I was checking my tyres yesterday after giving the car a clean.  I found a nail in the front nearside - not causing deflation as far as I can tell but I'm loath to pull it out and see, so I'll have to have someone take a look at it I think.

 

I also checked the tread wear, for the first time in ages.  Oddly, the nearside tyres have about 1mm less tread left than the offside.  The nearside tyres were averaging 4.5mm, while the offside were nearer 5.5mm.  I swap the tyres front to rear when I change from summers to winters and back, but I don't swap sides; this is as per the advice in the owner's manual.

 

Anyone seen uneven wear like before, or have any suggestions why it might be happening?

...Oddly, the nearside tyres have about 1mm less tread left than the offside.  The nearside tyres were averaging 4.5mm, while the offside were nearer 5.5mm...

Interesting...

This leads me to some questions:

Is your wheel alignment correct ? If so,

Are you mostly driving alone, so weight differences between left / right side influences tire wear (I doubt an average of 80 Kg difference may influence)

Or there is a great difference of weight between sides of car due to construction, like engine / clutch / gearbox placement (I also doubt there is, as IMO it would affect dynamic behavior of the car).

Normal to get the most wear from the nearside front due to the left camber of the road and more so on roads with a pronounced camber or regular front passenger. With the 4x4 the wear front to rear can be pretty even, probably see a difference of 1 to 1.5mm front to rear over the lifetime of the tyres, from my own experience with four Haldex equipped VAG group cars.

 

 

TP

Roundabouts play a part in nearside tyre wear too.

Unless of course there aren't any in Israel?

Roundabouts play a part in nearside tire wear too.

Unless of course there aren't any in Israel?

There are plenty of them. Most done in the last years as part of urban road design concept to reduce need of traffic lights, make junctions safer and traffic more fluent.

TP, thanks for the input.  The tyres have had about equal time on front and rear, which is probably another reason why the wear is pretty much identical at each end.

 

Anyone have any recommendations for getting wheel alignment checked/corrected?  I seem to remember a friend of mine had his Porsche checked at home by a man-with-a-van.  Not that the wear pattern suggests any major alignment issues, more for future reference really...

Your friendly tyre dealer should be able to align your wheels.  Strongly suggest you have the nail removed and the resulting puncture repaired while you are there - it's a problem waiting to happen.

I have noticed different tyre wear from different brands of tyre, the Dunlop tyres fitted when new wore out dead flat across all four tyres and at the same rate.

 I then had three sets of Bridgestone Potenza, these wore out more on the outside edges which is normal for the fronts on some cars but the rears did it also, with 4 mm on the inner of the tyre and no tread on the outside edge, all three sets did this with Bridgestone.

 I am now on Continentals, they are wearing dead flat on all four like the Dunlops did, I also noticed the strange rear end shift when going over a bump has become less evident, there is a lot left on the Conti's so will have to wait and see how they perform long term.

Your friendly tyre dealer should be able to align your wheels.

 

Err...no thanks!  I took the car to the local Kwik-Fit to have the tyre checked and the nail hadn't penetrated the carcass, so that was OK.  I only took it to them because they were open in a Sunday, and I believe that they are just about competent to inspect a tyre, and mend it if punctured.  I wouldn't trust them to do anything much more complicated than that!

 

I'm sure my friend had his done by a man-in-a-van once.  If the need does arise I think I'll resort to Google.

Take your point about Kwik-Fit, but surely they are not the only option in Edinburgh?

Re posts #3 and #4 above:

 

My daughter and son-in-law who live in Milton Keynes could tell you lots about uneven tyre wear caused by roundabouts!

 

I have also noticed with both my Yeti and the previous Octy Scout that, with a 4x4 system, the difference in tyre wear between front and back wheels is negligible.

Re posts #3 and #4 above:

 

My daughter and son-in-law who live in Milton Keynes could tell you lots about uneven tyre wear caused by roundabouts!

 

I have also noticed with both my Yeti and the previous Octy Scout that, with a 4x4 system, the difference in tyre wear between front and back wheels is negligible.

When I was working a couple of us had the same type of company car he worked out of the MK facility and I worked at our Dunstable factory he had to change his tyres at 60% of my milage. That's the roundabouts for you!