Ok, took my 2014 vRS Estate into the garage fot its first service on Monday this week, they done the service fine, no problems in that respect.

 

However, I looked at the front tyres a couple of weeks ago and thought they looked low, but asked the garage to confirm the tread depths left on them, they came back with 5mm across the whole tyre on the rear, but on the front 2mm centre, and various unto 4mm on the outers, I have only done 7500 miles, to say I am annoyed is an understatement.

 

I told the service chap that this was unacceptable, its a brand new (12months) car, and that this should not be happening after that length of time, the reply was basically, sorry but your tracking is obviously out and that isn't covered by Skoda, you must of hit a kerb, my reply, hang on a second the car has never hit a bloody kerb the car is immaculate, go and find me tyre damage or a herbed wheel or any evidence that the premature wear on my tyres is my fault and I will gladly pay for new ones, he admitted that my car was immaculate, but still kept banging on about the tracking being fault, then he states well it has independent suspension, so all the tyres run on the ground differently hence how the tyre wear is uneven etc etc etc

 

Now, I know Skodas have had issues with tyre wear in the past, but, quite frankly I am not prepared to be going out and paying in excess of £100 per tyre for a half decent branded tyre when the car has only done 7500, thats is my rough annual mileage so every 12 months for new tyres is a joke, imagine if I was a high mileage driver, 30K per year, that would be tyres every 3 months!  Joke!

 

I will not be letting this go, I will take this to Skoda and get it registered etc, but I am interested to hear from others on here that might of had a similar problem and how it was resolved or did you have to just replace the tyres and put it down to experience, I love my Skodas, they offer great value for money and do all that I want them to, but this is seriously putting me of the brand unfortunately.

 

I have always got on with the people in my dealership and like them, but, I feel the are trying to pass  the buck onto me and thats not on as far as I am concerned.

 

The car in my opinion 'should be set up properly at the factory and as such premature tyre wear etc should not happen' thats why we buy new cars!  If I was a traffic light racer, or foot to the floor driver etc then I would accept that its my fault, but being told that my choice of car will always lead to premature tyre wear and this is an expense I have to accept is not a suitable response.

 

For info my tyres are the Conti Sport 2, so its not a mickey mouse brand, and I feel dam sure that this wear should not have happened this early!

 

Any thoughts or advice from anyone before I go to Skoda, the dealer etc and start what I suspect will be a long process of them blaming me!!!

 

Thanks in advance.

 

7.5k is fine in my world!

The vRS has terrible front grip on pull away, I end up spinning the wheels up regularly, and I'm not talking about flooring it from the lights either. I'm not expecting to get to 10k on my vRS for the fronts (and only that high as the Mrs drives it 90% of the time and is the most ginger person on the throttle ever).

I'm used to 5k for a set of rears on my BMW 135i. And they were £250 a piece!

Sorry, but I'm in the, you bought a powerful FWD car camp (I don't think your tracking is out though).

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First off, go and get the alignment checked at a good independent garage... One with a Hunter 4_wheel alignment rig at least... I wouldn't go to kwak fit but that's up to you. Once you know how far out of alignment it is, take the print-out to your dealer and see what they are willing to do about it.

Unfortunately some cars are way out on delivery but it's not apparent from the get go. Ive had both my Passat abd my wife's car (a leon) checked shortly after purchase and both were out of spec in one way or another. (passat from new, leon was 4 months old). The leon went from being overly twitchy to rock solid. But neither were driven long enough to show tyre wear issues before adjustment

Edited 19 February, 201511 yr by Greg R

My Conti 2s at the front will need replacing any time now.  They've done 15,500 miles so far.  Similar wear pattern to yours, 2 mm at the centre and 4mm at the outer edges.  Not great wear, but just about acceptable I guess. 

If its worn in the centre but not the edges then more likely to be over inflation rather than tracking

 

Mind you the geometry was checked on my 800mile Fabia and found to be all over the place.

It's one of the first jobs to be done on my Octavia when it finally arrives.

Are Contis standard fit on the mk3 's?? Please tell me they no longer fit Dunlops 

I only got 15k out of the conti 2's on my mk2 Blackline (admittedly) not as bad as your 7.5k. Never rated the conti 2 particularly, front traction was always awful.

Are Contis standard fit on the mk3 's?? Please tell me they no longer fit Dunlops 

It depends,

My VRS came with 18" 225 Bridgestone Potenza S001

If its worn in the centre but not the edges then more likely to be over inflation rather than tracking

 

Mind you the geometry was checked on my 800mile Fabia and found to be all over the place.

+1 for the tyre being over inflated. 

My Conti's have done almost 22K miles and none are below 3-1/2mm (now in my garage as car is currently wearing its winter wheels/tyres).  Summer tyres were changed back to front and front to back at about 16K miles.  Correct tyre pressures, correct suspension geometry and not using harsh acceleration unless really necessary will maximise tyre life.

 

Over 3 sets of tyres on my previous 160hp Civic I averaged 28K miles per set of tyres.  I always change tyres when down to 2-1/2 to 3mm.  Swap tyres around so that all 4 need changing at the same time so that I can get a matched set and also change type of tyre if I wish.  I hate having mixed tyres on a car and won't buy a used car so equipped.

I had to change my fronts at 17.5k recently  They were Conti Sport 2 but I replaced them with Eagle F1 Asy2

 

 

For info my tyres are the Conti Sport 2, so its not a mickey mouse brand, and I feel dam sure that this wear should not have happened this early!

