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!

While the laser aligners are great, it's more about the guy using it.

 

When I was on the tools, I had a crappy old Sun light aligner.  I rated myself as the 2nd best alignment guy in the district.  The best guy had an even older mechanical aligner.  That was back in the '70s and he's still working (he's near 80) and still uses the same machine to set up the older cars. (Have a look on FB for Heaseman Steering - the guy's name is Doug Heaseman.  He's a legend!)

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.

Great information Brad, thanks very much.

 

The car is in for a service in a months time (DSG oil and filter, etc) so I will give them the alignment sheet and talk through your notes. 

Front tyres steer as well as go round and if you think about the normal side deflection caused in the carcass of the tyre as you steer left and right the side load (which is what generates the steering force to turn the vehicle) is bound to wear the edges of front tyres more than the centres. This is entirely normal.

 

Its also entirely legal as the law only requires "car tyres to have a minimum tread depth of 1.6mm in a continuous band around the central three quarters of the tyre", on most tyres this means 1.6mm in the main grooves where the tread wear indicator bars reside. Its actually perfectly legal if the edges have no visible tread left as long as no tyre construction (reinforcing) is showing through.

 

Its also un-necessary to up the tyre pressures above the manufacturers recommended levels as all this does is over inflate the middle section of the tyre and make it bulge outwards reducing the contact patch (and grip) to even out what is normal wear on front tyres.