enables the driver to detect irregular tread wear and remedy the issue on time, to extend the tread life and the tire’s usability." -https://www.prioritytire.com/blog/hankook-ventus-v12-evo2-review/

 

Edited 9 June, 20223 yr by nta16

I have Ventus Prime3 but same design. Interesting to see if the wear comparison is shared between offside and nearside tyres.

I have Hankook Ventus, 2018, maybe 2019 date code & I do now recall seeing those marks so the tyres must have been quite recently fitted before I bought the wreck, I've done 31K miles on them now so they are long gone.