Excessive tyre wear - 17” Bridgestone All-Weather Control

[dubber36]

It's worth ringing dealers for a price for alignment. I recently paid £100 for the Scirocco, which I didn't think was out of the way.

From experience, I believe it's best done following new tyres. We had a Mk6 Golf with inner edge saw tooth wear on the rear tyres. 4 new tyres fitted and the steering wheel went off center due to the change in geometry the new tyres made. Once the alignment was corrected, it felt like a new car again.

 

[Gary holding]

The tyre wear you are experiencing is down to your all weather tyres they have extra sipes /cuts in tread blocks to increase grip in cold damp weather conditions.
The problems is worse when tyres are half worn because the tread block becomes stiffer and when the tyres are on full lock at slow speed the tarmac surfaces starts to tear at the sipes.
Hope this helps you.

 

[Neil Nicholls]

The tyre wear you are experiencing is down to your all weather tyres they have extra sipes /cuts in tread blocks to increase grip in cold damp weather conditions.
The problems is worse when tyres are half worn because the tread block becomes stiffer and when the tyres are on full lock at slow speed the tarmac surfaces starts to tear at the sipes.
Hope this helps you.

I have all weathers, and have no such problems.....

 

[Doz D]

Yep, steering wheel should be straight, you may find that even if your alignment is 100% that the vehicle will still pull to the left due to the shoulder of the tyre being worn.

It’s only a van, but many places struggle to align them properly, but hopefully you’ll find a specialist, maybe swap front to rear tyres and see if the tyre wear continues.

I have found a company who use Hunter based in St Helens which is ok from where i live so i will give that a go and hopefully sort this out, i get the camber issue and roundabouts for excessive wear but it would be nice to be even fairly close to being satisfied.

I have all weathers, and have no such problems.....

The all weathers were put on as a last resort really as the set before only lasted 9 months with ‘normal’ driving, i do pull a caravan on occasion but it still amazes me how quickly the tyres wear out.

 

[Doz D]

I have found a company who use Hunter based in St Helens which is ok from where i live so i will give that a go and hopefully sort this out, i get the camber issue and roundabouts for excessive wear but it would be nice to be even fairly close to being satisfied.

I won’t be able to swap front to rear as the FNS will need replacing soon before all the rubber falls off, and i have always replaced 2 not just a single tyre.

 

[Neil Nicholls]

I run all season, cross climates, and they see around 30k miles. No scrubbing out at all.

 

[Doz D]

I run all season, cross climates, and they see around 30k miles. No scrubbing out at all.

Can i ask what VW you have Neil ?

 

[Neil Nicholls]

Can i ask what VW you have Neil ?

I have a panel van, 204

 

[New to this]

I have a Caravelle 2019 executive 204bhp and it seems to wear out tyres very quickly, i now have winter tyres on the front and the FNS in is basically falling to bits with pieces dropping off it....any advice as new to the forum ??

Hi the FNS tyre my Caravelle 2019 executive 150 bhp has worn on the outside.The FOS looks fine,could it be just alignment or something more sinister, tyre pressures are fine as I check them regularly only done 8000 miles from new.

 

[pjm-84]

Same problem with the Bridgestone A005 although I'm on 255/45/ 18. Front shoulder wear rate is bad and tyres are kaput after 11k miles. Looking for alternatives as this will be the third set.

 

[Manu]

Exact same thing here with Bridgestones A005 255/45/18 on my LWB 4M 204bhp. They are like new except for massive front shoulder wear. I do not thnk they will pass the MOT, and they do not have much more than 10k miles, most of which are dirving straight in french motorways... Those tyes have taken as many roundabouts in the UK as they have done in Europe, and I am not a fast driver. Not convinced about the roundabout theory for this kind of wear.
I was paranoid thinking my van had a problem, but I have checked the alignement in difernet garages and the van has the factory configuration and no accidents.
I need the all weathers or winter tyres as I go to france and spain few times every winter. Ma be I should buy a second set of tyres, and have winter and summer tyres rather than all weathers...

 

[pjm-84]

Its not just me then. Mine is only FWD, and heavy all the time (California). Mine is NSF outer edge and OSF inner edge, and I believe this is just corners and roundabouts. OSF has cords showing in places. Not a fast driver either and the tracking has been checked numerous times. Last time by Bognor

I'm going to try the Crossclimates2 and will have to run a mixed set for the rest of the year (having just replaced a set of Bridgestones a few months ago) . Was considering GG AT3 but decided on summer tyres as I understand the Crossclimates get a little soft over 25 degrees and I dont need a AT tyre for campsites.

