Uneven tyre wear on inside front edge. Why?

chb

chb

Well-Known Member
Had the front wheels off at the weekend to do the brakes and was shocked at how much the inside 30mm of tyre tread had worn compared with the rest of the tyre. Anyone got any ideas as to whether this is normal?

Do I need to do tracking? or is it camber too?

Any help of what might be wrong and suggestion in Leeds of where to go are appreciated.

[on a separate point, just replaced the two worn tyres with continental, they have much better rim protection than the pirrelli's they replace]
 
It is completely normal and is down to the camber setup (which is non-adjustable by the way) and is common to most front wheel drive Audis.

It is made worse by lowered suspension setups and a wider tyre shows the effect even more, so the worst culprits are Sport models with their 17" wheels.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Ah, thats good news (I think).
I knew that the passenger front tyre was getting low, but when I took the wheel off there was a tiny bit of casing thread showing!
The drivers front had wear too, but had a split of about an inch in the rubber on the shoulder. It wasn't leaking but looked like a blowout waiting to happen.

I will post a separate review on the continentals in a few months.

Also steering wheel is about 3-4 degrees of straight, how easy is this to fix?
 
It sounds like you need a track and alignment. Some places are better than others for this, so seek advice from someone more local than me.

I wouldn't be tempted to have the tracking done by the tyre fitters as most of their results have been worse than useless in my experience.

Cheers,

Mike
 
chb said:
Also steering wheel is about 3-4 degrees of straight, how easy is this to fix?
Click to expand...

Thats another sign that you need an alignment check.
As part of the electronic stability control system a steering position sensor is fitted behind the wheel. Unlike the old days you cant just remove the steering wheel and move it round a few clicks on the splines.
Awesome GTI over Manchester way have a good reputation for wheel alignment. They are a lot cheaper than Audi so its probably worth travelling the extra miles for a top class job.

Cheers Spike
 
You're quite right Spike - I have used Awesome in the past and they are great - one of only 2 companies who have been able to give me a car that runs straight and true, with a level wheel (the other being Stealth, but they're even further from Leeds).

I hesitated from recommending them, as they are a fair distance, but if you are willing to travel, pop in to Skipton Autos on your way, as I'm between you and them (and am a Leeds lad originally!).

Cheers,

Mike
 
Thanks gents, have just email awsome for a quote, and asked about cambelt cost too while its in.
The little A2 will have cost me £800 in service and repairs by the time this summer is out, but at least it will have fresh rubber, cambelt, brakes and all filters and consumables.
 
If possible, please post pictures of your tires and tell us how many miles on them. Have a look at this thread. I've posted pics of my tires and how many miles they had at that time. Also had a wheel alignment done but there wasn't anything wrong. Here you go:
http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?t=10409
 
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Skipton01 said:
It is completely normal and is down to the camber setup (which is non-adjustable by the way) and is common to most front wheel drive Audis.
Click to expand...

Mike,

I am afraid that I have to disagree with you on this. Surely if it was down to camber, the wear would get progressively worse from one side to the other instead of being overwhelmingly on one edge. The steering/suspension on an A2 1.2Tdi and a Lupo 3L are pretty well identical, I believe, except for tyre width. On our 1.2Tdi, front tyre wear is entirely even but both Lupo 3L's exhibit wear on the inner edges. I have reduced this by reducing the toe out and plan to reduce it even more in the near future.

What is really needed is a system that measures steering geometry under traction, not statically with no measurement of the slack in the steering. The latter is next to useless. I suspect that VAG are overly pessimistic about the slack in their steering systems and set the toe-out excessively, with the result that under traction, the wheels are still toe-out when they should be parallel.

RAB
 
Hi Xiter, my tyres look very similar to yours.
Sadly I can't post pictures as the tyres were taken away by the mobile tyre fitter.
By the way, I used www.ids-tyres.co.uk very good reasonable price service.
Maybe my alignment isn't out. Car does not pull to one side, but the steering wheel is not dead centre.
 
RAB said:
Mike,

What is really needed is a system that measures steering geometry under traction, not statically with no measurement of the slack in the steering. The latter is next to useless. I suspect that VAG are overly pessimistic about the slack in their steering systems and set the toe-out excessively, with the result that under traction, the wheels are still toe-out when they should be parallel.

RAB
Click to expand...

Hi RAB

The Gunson Trakrite gauge goes some way in measuring the toe settings under dynamic condition - http://www.gunson.co.uk/item.aspx?cat=664&item=1812

Cheers Spike
 
Hi Spike,

Any experience of using it? Not sure how you can do one wheel at a time without some error.

RAB
 
chb said:
Hi Xiter, my tyres look very similar to yours.
Sadly I can't post pictures as the tyres were taken away by the mobile tyre fitter.
By the way, I used www.ids-tyres.co.uk very good reasonable price service.
Maybe my alignment isn't out. Car does not pull to one side, but the steering wheel is not dead centre.
Click to expand...

The steering wheel wasn't dead centre on mine either but it doesn't necessarily mean the alignment is out. My previous A2 petrol (bought new) had a steering wheel at a slight angle when it came out of the factory. Since I didn't buy my TDI new I 'm not sure the steering wheel was centered but it wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't. Maybe the same guy installed the steering wheels on both of my cars.:)
Anyway, they centered the steering wheel when they checked the alignment so now everything is nice and straight.
 
Hi Spike,

I bought a Trakrite and adjusted the tracking on my Lupo 3L again accordingly so that the toe-out is now about 1/3 of what it should be! I have now also bought some new front tyres (Fulda Ecocontrol which seem a very good replacement for the now unavailable B381 155/65/R14's) which helpfully have some very small protrusions on each side of the tyre which help to detect any uneven wear. Every indication is that the problem has finally been solved.

The Trakrite is more an aid than a tool as such, because of the difficulty of aligning it with the car correctly. You have to use it about half a dozen times and take the average. Better than a static setup by a garage though and cheaper!

RAB
 
Uneven tyre wear

I agree with RAB. I had this problem at 30k miles with our 04 tdi and the audi specialists measured the tracking and found no problem. I swopped the wheels front to back and toed in the tracking a notch or two and the tyre wear is now much more even, although at nearly 60k all four are now nearing the end. I will have the tracking checked at replacement time but may not alter it unless the reading is way too toed in.

You have to remember that the tyre wear is the final arbiter when it comes to steering geometry.

25k miles will show more than a revolution in the garage
 
Just to update on this. My tracking is definately out. I am waiting till Awsome get the FSD's in this month, then will get these and 4 wheel alignment done in one hit. This relates to a pothole I hit in January (see my post on springs if you are bored!)
The poor volvo is getting more miles added to it in the meantime (156000 and counting!)
 
Worn front tyres

Just had two new Pirelli P6000 tyres this week done at Derby Audi - £86.09 each as have had problems with constantly deflating tyres, the drivers side front losing pressure every week to as low as 18.
So after a couple of visits to quick fit for inspection, who could not find fault and lots of steering vibration later decided to take it in to Audi.

Advised both front tyres badly worn with the drivers side having 'bubbling' around rim.

Both were new Pirelli's 22 months ago & had done 16,591 miles.
 
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