Misshapen tyres? What to do...

[Craigh1983]

Hi all,

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a humming sound coming from underneath the car and it has now got very loud especially the faster I go. Took it to a garage and they said the tyres are misshapen. Especially the back two. They said towards the center there is a single strip of tread and when you run your fingers over it you can feel it not matching the rest of the tyre.

Another garage said without even looking that it is a common problem on the gti golf mk5. Something about the way they set the suspension?

They are uniroyal rainsport 3 and I've only had them a year and a half and they haven't even done that many miles. I've contacted LoveTyres where I bought them from and they said I can claim under the warranty but as its over a year since I bought them, if they are found to be faulty tyres then I will get a good will gesture refund.

So I'm really not sure what to do. I don't want to send them off to uniroyal for testing as I will have to buy replacement ones to put on in the meantime and they may not even come to the conclusion that they are faulty. I will have wasted money :-/

Any suggestions ?
Thanks

[xjay1337]

Pretty common issue on rear tyres to make noises and deform slightly (they call it cupping).
A year and a half is pretty good lifespan lol. I'm lucky to get 8 months out of a set of tyres.

Do you check your pressures regualrly? was the car aligned when the tyres were fitted?

[Craigh1983]

No unfortunately I didn't have them aligned so that could be part of the problem. Just spoken to Alex at Aks and he also said its a common problem.

Yea I do check pressure quite a lot because I have a problem with one of the tyres as the pressure drops to about 27. So this may also have contributed. I've tried to have this sorted many times but it's always happened.

[Scottymon]

Pretty common issue on rear tyres to make noises and deform slightly (they call it cupping).
A year and a half is pretty good lifespan lol. I'm lucky to get 8 months out of a set of tyres.

Do you check your pressures regualrly? was the car aligned when the tyres were fitted?

I'm glad I'm not alone!
I have full set summer and winter, the fronts never last, the rears do 2 years over both.

[Andy]

Most of the vag range do it,see a lot at work on other manufacturers as well

[Shoduchi]

I rotate my tyres from the font to the back every +-6.000 miles to prevent the cupping.

I had 2 Michelin Primacy HP (from factory) in the rear axis of my GT Sport with almost 50.000 miles all cupped. Had to replace them due to the rolling noise, but they still had a lot of tread.

At the moment I have on the rear Goodyear Eagle F1 Asys 2 with more than 37.000 miles that have rotated to the front. Clearly I'm not driving the GT Sport correctly.

[Craigh1983]

Mine still have loads of tread. I've probably only done about 8000 miles in them and I drive like a grandma lol

The guy at the garage is going to rotate the tyres for me at the weekend. Will this make the humming noise go away?

Alex at aks mentioned to get the balancing  done at the same time and if that has seized up then it will need some work done. However I told the garage guy to do the balancing and he said its not worth doing it on the tyres now that they are making that noise as the balancing won't be right?

[mrggg]

Mine still have loads of tread. I've probably only done about 8000 miles in them and I drive like a grandma lol

The guy at the garage is going to rotate the tyres for me at the weekend. Will this make the humming noise go away?

Alex at aks mentioned to get the balancing  done at the same time and if that has seized up then it will need some work done. However I told the garage guy to do the balancing and he said its not worth doing it on the tyres now that they are making that noise as the balancing won't be right?

mate I made the same mistake guy said dont worry no need for balancing. They arent worth it find another place to fit your tyres as thats not a sign of a good tyre fitter. Balancing is ESSENTIAL when you change tyres. Also AKS are great stick with them:)

[Shoduchi]

Well, balancing is essential in new tyres. Cupped tyres balanced or not will make rolling noise. Balancing will affect if they jerk/vibrate while driving.

In my experience rotating too much cupped tyres from the back to the front will increase the rolling noise, so don't wait too long to do it. I do it around the 6000 miles mark and seems to be enough.

Other than that just make sure when the tyres are good that you have them balanced, with the right pressure and a well aligned track (front and back).

[Mitch H]

Mine still have loads of tread. I've probably only done about 8000 miles in them and I drive like a grandma lol

The guy at the garage is going to rotate the tyres for me at the weekend. Will this make the humming noise go away?

Alex at aks mentioned to get the balancing  done at the same time and if that has seized up then it will need some work done. However I told the garage guy to do the balancing and he said its not worth doing it on the tyres now that they are making that noise as the balancing won't be right?

mate I made the same mistake guy said dont worry no need for balancing. They arent worth it find another place to fit your tyres as thats not a sign of a good tyre fitter. Balancing is ESSENTIAL when you change tyres. Also AKS are great stick with them:)

If the tyres are out of shape then balancing is pointless, if you put them on the front axle you will probably get vibration on the steering wheel. Best thing to do is like above swap fronts to back often. Don't leave it too late though otherwise you will be in same position again moving out of shape tyres from the rear to the front.

Only way to solve it is new tyres. I doubt you will get anything from warranty but worth a try, uniroyal are made my continental so they're not stupid they know what cars this tyre size fit and they know what makes them wear out of shape :)

Ps. Our crappy uk roads don't help either! Stay away from directional/aggressive tread patterns although whatever you buy they will do same eventually