Front tyre wear CR170 L&K

[jonathan.tong]

So having recently commented on someone elses post on rear tyre wear I've just had the front driver side off to try and track down a slow puncture (no obvious cause found), I'd like your opinion on the tyre wear that I found. The car has done just over 26K of mostly A-roads and some town and towed a caravan twice.

 

The shoulders look more worn than I would expect? The centre portion looks just fine at 3-4mm. The image with the drive in the background is the inside of the tyre.  Both fronts look worn in a similar way and the rears don't seem to have additional wear on the shoulders?

 

I should add that they are factory fit Conti SportContact2 and  until the last couple of weeks all the tyres have been inflated to the correct pressures as per the fuel flap (2.1bar for the 18" fronts).

Edited 19 December, 2015 by jonathan.tong

[Danny 57]

I had that wear pattern then I increased the tyre pressure to, as others have on here to 36 psi or 2.5 bar and the tread wear became more even.

[silver1011]

Looks OK to me, you only have another couple of millimeters until you reach the wear bars, the shoulders will last until then which I guess is all they need to.

[Caspian]

I have always run my fronts on 33 lbs/sq in.

[peterposh]

Take to tyre place as 26k is great mileage, your tyres are what they call in the trade "worn out" ;-)

[Superb170]

Looks normal enough to me and nothing excessive. I find the low profiles tend to wear a little more on the outside, possibly due to pushing them that bit harder at times as there is more grip.  I'd changed them now though.  Given the time of year its not worth taking a chance as they.  26k miles is very good for a 170 on 18" wheels.  I got just over 30k kms 20K miles) on a set (225/40/18) on mixed driving - rotated them at 15k kms.  Anything over 2.1 bar will be noticeably uncomfortable in my experience.

[Superb170]

.

Edited 20 December, 2015 by Superb170

[jonathan.tong]

It's the inside edge that worn more, but it sounds like this is a reasonable wear pattern given the profile (they always look flat to me).

Thanks for all your comments.

[jonathan.tong]

It's the inside edge that worn more, but it sounds like this is a reasonable wear pattern given the profile (they always look flat to me). Nevertheless I've put a little more air in anyways and might end up replacing because of losing air somewhere.

Thanks for all your comments.

[Joakim]

I had excessive wear on the insides of both my front tyres, similar to yours but mine was worse. One side was so worn that the cord was showing with 3mm left of the thread in the centre of the tyre. I always run my tyres with 20-30 kPa over recommended unladen pressure and increase pressure to maximum recommended when fully laden for holidays and such.

 

After seeing the uneven wear I had a four wheel alignment done, and it seems I had been running with uneven slight toe out front +00°16'/-00°18' and more even toe out rear -00°02'/-00°03' instead of recommended +00°05'/+00°05' toe in front and rear. Car seems more stable now but hard to tell with winter tyres on.

 

Excessive toe out will cause wear on the inside edges of tyres and excessive toe in will cause wear on the outside edges of tyres.

With toe in you get improved straight line stability and reduced steering response.

With toe out you get reduced straight line stability and improved steering response.

[kevin defty]

Take to tyre place as 26k is great mileage, your tyres are what they call in the trade "worn out" ;-)

mine have done 26500 all round and the fronts are still near 4mm. A lot of motorway miles plus towing a caravan.

[brad1.8T]

 

 

I should add that they are factory fit Conti SportContact2 and  until the last couple of weeks all the tyres have been inflated to the correct pressures as per the fuel flap (2.1bar for the 18" fronts).

2.1bar is just over 30psi.  Basically, Skoda have erred on the side of comfort (I assume because the car is supposed to be a luxury limousine)  rather than optimum tyre wear, handling and rim / sidewall protection.

 

At a minimum try 34psi front / 32psi rear.  You'll still keep a comfortable ride at that pressure.  Personally, I'd run 36F / 34R.

[peterposh]

I upped the pressure by a few PSI as "they looked a bit low" on my mondeo front tyres, I was rewarded a month or so later with prematurely clapped out tyres ( but only in the centre tread)  ....doh!

[brad1.8T]

I upped the pressure by a few PSI as "they looked a bit low" on my mondeo front tyres, I was rewarded a month or so later with prematurely clapped out tyres ( but only in the centre tread)  ....doh!

You must have added more than a few PSI or they were already worn

[peterposh]

only 2 psi

[Superb170]

Even increasing from 30psi to 33 is very noticeable in terms of comfort for me - well that's on 18s

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Caspian]

Further to my comment earlier that I run my front tyres at 33 lbs/sq inch.

I was advised by the dealer when I bought the car that, if I wanted to avoid pothole damage to wheels and tyre sidewalls I should run at 32 lbs sq/inch on the front rather than the recommended 30. From my experience I would say that does not affect comfort to a significant degree but does stiffen the turn in, making the front less loose  and more glued to the road.

 

After trying it out for a while I elected to increase the front pressures to 33 lbs /sq inch which again stiffened the front end slightly, improving turn in, without taking to much out of the ride comfort. I ran the first set of front tyres for about 16,000 miles before they were replaced. There was no uneven wear in evidence.

