Sorry if this has been discussed before but according to Tyre retailers, the PSI on my Superb Mk 11 Estate 4 x 4, tyre pressures should be 32/34 + 2 PSI when carrying loads.

However my front tyres, in particular, seem to wear on the outside although I have the tracking adjusted regularly.

My garage suggests upping the PSI to 38.

Any thoughts please?

What tyre pressures does it say for your tyre size on the inside of the fuel filler flap?

 

Maybe put a photo up on here of the tyre pressures.

1 hour ago, Veracity said:

Sorry if this has been discussed before but according to Tyre retailers, the PSI on my Superb Mk 11 Estate 4 x 4, tyre pressures should be 32/34 + 2 PSI when carrying loads.

However my front tyres, in particular, seem to wear on the outside although I have the tracking adjusted regularly.

My garage suggests upping the PSI to 38.

Any thoughts please?

Shoulder wear on one side only is rarely, if ever, caused by the level of inflation in the tyre, and usually down to a suspension misalignment. If you're having to adjust the alignment very often and you're getting uneven tyre wear, you may have worn or damaged suspension components. It might be worth have a good mechanic look over the suspension to check for anything that might need replacing.

 

As for recommended tyre pressures, you don't say what tyre size is fitted, so I'll give you the values from the service manual for the possible approved sizes for the 4x4 TDI (both TDI variants have the same recommended pressures). A summary of these values should be printed on a label inside the fuel filler flap but it may be incomplete.

205/55/R16

Half Load: F - 2.4 bar R - 2.4 bar

Full Load: F - 2.6 bar R - 3.1 bar

 

205/55/R17 & 225/45/R17

Half Load: F - 2.1 bar R - 2.2 bar

Full Load: F - 2.5 bar R - 3.1 bar

 

225/40/R18

Half Load: F - 2.2 bar R - 2.3 bar

Full Load: F - 2.6 bar R - 3.1 bar

 

You can vary up or down from these values if you find you're running into particular problems, but I'd suggest running the recommended values for a bit first.

 

For anyone else reading, there is some variation in recommended pressures depending on what engine and driveline is fitted, so be wary of assuming this data applies to your car.

7 hours ago, Veracity said:

Sorry if this has been discussed before but according to Tyre retailers, the PSI on my Superb Mk 11 Estate 4 x 4, tyre pressures should be 32/34 + 2 PSI when carrying loads.

However my front tyres, in particular, seem to wear on the outside although I have the tracking adjusted regularly.

My garage suggests upping the PSI to 38.

Any thoughts please?

 

If your tyres were under inflated then I'd expect you to see both the edges of the tyres to be showing wear.

 

 If there is wear in the track rod ends or track rod inner ball joints then you'd expect there to be wear on the inside edge of the tyres. When the car is driven the force on the tyres is trying to make the wheels "Toe Out" which would be made worse by any wear in the ball joints. Though only if these components are worn on both sides? More often than not you'll only have excessive wear in one ball joint so the excess tyre wear will be on the inside edge of the tyre on that side of the vehicle. Also if the lower ball joints had excessive wear then the lower part of the wheel will get pushed out increasing negative camber so there is more contact against the road of the bottom inner edge of the tyre. Again both lower ball joints would both have to have similar amounts of excess wear for there to be uniform excess wear on the inner edges of both the front tyres.

 

BUT as you've said it's the outer edges of the tyres that are wearing so none of the above applies. You've also said you've had the tracking adjusted on more than one occasion. I'd hazard a guess that at some point the tracking has been incorrectly set to "Toe In" too much causing the outside tyre edges to wear. If you always go to the same garage maybe they never set it quite correctly?  Though once a tyre starts to wear excessively it's not always possible to stop the wear, even if the tracking is set correctly.

 

If you've just had the tracking adjusted again and it's correct? I'd be inclined to swap the front wheels to the back and monitor the tyre wear. I wouldn't be wanting to put new tyres on the car to find the problem still exists.

 

Edited 12 February, 20224 yr by Derbyshirebod

Thanks for all the assistance on this

In case anyone wanders here in the future, this is how a tyre with too low a pressure looks like after 6 months...

 

I simply remembered it all wrong and I was maintaining nice 2 bar in front tyres... Rear ones were 2.4, so they were and still are fine. Shame, because those were one of the best tyres I ever driven on, specifically Continental WinterContact TS860.