 

I've just changed my Conti Sport 2's - Got 17,500 out of them ('63 plate vRS TDi Estate, for comparison)

 

I would've got more (fronts were down to 2-3mm, rears were down to 3-4mm), and had just swapped front to back before SWMBO drove a few hundred miles to pickup the new set from her work. Unfortuntately, she is firmly in the "Less than 3mm is a deathtrap" camp, so she wouldn't let it go until I had ordered a set of Pirellis 

I had to change my fronts at 17.5k recently  They were Conti Sport 2 but I replaced them with Eagle F1 Asy2

I also intend to fit Eagle F1 Asy2 when my current Conti tyres are replaced.

The contis are renowned for wearing fairly quickly, but a 2mm lower tread in the centre of the tyre means they have been over inflated. What pressure are you running them at, and what do you use to measure the tyre pressure?

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Again sounds like you run them over inflated if they are worn in the middle.

My front tyres look like they will last about 9k (changing them around 2mm) which is similar to what I got out of my Passat.

Have you actually measured the tread yourself??

If it's running Contis they do wear very swiftly, mine has done 11.7k from new and they are evenly and completely worn out.

Conti sport 2 are what the car is designed to use, I have 9000 on mine and so I will be lucky to get to 10000, the TDI VRS is heavy on fronts its to be expected in afraid, especially the way I drive mine!

I agree about the over inflation suggestion, my car was delivered with pressures set at 3.2 bar all round which is about 1 bar over inflated! Thankfully, I spotted this within the first few days. With regards to tyre wear, if you fancy a harder compound, try the Dunlop Sport Maxx GTs, I'm still on the original set with 42k on the clock!!! Rotated at 38k and still got 5mm on fronts and 3.5mm on rears last time I checked a couple of weeks ago! Personally though, I'll be opting for a softer compound if these ever wear out cos the ride quality is poor enough on the 18s and the Dunlop's make it worse.

The Conti SC2 wears quite quickly - especially on the fronts. I managed 10.5k on my Mk2 Blackline on the SCS2's fitted from factory (changed at 2.5-3mm). I was never impressed with them (they are an old design of tyre now and I assume Skoda fit them as they get a cheap deal from Continental). The Mk3 seems to be coming with a mixture of the SCS2 and (on mine)Bridgestone Potenza S001 - not that these seem much better. As & when replacements are needed I'll be putting on Goodyear F1 Assy2 - they were a noticeable improvement on my Mk2 and I Can't see why they wouldn't be the same on the Mk3.

The type of journeys you do will also make a big difference to the amount of wear - mainly motorways will result in much higher mileage out of tyres than country roads/town use etc.

I agree with others about it sounding like over inflation if its the centres that have worn rather than tracking.

Thanks for the feedback people, interesting that a couple of people mentioned mileages much higher than the 7.5k I have got on mine, I looked at them today and there is definite difference in tread wear across the tyre, outer still have reasonable tread left, centre pretty much on the marker.

 

I do the tyre pressures fairly regularly, I fill my car up usually around once a month and top up with a little bit during the month as and when, so when I do the big fill I check the tyres etc then, I check them and adjust to what it says for the lower load setting on the inside of the filler cap, I very rarely have more than me and the wife and pccasionally our daughter in the car and in the boot, nothing out of the ordinary, the weekly shop etc so whilst I agree with the inflation comments, I would understand the irregular wear if they were vastly over inflated, but they are kept to the required pressures as Skoda want.

 

The geometry definitely needs checking, and yes with the proper hunter 4 wheel alignment, luckily the local tyre place across the road from the dealer uses that system, so it will be going there to eb checked, are there updated settings or something that the tyre place should be working to or can the tyre man physically adjust the geometry manually to bring it all in line properly?

 

I have lodged a case with Skoda this afternoon, and am awaiting them coming back to me, they have said 24hours, will they call back or not?  How reliable are they at calling back?  They have asked what I expect them to do, I replied I expected the car to be delivered to me in a state that was perfect, and in a state where such things as premature tyre wear etc would be minimised.  They have asked if I am expecting the tyres to be replaced, I said regardless of whether Skoda decide to replace the tyres the root cause i.e. geometry etc needs to be addressed otherwise new tyres are a waste of time.

 

So, we will see what they say.

 

I accept that I bought a car that in theory has sporty characteristics and that is part and parcel of choosing that car, but as has been demonstrated I should be expecting the car to get better wear from those tyres, I bought the car more for the nicer looks and the sporty looks of it rather than the performance so I actually drive it like a little old lady at times!!!!

 

Anyway, lets see what they say!

Conti sport 2 are what the car is designed to use, I have 9000 on mine and so I will be lucky to get to 10000, the TDI VRS is heavy on fronts its to be expected in afraid, especially the way I drive mine!

No they aren't. I've had 2 O3s now on 18s, one came with Bridgestones and one with Dunlops.

You get whatever tyre they have bought in bulk cheaply, like most other manufacturers.

I worked for Vauxhall for about a decade and it was the same with them, one week Michelins, the next week Contis etc etc.

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That's not what skoda say!

That's not what skoda say!

I can't believe that any car manufacturer designs a car based upon a particular tyre, some tyres are designed for specific cars, but to suggest that a car manufacturer designs a car in 2012/13 based on a specific tyre that has been around for well over 10 years is just a load of rubbish.