Hi

My Octavia 1.8 TSI is one year old and has nearly 8,000 miles on the clock. The first service showed tread depths of 6, 5, 6 (outer, middle, inner) on the fronts and 6, 7, 7 on rears. Is this normal wear or do they need more/less air?

Thanks for any help.

More air in the front and 4 wheel allignment with the updated values (see vRStu's site) to correct the rears?

Steve

I disagree; sorry.

6, 5, 6 at the front says more wear in the centre of the tyre, which is indicative of over inflation (making the tyre convex in shape and pressing the centre of the tyre on the road with more force).

Unless you have a specific reason to vary the 'standard' tyre pressures (quite a few vRS drivers run their pressures higher for better 'handling', for example) you ought to stick to the recommended pressures for your tyres.

These will be found on the inside of the fuel filler cap.

Less in the front, leave the rears alone. Rears will probably always wear a little more on the inside.

Apologies, got them the wrong way round, bahnstormer spotted the deliberate mistake.........

Thanks for the replies. I will reduce the pressure in the front tyres, as suggested.

Thanks for the replies. I will reduce the pressure in the front tyres, as suggested.

From what to what? You can't really reduce the pressure if you already run at the minimum already.

What type of driving & loads do you normally do/have?

Have you given thought to getting the tyres rotated rather than faffing about with tyre pressures. I like to x-rotate my tyres every 7500km - it seems to stop a lot of uneven wear problems and reduces tyre noise.

BTW: I run 38psi front & 35psi rear in an Elegance with 205/55x16 tyres

From what to what? You can't really reduce the pressure if you already run at the minimum already.

What type of driving & loads do you normally do/have?

Have you given thought to getting the tyres rotated rather than faffing about with tyre pressures. I like to x-rotate my tyres every 7500km - it seems to stop a lot of uneven wear problems and reduces tyre noise.

BTW: I run 38psi front & 35psi rear in an Elegance with 205/55x16 tyres

I am now running on 220Kpa/2.2ish bar all round. The load is usually one or two people at most. I would say about 70-80% of driving is on motorway/dual carriageway. I have an L&K with 17" wheels.

Before doing anything I would check the tread depth yourself.

Mine went in for service in August - tread depth reported as 4mm all round.

Went in for extra work 3 weeks or so later and got another tread depth report - 5mm all round :confused:

Nuff said!

From what to what? You can't really reduce the pressure if you already run at the minimum already.

Of course you can, they are wearing in the middle due to over inflation, reduce the pressure a little and they will wear evenly.

Have you given thought to getting the tyres rotated rather than faffing about with tyre pressures. I like to x-rotate my tyres every 7500km - it seems to stop a lot of uneven wear problems and reduces tyre noise.

Changing tyre pressures is much easier than swapping wheels round IMO (you will still need to adjust the pressures anyway if they run at different pressures like you run at.)

Ideally you want all the tyres wearing evenly, not compensating for excessive wear by swapping them round.

BTW: I run 38psi front & 35psi rear in an Elegance with 205/55x16 tyres

38psi? that seems very high (i don't own an Octavia tho')

Tyre pressures are more than just about wear. For example when you load the car up you should increase the rear pressures to reduce sidewall flex (which can lead to overheating of the tyre casing).

On many vehicle applications it is not unusual for the tyres to wear slightly non-uniformly, due to the geometry of the car, and tyres will often wear a little more on the shoulder due to cornering forces.

Stick with the manfr figures unless you have a good reason to do otherwise, and make sure you're using a good accurate gauge.

I am now running on 220Kpa/2.2ish bar all round. The load is usually one or two people at most. I would say about 70-80% of driving is on motorway/dual carriageway. I have an L&K with 17" wheels.

So you are on about 32psi (we went to SI units 25 years ago & pressure is the only one I haven't adapted to:confused:).

Isn't 32psi/220kpa the minimum pressure listed on the fuel flap? Either way, I wouldn't run lower than that.

Keep in mind that while you might even out the tyre wear, reduced pressure will use more fuel and the car will not handle "crisply". Maybe those two factors aren't an issue to you.

Lower pressures also mean increased tyre carcass temperatures which could lead to premature case failure, tread seperation & accelerated wear.

Personally, I'd keep running 32psi/220kpa & get them to rotate the tyres every service.

Of course you can, they are wearing in the middle due to over inflation, reduce the pressure a little and they will wear evenly.

True, but I wouldn't consider 32psi to be overinflated. I'd consider that the minimum pressure for most cars.

Changing tyre pressures is much easier than swapping wheels round IMO (you will still need to adjust the pressures anyway if they run at different pressures like you run at.)

Ideally you want all the tyres wearing evenly, not compensating for excessive wear by swapping them round.

Changing pressure is easier but easier isn't allways right.:confused:

I'm a bit confused about the apparent reluctance in the UK to carry out a basic piece of tyre maintenance (front to rear rotation). It's recomended practice every 5,000km-10,000km by all the tyre manufacturers/distributors here in AUS.

38psi? that seems very high (i don't own an Octavia tho')

Yes, it is high, but it works for me and my driving style and the conditions I drive in. I do 90% Motorway driving (max speed here is 110kmh); temperatures are relatively high; I tend to go around corners without slowing down; and for (occasional) work use I have to drive on lots of potholed or gravel roads. It's impossible to stop & add air (middle of nowhere - no service stations) so I just run (possibly excessively) high pressures all the time. Suprisingly, my tyres wear evenly - who'd have thought:confused:.

A Renault dealer once told me on a service report sheet that the spare tyre in my 182 Cup had 8mm tread on it.

I was amazed!

The car didn't have a spare.

Another reason why I don't trust dealers.

Steve