Ed30 with odd rear tyre wear - common?

[punkeyfunky]

Morning all...

This morning my chosen stealer advised me that the hideous noise isn't wheel bearing failure (as I suspected) rather deformed tyres.  Both boots are worn (outer/middle/inner) 7/6/3mm, and they're recommended a 4 wheel alignment (at £75...!)

I wasn't sure, until I searched here and found this post by tony_danza:
(http://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,9200.msg142689.html#msg142689):

You need to look at why they've failed...

What you'll find is the geometry is all to cock from the factory, so it scrubs the tyres in a strange way, turning them into 20p shapes and making them rumble.

£5 says the camber and toe in will be miles out on the rear and not exactly great on the front, get a 4 wheel laser alignment - or you'll be forking out for tyres sooner than you need again.

This leads me to think that screwy geometry is at least 'heard of' and perhaps even 'common'; am I wrong to be surprised by this?

If the alignment is out, is that a warranty job? (as in, it wasn't correctly setup from the factory, or the slack is due to wear, e.g. bushes)

I'll get new tyres (I'll do a set of four, I think), and it seems F1 (as in GSD3's) boots are favoured around here.

Opinions welcome :)

-Lee


PS I've had both good:
http://blog.leeblackwell.com/2008/04/roadster-handling-woes-now-fixed.html
... and bad:
http://blog.leeblackwell.com/2009/01/goodyear-eagle-f1s-in-heavy-wear.html
... experiences with F1's.

[Nick S]

Are you on Dunlops by any chance?  I recently had a similar problem apparently according to my local stealers its a problem peculiar to the dunlops on the GTI??  They replaced the rear tyres FOC, I paid a bit extra for Michelins, they wanted to fit Dunlops    They said it wasnt a geometry issue and it didnt happen with other brands, their words not mine

[Phil Mcavity]

^^^ he is quite correct,Dunlops tend to loose there shape, and will wear the inner edge of the rear tyres with the way VW set the geometry.

Highly advise Vreddestein altrac's for tyres. cheaper and will performance aswell as the F1's.

[punkeyfunky]

Thanks guys.  In this case, the rears are Bridgestone RE040's.  Strangely, the car arrived with Sport Contact 2's all round, and when the rears were taken off (saved for use later, and now on the front), they were evenly worn.

-Lee

[john_o]

get it to a alignment specialist , and take it from there...
they should be able to tell you if the rear values are out.
then adjust
Cant remember but are the SC2 directional , if not you could swap rear wheels round.
In any case I suspect youll need new tyres soon enough anyway, but be good to make sure the aligment is correct BEFORE fitting new stuff 

[tony_danza]

It was a set of GY F1s (older directional) that my car ruined, I also know of PS2s and contis doing exactly the same thing.

It's not the tyres fault, it's the geo.

Skoda recalled loads of VRS's for the same reason, VW seemingly you get hit or miss depending on the dealer.

[Hedge]

Skoda recalled loads of VRS's for the same reason, VW seemingly you get hit or miss depending on the dealer.

Skoda issued a geometry change TSB if that's what you mean by recall. 

It set the rear camber at 1.25 degrees instead of the normal 1.45degrees.

[tony_danza]

Yep - I knew they'd at least done something about it. 

[punkeyfunky]

Well, after speaking to my stealer, their response is that the tyre wear is expected, due to the way the car is setup (for handling).  They 'helpfully' pointed out that any change in geometry settings would mean it's "not a GTI".
<sigh>

I'm a little reluctant to spend £75 on their 4 wheel alignment service.  Are there any recommendations for people that 'do' alignment?

Picking up 4x RE050's tomorrow[1] (but not fitted, unless I find an alignment place before then).

-Lee

[1] Visiting family in Bristol, although I live in Milton Keynes

[Nick S]

£75 is pretty reasonable for a main dealer.  Ive not had a VW one but BMW/Mini charge 150 (and that was 5 years ago), I had my Boxster S done last year and that was about 150 at an indy.

[tony_danza]

Oh dear Punkey... what a crock of!

£75 isn't bad - how about you suggest they do it anyway. If the car isn't as per factory settings, then they pay. If it is in spec, you do.

If anything less rear camber and toe is going to make it a bit more lairy.

[punkeyfunky]

Thanks for the replies folks.  I'll let the stealer do their checks on the condition that if it's straight, I pay nothing.
I'll also rotate the tyres more often too.

[Raffe]

Strange one this as my Golf GT Sport has done this on both Eagle F1 Assymetrics and the current RE050A's at the rear with the 20p shaped wear pattern as mentioned.

My pervious Focus did this with Toyo T1-R's and talking to my neighbour recently his A3 has done the same.

All on 17" wheels with 40 or 45 profile tyres.

Is it concluded it's geo problem as any input would be much appreciated

[alackofspeed]

My car (Gti with 17" GY F1 Asy) was developing saw-tooth inner tread block on the rear, so I stuck it on a rig, and the rear was miles out (amusing amounts of rear toe-out). Since correcting this and also re-setting the camber the tyres are starting to wear back to true, and rear tyre roar is reducing too.

Normally alignment on a decent rigger (hunter or equivalent) is about £25 per adjustment, so £75 on the gti with front toe, rear toe, and rear camber.

[punkeyfunky]

Old thread - deserves an update ;)

The rear wear was due to the geometry being completely bonkers.  A complete re-setup saw everything come together and tyre wear has been even and moderate since.

That issue occurred when the car was wearing something like 30k; now after a year and a bit and pushing 70k, it's still doing well and driving straight.

I have got into the habit of having all the alignment/geometry checked every 6-9 months.