My Superb Estate went in to the supplying dealers, Simpsons of Colne, for it's 1st annual service with just over 6,000 miles on the clock.  No issues reported and the car was delivered back to me in a timely fashion.  So far, so good me thinks.

Then browsed through the paperwork and something stuck out like a blind cobblers thumb.

Front tyres were 6.1 and 6.8 mm respectively.  Rear o/s tyre was 7.5, no surprise on a front wheel drive vehicle but the n/s rear was 5.4mm - lower than the driving wheels and 2+mm lower than the other tyre on the same axle.  Now I'm not technically minded or a DIYer when it comes to repairs but that struck me as a massive difference at such low mileage.

Called Simpsons and spoke to a service advisor who at first tried to bullsh*t me by saying that superb's "chew through rear tyres", and he persisted with that even when I expressed surprise that I'd never experienced of that on a FWD car but changed tack when I pointed out it was "chewing through" one 2 mils quicker than the other.  He suggested it may be tracking, perhaps caused by a pothole, and offered to book it in for a check.  I politely declined pointing out that if their highly skilled and extensively trained Skoda techs couldn't spot something as blatantly out of cinc as that I wasn't completely confident in their ability to tie their own shoe laces let alone operate computerised tracking machinery!

Now from previous experience tracking seems the obvious issue but I wondered if any of you more technically gifted readers might have any other thoughts?
There is an Indy near me called Volksmaster who specialise in VAG brand and are subject of very good reviews, so my follow up is whether anyone has any personal experience of them before i contact them tomorrow? 

My first thought would be tyre pressure.

Possibly driving style 

I would take their measurements with a pinch of salt. Might be just sloppy work or finger trouble on a keyboard.

 

If you have a micrometer or digital tyre depth gauge, go and measure them carefully yourself.  Measure at inner, centre and outer band of the tread and at more than one point on the circumference.

Its vitally important to use a careful consistent technique, pushing the gauge down or measures to the side of a groove can easily throw the reading out far more than a millimeter.

 

Tracking problems will usually show as uneven wear across the width of the tread or feathering which you can feel by running your hand lightly around the tyre circumference in opposite directions.

 

Be very wary about dealers ability to do tracking, my experience of four such tracking sessions (using VW official gear) were they were hopelessly not right leading to dramatic and rapid uneven tyre wear issues, which were never satisfactorily resolved. In one instance I can prove they just photocopied an old results sheet from a previous session of more than a year previous, conveniently obscuring dates and other info and passing it off as having done the job. Clearly not the case, before and after figures to multiple decimal places and other telltale info identical. Useless. 

 

I'd prefer to go to my local F1 autocentre and insist on sitting in on the tracking session, observing and 'helping' them with any adjustment decisions and checking results. I did this with my Alhambra and they were ok with me checking as they did the stuff..

 

Check the measurements carefully first. Don't fix something that isn't broken.

Check the tread yourself - most tyre gauges dealers use have 2-3 mm ground of the end so they can upsell worn tyres.

 

My last Superb still had an original rear tyre on when it went back at 65k miles.  Still 3-4mm of tread on it.

 

It had been repaired 3 times though.

@xman  and @IJWS15 I don't have a digital gauge but with a manual one it reads between 6-7mm so I guess the probable explanation is wrong entry on the  by the tech on the computer report.  As far as I can tell the wear on the tyre appears even across its width so I don't think it will be tracking.  If the entry should have read 6.4, instead of 5.4, then there is just 1 mm difference between the tyres on the same axle.
My last 2 cars before this were Volvo XC60's, both kept for 5yrs with about 45/50K on the clock and both went on the original rear tyres.  The later one did have a tracking issue with uneven wear across 2 tyres which I got done at one of the local sheds, ATS I think, at about half the price of the Volvo dealer but as it was going soon after I just wanted to be able to show it had been done.

I'll leave it for now, just check it when I do the tyre pressures every month or so.

@Roberto280Sir, my driving style befits my senior years, laid back and relaxed - well beyond F1 starts at traffic lights or handbrake turns.  However, I still like to drop it into sport and give it a damn good blurt when the opportunity arises on quiet country roads!! 

Thanks for your inputs guys.