What could cause this?
 

When I purchased the car last year at about 8.5 K miles it was out of alignment and the OEM tires (especially the rear) showed even wear but they were old and very worn. I replaced them. I noticed that the right rear tire showed noticeably more wear than the left rear.

This spring I had an alignment done at an excellent trusted shop and installed new rear tires. The specs are all within OEM and even on both sides. The rear toe is set at the low numbers still within OEM. All the alignment adjustment bolts are working well, nothing is frozen. The car has low miles - ie about 25K. The car drives extremely well. Straight and smooth. I extremely happy with the handling and the performance with the new alignment.

I just changed my tires again. Again I notice that all the tires show very even wear. However, although less severe than before, the right rear shows noticeably more wear than the left rear. The wear on all the tires is very even across the tread width.

It may be nothing. But, is it possible something is going on with that right wheel/hub that is causing slightly increased wear even with a perfect alignment? What could be causing this?

Your alignment numbers were even left/right?
Could be driving habit, sticky caliper?

Normal, one tire usually has a higher percentage of power going through it and will tend to wear a little faster. Our differentials are limited slip, that means the wheels aren't locked together like a welded diff, if they were then you'd get even wear, along with other issues.

I don't recall the source of the info but believe this tire wear is typical of driving on the right side of the road. Cars in countries that drive on the left experience the same effect but on the opposite side of the car. In North America right turns at intersections are a shorter radius than left turns for example. The outside wheels travel further than the inside in any turn, of course, but scrub is greater inside in tighter turns.

If I find the source I'll try to post it. And I may have dreamed this.

-- Chuck

I would agree with Chuck. Same kind of wear you get on a motorcycle for the same reasons (along with road crown). LSD furthers the wear compared to normal.

Yes, alignment numbers are equal left and right.
The caliper is not sticking.

Should I rotate the rear tires left to right to even out the wear? That would cause different rotational direction for the tires which I have always avoided in the past.
Probably just live with it. :)

I'm at 167,000 miles I just change rear tires once a year and a half or about 16,000 miles, one always wears a little more than the other. I say just live with it.

You could have the tires swapped side to side to get a little more life out of them. I wouldn't run them the wrong direction. If anything it just screams lack of attention to detail and drives me nuts. You could get the car corner balanced just to be sure it is even. Most places will check the corner balance and if it isn't out of whack they won't charge you since they didn't adjust anything. I assume the car is stock so it is unlikely but never know.

Man, I'm lucky to get 8,000 miles on my rear tires.