My old D3 V8 was on Duratracs which was a great tyre with no noticeable wear after 10,000miles. Its replacement is on GG AT3... if it ever arrives.

 

[pikeman2210]

My T6 (camper conversion) had from new 2018. Done 20850 miles. Original tyres. 75% of this mileage is motorway driving. My front tyres have excessive wear on the outside rim (loads of tread left on main bed. Nearside tyre is almost illegal. I run the tyres at a lbft over recommended and check the pressure at least once a month or before a long journey. Spoke with a Hunter alignment guy today who said he has seen a lot of T5/T6 vans which have similar excessive wear on the outside yet the tracking checked out. Had one customer who complained and VW dealer couldn't find a problem with the tracking. Said he thinks VW have a fix for it but must pursue it. I'm booked in for my tracking checking on Tuesday. Will let you know how I go on. I think VW know there is an issue but without many customers complaining then they won't do anything about it. The Hunter tracking technician said there is something one can do to help rectify it but it isn't cheap.
Perhaps if we customers complained then VW might do a recall.
Regards
Stephen

 

[Manu]

My T6 (camper conversion) had from new 2018. Done 20850 miles. Original tyres. 75% of this mileage is motorway driving. My front tyres have excessive wear on the outside rim (loads of tread left on main bed. Nearside tyre is almost illegal. I run the tyres at a lbft over recommended and check the pressure at least once a month or before a long journey. Spoke with a Hunter alignment guy today who said he has seen a lot of T5/T6 vans which have similar excessive wear on the outside yet the tracking checked out. Had one customer who complained and VW dealer couldn't find a problem with the tracking. Said he thinks VW have a fix for it but must pursue it. I'm booked in for my tracking checking on Tuesday. Will let you know how I go on. I think VW know there is an issue but without many customers complaining then they won't do anything about it. The Hunter tracking technician said there is something one can do to help rectify it but it isn't cheap.
Perhaps if we customers complained then VW might do a recall.
Regards
Stephen

Good luck. Keep us posted. My van still eats tyres unevenly and tends to steer left. I have had the tires aligned more times than I can remember….

 

[pjm-84]

Snap. Mine is now finally cured from pulling left. Combination of ditching the Bridgestones and fitting adjustable Powerflex bushes. Van is now on Cross Climates and the difference is night and day. Stupidly I added a set of Brigestones A005 to my Volvo XC70 and as these started to wear (7to 8k in), it starting pulling to the left. I've swapped the wheels around recently so I'm back down on the pull to the left scale.

 

[pikeman2210]

Update: Got the van booked in for its tracking checking Tuesday gone but had two new tyres fitted just before tracking due. When the mechanic was bashing off the offside front wheel (got copper grease on now lol) a piece of the nearside front spring (almost a full circle) dropped to the floor. The broken piece at the break was well rusted indicating was broken a while. I never noticed any odd sound or owt. Cancelled tracking as the cause of the excessive wear could be due to the broken spring. Once repaired, will be doing it myself, (away on hols now) will get tracking done. Had van from new may 2018. Put me off VW. Doubt I would ever I buy another VW. I'll stick with the Japanese vehicles. Mind you at my age, I doubt I will ever have the need to buy another vehicle lol.

 

[Louisvz]

Snap. Mine is now finally cured from pulling left. Combination of ditching the Bridgestones and fitting adjustable Powerflex bushes. Van is now on Cross Climates and the difference is night and day. Stupidly I added a set of Brigestones A005 to my Volvo XC70 and as these started to wear (7to 8k in), it starting pulling to the left. I've swapped the wheels around recently so I'm back down on the pull to the left scale.

I've got the same issue with excessive wear on front outside shoulders. Some people have told me "ah vans do that" blah blah. I call nonsense. Many times I have to keep putting in steering to go straight but alignment systems show car is tracking fine and steering is centered.

I've seen a few people mention the OEM front control arm bushes are too soft. It seems like you fixed your issue with poly bushes, which I am very keen to try, but when I looked at the options there are so many bushes that can be replaced. Could you please share some detail about the bushes you replaced and what your new ones are? Did you do front and rear wheel bushes and was it neccessary for you to look at the anti roll bar bushes too?

 

[pjm-84]

All suspension arm bushes changed. Apart from the front camber bushes, all were adjustable as the van is 50mm lower on B14 Komforts. Front camber angle were within tolerance under a previous alignment but now slightly outside tolerance. Didnt bother with the anti roll bar.

Bushes were wore at 65k miles / 8yrs, but its a Cali so its always runs heavy