Hi Folks

Any help advice here would be great. I have a 2.0 TDI Oct II L&K Hatch, first reg Oct 2007. It has 225/45 17 Bridgestone RE050 tyres on the correct sputnik (?) alloys.

Now covered 11.5K, and fronts are down to 3.0/3.5mm nearside, and 4.0 mm offside.

Rears are 5.0/5.5mm n/side and 6.0mm offside.

My query is not around the wear vs mileage ( I am a very steady driver - need to be in this age of fuel prices !!) I have found out that the treadwear rating for this partic tyre is 140, which is off the bottom of the scale and means I think that the tyres are very soft in terms of compound.( other internet searches show generally very poor mileage from them, but then they are fitted by VW as well on Golfs) By comparison Dunlops and Contis are around treadwear 220 ish and hence would wear better under same circs (I think)

Question is - Why are both the front and rear Nearside tyres more worn than the offside? I am very careful to check pressures accurately every 1-2 weeks. Could this be tracking, but how would that affect the rear tyre(s)? Do I need a four wheel check? Other than this difference n/s vs o/s there is no evidence of scrubbing or uneven wear across the width, other than that the centre portion is a little more worn than the edges.

I am now going to swap front to rear to equalise wear and hence replace all four at once , hopefully around 25k ish. Any help much appreciated !!

Does your passenger weigh more than you?? Sorry got that one in before someone else did!! ROFL

my osf one seems to have worn more than the others.

Question is - Why are both the front and rear Nearside tyres more worn than the offside?

Do you live in Milton Keynes (or indeed anywhere else with lots of roundabouts?)

Its either tyre pressures, tracking or roundabouts.

I have a subaru forrester with bridgestones as well as my octy and the nearside front is worn a lot more than then rest. Local tyre guys say its roundabouts and all 4x4s have that issue. My last Subaru, an impreza on Michelins got 48K off the fronts! this forrester is not going to make 30k.

I suspect something similar is happening.

Theres some chat about tyre pressures in the superb section http://briskoda.net/forums/superb/tyre-pressures-tyre-wear/110376/#post1284114

Pretty sure that's typically caused by roundabouts as noted above. Especially with soft compound tyres. Did you measure across the whole 3/4 width of the tyre?

Anyway, there's not much you can do about the rears. There's no adjustment as far as i'm aware, expect for sticking in a shim (crude).

Rgs

Chris

Octy 2 rear axle is fully adjustable for toe and camber.

Octy 2 rear axle is fully adjustable for toe and camber.

Every day is a learning day

Octy 2 rear axle is fully adjustable for toe and camber.

Yes I would have to agree. My nice friendly tyre place adjusted them as I was running over 2 degrees on the nearside and all but 2 degrees on the offside.

They should be set to 1.25 degrees which is the revised figures from Skoda themselves. THeir reaon was for tyre noise though.

Was driving a 170PS Octavia today at work. 9650 miles on the clock, front tyres are brand new Goodyear Excellence 205-55/16, rears are Dunlop SP Sport 01. Seems the 170PS eats fronts.

Hi,

A bit late in this posting, but maybe my reply will help others... Tyre service centres ALWAYS report excess mid to outer edge wear on nearside tyres (especially front nearsides). The going around roundabouts theory is 100% correct. The faster you push your car around a roundabout, the more the centrifugal force will exagerate the cars weight onto the outside half of the tyre making road contact). I live in Telford (which alike Milton Keynes has MANY roundabouts).

Road camber is yet another factor (the road surface curves downwards towards the road gutter purely for drainage & longevity). To illustrate the wear induced on the nearside tyres (again, especially front), just potter down a deserted road at about 15 MPH then loosen the steering wheel. OOPS... immediately heading for gutter = compensation by oversteering to the right = corresponding wear especially nearside front. The problem of both camber & roundabouts is made worse by weight of car & tyre compounds (the octavia II PD diesel for example is quite a heavy car).

My nearside front (Goodyear Excellence used) is generally shot after 16000 miles from new (even though the offside front has about 1mm left before reaching the legal limit). At this period the two rears are pretty much even for wear with at least 2mm left. I do tow a caravan for a lot of the time (so Im not too upset with 16000 miles), and enjoy the fairly impressive acceleration from standstill provided by the PD engine & DSG gearbox... without caravan of course (okay, Im easily pleased)!!!

Hope that helps someone.

Paul.