Tyres - Premature Wear?

[SBN]

My mk3 came on conti sport contact 2. I got 8.5k out the front then put the backs on the front and new conti sport contact 5's on the back.

At 12k had to replace the conti 2's as one tyre got damaged. Got conti 5's again and put new ones on the back.

Just passed 18k and today fitted 2 new eagle f1's on the front.

Managed to get them for £76 a tyre though so was pretty pleased.

[Gerrycan]

If you are checking your tyres at the same petrol venue then their gauge could be out. ( and I mean way out)

It is always a good idea to have your own pressure gauge to hand.

Edited 20 February, 2015 by Gerrycan

[brad1.8T]

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.

I agree that cars aren't designed around tyres but often tyres are designed for specific vehicles.  eg: The original Accord Euro had a quite specific Bridgestone tyre and many Porcas, Mercs & Lexii have specific tyres designed for them.  The changes are subtle but they are there.

 

I can't help the OP - some people just get lousy mileage no matter how hard they try unfortunately.

[Yeti_Man]

I agree that cars aren't designed around tyres but often tyres are designed for specific vehicles.  eg: The original Accord Euro had a quite specific Bridgestone tyre and many Porcas, Mercs & Lexii have specific tyres designed for them.  The changes are subtle but they are there.

 

I can't help the OP - some people just get lousy mileage no matter how hard they try unfortunately.

but that isn't designing a car around a specific tyre?! Many higher end Porsches etc use tyres specifically developed by the tyre manufacturer after working with the car manufacturer - many times this will be an existing tyre model but with a slightly different compound. The op's post and dealer findings clearly indicate the tyres have been run in an over inflated state. Combined with the fact the mk3 VRS Tdi is pretty torquey but really struggles to get power down smoothly from a heavy-ish lump over the front wheels... I'm not surprised by the findings.

[scoutdave]

i think you're going to find it very difficult to prove that the alignment has been out from day 1 and that is the cause of the 'premature' wear.  They have worn due to over inflation by the sound of it, if you had been throwing it through corners and across roundabouts, they would have scrubbed the outer edges and it owuld have probably read 4mm in the centre and 2mm on the inside/outside edges.

 

http://www.bridgestonetire.com/tread-and-trend/drivers-ed/tire-tread-wear-causes

[pipsyp]

Every Skoda ive had has been heavy on front tyres.

Diesels particularly so as are nose heavy and the torque output ans extremely poor damp/wet grip at low speeds does not help one bit.

Also its a valid point if you drive it reasonably keenly or have in fact mildy over inflated them its not going to have helped.

[allan1888]

I have never had more than 9500 miles out a set of front tyres on any of my VRS's and all had worn evenly across the tyre. I'm now on my third and I can't wait to change the factory fitted pirelli's off the car. My brothers vrs is the same no more than 9500 miles out of the fronts.

[sworrall]

I had the same with my crapola contis. Got about 14,000 pitiful the but they'd worn flat all up the centre. I regularly check my pressures and they've been at 32psi. Having said that the tracking is out in mine as I've just saw toothed the rears so need a four wheel alignment doing

[james_19742000]

So it seems from the discussions on here that I am not too far of what other people have experienced,  yet some are showing much better mileages than myself and others, the discrepancies just seem to be so far different its untrue, I drive the car carefully, my boy racing days are way behind me etc, so thats why I feel a bit peeved with it, I could totally understand if I just ragged it senseless everywhere, but there you go, **** happens!

 

So, this brings me onto my next question, if I am to have to buy some new tyres, I would be looking for a good compromise between wear and comfort, I have been a fan of these Conti 2's and they do seem to be noisy, I had a quick look last night and there was Michelin Sport 3 I think it was around £100 per tyre fitted and they had good ratings on the wear and the noise, so they look like possible candidates, or are there any other options out there that people have had fitted and have offered good mileage, comfort and noise?

 

In the past I have on older cars had Avons, Falken and Goodyear, I never liked the Falken but the others I thought were OK, my wife on her car which has done 7k and look like they have virtually no wear (again 18' tyres on a 2013 VW Beetle) are Hankooks from new, so they could be a possibility maybe?