 

The rear tyre pressures were recommended at 34 lbs sq/inch and the dealer recommended using 32, but I found that 33 was better for me as it stopped the rear end bouncing quite so much and helped to stop any rear end wallowing.

 

Of course when fully loaded, higher tyre pressures are needed and I usually use 34 on the front and 35 on the rear which seems adequate.  

[williamshatnerspants]

I had excessive wear on the insides of both my front tyres, similar to yours but mine was worse. One side was so worn that the cord was showing with 3mm left of the thread in the centre of the tyre. I always run my tyres with 20-30 kPa over recommended unladen pressure and increase pressure to maximum recommended when fully laden for holidays and such.

 

After seeing the uneven wear I had a four wheel alignment done, and it seems I had been running with uneven slight toe out front +00°16'/-00°18' and more even toe out rear -00°02'/-00°03' instead of recommended +00°05'/+00°05' toe in front and rear. Car seems more stable now but hard to tell with winter tyres on.

 

Excessive toe out will cause wear on the inside edges of tyres and excessive toe in will cause wear on the outside edges of tyres.

With toe in you get improved straight line stability and reduced steering response.

With toe out you get reduced straight line stability and improved steering response.

 

So would this be a good example of too much toe out? Just taking these off the front of our 2010 TDI wagon and it looks horrific.... like its been rubbing on something (tyres 225/40/18 Falken ZE912)

 

 

 

 

Will be getting wheel alignment done at the same time. Thanks in advance. 

Edited 21 February, 2016 by williamshatnerspants

[brad1.8T]

almost looks like it was rubbing on the spring perch.

 

What pressures are you running?  I assume they are factory alloys that came with the car?

[williamshatnerspants]

almost looks like it was rubbing on the spring perch.

 

What pressures are you running?  I assume they are factory alloys that came with the car?

It does doesn't it. The wheels/tyres are standard (Thermistos and 225/40/18 Falkens). The perchs show not sign of contact. The previous owner DID let the pressures get too low (it was noted on a previous service) and did a lot of country road driving. I have kept the tyres at or slightly above the 32PSI recommended.

 

Tyres getting replaced and alignment done today so will update with the results of that.

 

 

[brad1.8T]

Unless you really love the luxo-barge ride, I would be running 36-38psi in a 225/40r18.  

 

I have the same size in my lighter Octavia & run 38psi.

 

I can't understand Skoda's insistence on recommending such low pressures in that style of tyre.

[williamshatnerspants]

Unless you really love the luxo-barge ride, I would be running 36-38psi in a 225/40r18.  

 

I have the same size in my lighter Octavia & run 38psi.

 

I can't understand Skoda's insistence on recommending such low pressures in that style of tyre.

Good plan, higher pressures should help against buckling too. I got the car back and have not got the alignment printout with me but the tyre fitter said the two left wheels were slightly buckled (not noticeable while driving in the city), and that the toe in/out on the front was actually OK. He said the camber is setup from the factory but he adjusted the toe in/out on the rear. This will make much more sense when I put up a pic of the readout. My guess is now that the fronts were VERY under inflated for a while by the previous owner and I failed to see the wear on the inside edge when I bought it.

[williamshatnerspants]

Here is the alignment sheet. It mentions 'normal suspension' but I have '2UC SWP sports suspension version', I presume there wouldnt be a difference to any alignment setting for this, just firmer springs/lowered slightly?

 

Edited 25 February, 2016 by williamshatnerspants

[brad1.8T]

There is a difference between the sport and standard settings but, IMO, unless you really hook into corners a lot the standard settings are better for tyre wear - especially on the rear (sawtoothing issues)

 

Your alignment guy could have done much better and he's really only set up the toe rather than doing a full alignment.  I hope he didn't charge you more than 30minutes labour.

 

At the front, he has more camber on the R than the L.  It should be even or slightly more on the L to counteract road camber.  The front camber is adjustable by moving the subframe.  He should try and even out the caster (or a fraction more on the L) while he's at it.

 

Moving the subframe is a standard VW adjustment and is in the workshop manuals.

 

Personally, I think 2.6mm is too much toe-in and I'd go with 1.5mm-2mm but that's a personal preference.

 

At a guess, given the buckled wheels & (old) alignment settings, someone has belted a kerb or pothole in the past.

 

 

At the rear, the camber is adjustable in the same manner as the toe via an eccentric bolt (tell the guy to look on the other arm, way up high where it attaches to the subframe - it's a cow to reach and you'll burn your arm on the exhaust).  Camber is within spec but you really want it as close to 1 degree as possible and equal on both sides.

 

Total Toe at 1.0-2.0mm (again, it's personal preference).

 

The place might be Tyre King but they have a long way to go before they are Alignment King.

Edited 26 February, 2016 by brad1.8T

[peterposh]

Lots of these tyre places claim to be able to adjust your tracking and camber but in reality most don't know what they are doing . Having taken mine back twice to one place I was assured everything was now sorted, I drove straight* to place across town with fancy laser system to be told my tracking was out and given a printout to back it up . I haven't been back to old garage since and the new one is cheaper!