Uneven Tyre Wear

Ultrasonic

I spotted yesterday that my rear tyres were wearing a bit unevenly, with about 1 mm deeper tread on the inside than the outside (after about 11k miles). The edges of the tread also feel a bit sharper on the inside than the outside. I'm guessing that the rear camber is off so I'll get the alignment checked but my question is as follows.

I've just swapped these tyres onto the front of the car, will this pose any problem? I'm guessing this is minor enough to not be of concern?

For info. I last got my wheel alignment checked at Kwik Fit in January 2012 and now looking back at the paperwork I see that the rear camber was off then (-2.1° and -1.6° compared to a -1.3° correct value). At the time I remember them mentioning something that they weren't able to adjust and I think it must have been this, grrr... My car is a 2005 Octavia which I'm pretty sure can have this adjusted, right? Think I just need to find a decent garage to take it to this time...

keith1950

From what I understand on most cars the rear cannot be adjusted.

The front tend to go out because these are the steering wheels and you get wear/damage in all the associated links/joints/bushes.

I would not use Kwikfit but on this occasion they are probably telling the truth !1

facade

It is normally too much toe-in on the back that wears the outside of the tyres.

There is a tolerance that you will find in the manufacturers data but most manufacturers seem incapable of making them to this. Excessive rear toe-in increases vehicle stability at the expense of tyre wear and fuel economy.

Get the rear toe-in measured as well as the camber angle.

neilmcl

1mm difference across the tyre is fairly normal, I wouldn't worry about. Have you checked your tyre pressures?

Ultrasonic

neilmcl wrote: »

1mm difference across the tyre is fairly normal, I wouldn't worry about. Have you checked your tyre pressures?

I was wondering if I was being over-sensitive...

The tyres in question are Bridgestone Turanza T001 (pictured below), which have an asymmetric tread pattern. The outside of the tyre is the right hand side in the picture. I didn't measure the tread depths when new so there may have been some variation when new as well.



Tyre pressures are fine and have been checked often since the old front tyres I've just replaced were losing pressure such that I was checking and pumping them up every couple of weeks or so. The Bridgestones stayed bang on the 2.0 bar my car specifies.

Also, thinking about it, wouldn't the excess negative camber measured by Kwik Fit be likely to cause excess inner tyre wear rather than outer? Hmmm...

Anyway, I've found a local garage with a proper Hunter wheel alignment system who say they charge £20 per corner they make adjustments on and nothing for those that are OK, so I'll take my car along there when I get chance just to check everything is as it should be.

keith1950 wrote: »

From what I understand on most cars the rear cannot be adjusted.

I've just posted on a Skoda forum to try to find out what might be possible. I know that the recommended rear camber was changed for Octavias (I think from -1.4° to -1.2°), so I'd assumed it what possible to make such an adjustment...

redux

There aren't a lot of adjustments to be made.

If it's trailing arm suspension - I don't know if it is on your car - then negative camber may increase as the two front bearings wear, and eventually it might be worth replacing them.

If it is a trailing arm set-up, then with the wheel jacked off the ground, see if it drops to less camber, or you might grasp it and see if there is any movement due to play at the front of the arm.

With other types of suspension you'd expect camber change anyway when hanging.

red_eye

Ultrasonic wrote: »

I spotted yesterday that my rear tyres were wearing a bit unevenly, with about 1 mm deeper tread on the inside than the outside (after about 11k miles). The edges of the tread also feel a bit sharper on the inside than the outside. I'm guessing that the rear camber is off so I'll get the alignment checked but my question is as follows.

I've just swapped these tyres onto the front of the car, will this pose any problem? I'm guessing this is minor enough to not be of concern?

For info. I last got my wheel alignment checked at Kwik Fit in January 2012 and now looking back at the paperwork I see that the rear camber was off then (-2.1° and -1.6° compared to a -1.3° correct value). At the time I remember them mentioning something that they weren't able to adjust and I think it must have been this, grrr... My car is a 2005 Octavia which I'm pretty sure can have this adjusted, right? Think I just need to find a decent garage to take it to this time...

octavias have adjusters on the lower control arms but will these adjusters work as they like to seize

Ultrasonic

A quick update just in case anyone is interested...

I got a proper 4 wheel alignment done yesterday (Hunter system, before/after report below). As I'd suspected the rears were a bit off, although I guess it was the toe rather than the camber causing the tyre wear I'd noted?

Red Eye was spot on both in terms of there being rear camber adjustment on my Octavia, and the fact this would likely have seized. Thankfully a blow torch sorted the latter out :cool:

In the past I've only ever had basic tracking adjusted at places like Kwik Fit and it's never made any difference to how the car felt to drive. I was surprised to find the adjustments made yesterday really did, with the steering feeling noticeably lighter. Cynical me suspected that the garage had just increased the tyre pressures and I was noticing that, but I checked and the pressures were as I'd left them, so it really was the alignment changes .