[sworrall]

PS3 or eagle f1's in my opinion. I've just bought some f1's cheap from cam skill the other week from a thread on here

[DM1980]

Just replaced my original front Conti SC2's after 16k and they were also worn more down the middle than they were on the outers. Wheel alignment showed the fronts to be slightly out, however, my local garage checked the pressure in the fronts a few weeks prior to the changeover and they were found to be inflated to 35psi which will go some way to explaining the irregular wear pattern. This taught me that supermarket pressure gauges are somewhat inaccurate!

 

Anyway i put some Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2's on the advice of fellow briskodians and first impressions are positive- less road noise, good performance in the wet and reasonably priced at around £100 each. No idea on wear rates as its still early days

[neiln]

I regularly check my pressures and they've been at 32psi

 32 psi sounds soft to me, you should be wearing the shoulders on the front at that pressure.

What pressure is everyone else running?  I've played around between 35 and 38 psi, currently at 38

[Matt Pez]

2.2 bar =32 psi sounds about right on the fronts. Rears also at 2.2 if only driver +1 or increase to 2.6 at rear with full load of passengers/luggage.

[themanwithnoaim]

Dunno I've gone metric @ 3 bar, seems to be wearing pretty even but, I do hammer the roundabouts so, that maybe evening things out for me there you have it want even tyre wear "driving it like you just stole it"

[Matt Pez]

I think if I set mine to 3 bar my teeth would fall out with these Dunlop's and my pre-production damper settings, so I'm running as low a pressure as poss to soften things up a bit!

[toni8b]

2.2 bar front and rear in summer, 2.4 bar in winter. No problem with uneven wear, Dunlops summer tyres. Will check winter tyres in April.

[bkem]

I am thinking of fitting 215/50/17 summer tyres on my 2014  1.6 tdi estate 4x4 mark 3 Octavia.

Will they fit without problems?

225 45 17 are too harsh when going through potholes..

[neiln]

I know what you mean Matt!  I ran 35 psi from collection last June, a couple of psi less than set by the dealer, to see if it softened the ride.  By November time, with the colder weather, they dropped to and 31 ish.  tbh I don't notice much difference in ride now I'm trying 38 psi, but I do get better mpg then when they were at 31 ish.

So far my tyres aren't wearing badly, fronts are wearing a little on the shoulders as I'd expect, but nothing major.

 

BTW 38 psi =2.6 bar says Google.

[Neily03]

Dunno I've gone metric @ 3 bar, seems to be wearing pretty even but, I do hammer the roundabouts so, that maybe evening things out for me there you have it want even tyre wear "driving it like you just stole it"

42psi??!! Crackers.

[skovirg]

The label behind my fuel flap says 2.4 bar so that's what I go with. Google tells me that is 35 psi.

[andyvee]

That guy will be back soon telling us to inflate them to the maximum pressure as indicated on the sidewalls, 60psi or whatever insane figure it was .....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[skovirg]

That guy will be back soon telling us to inflate them to the maximum pressure as indicated on the sidewalls, 60psi or whatever insane figure it was .....

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Oh yes. I remember my dads cars always used to sit an inch higher than other models. He used to love packing air into that rubber.

[brad1.8T]

I am thinking of fitting 215/50/17 summer tyres on my 2014  1.6 tdi estate 4x4 mark 3 Octavia.

Will they fit without problems?

225 45 17 are too harsh when going through potholes..

215/50r17 are about 2% bigger in diameter.  On an Octy2 you can go about 2.8% bigger (225/55r16) without issues & without making the speedo read "wrong".  On something with std height springs you can even squeeze in a 225/50r17 (+3.6%) but it's pushing the boundaries.

 

The biggest issue is that 215/50r17 are a bit expensive.  You might be best to look at a 235/45r17 (+1.2%) as they are usually good value (common size) and the slight ballooning you get on the rim helps the ride.  Also, ask your tyre seller which brands/models ride softer - there is a huge difference within the same size range.

[brad1.8T]

42psi??!! Crackers.

That's about the recommended pressure on a Golf R with 19s.  Essentially the same chassis.

[Dr Zoidberg]

My 17" tyres seem to be lasting just fine. Aiming for 25k on the fronts, same as my O2 managed.