Offside rear tracking fully adjusted but still out

[den9112]

Hi I have a A3 1.6 tdi cab and last week I had two brand new rear tyres fitted and was advised that the tracking needing doing as the rear inners had worn a lot ..When the guy tried to adjust the rears he couldn't as the bolts had seized inside the bush,i have now just had two new bushes and 4 brand new bolts fitted however after returning to get the alignments done he said front were ok and rear passenger was fine but the rear drivers would not adjust anymore to get it within the tolerance,said it was a few mill out.. He said everything looked fine underneath etc and I told him it was new bushes and bolts as anyone had any experience with this sort of issue and how I can sort it..Thanks

[Steve Q]

Hi Dennis, I'm assuming the bushes and bolts were fitted at a different garage to the one trying to do the tracking? 

From what the tyre garage have said I'd be taking it back to the garage who did the bush abd bolt change to make sure the correct parts were fitted etc. 

Cheers

Steve

[cliffcoggin]

Some possibilities that occur to me:

[1] The bushes etc. are the wrong ones or have been wrongly fitted.

[2] Other parts of the rear suspension are out of alignment or worn.

[3] The wheel bearings are worn. (I would expect this to be detected by the mechanics, but it's worth mentioning.)

[4] The car has been in a crash and twisted out of shape. Do all the doors latch easily, accurately, and reliably?

[den9112]

Thanks for the replies, I was told the bolts set was from Audi and the garage that did the tracking said the other side was fine and that he just couldn't get the other side to come in any further although it was better than when I first took it in,car as one previous owner and all the checks show it as not been in a accident all doors close and line up perfectly plus  I knew the lady ..

[Magnet]

Hello Dennis,

Going back to basics, have you considered having the alignment checked at another ‘garage’?

In my experience, the capabilities and sophistications of the equipment is sometimes not matched by the knowledge of the operators.

’Rear tyres wearing...’ It is not uncommon for owners to transfer unevenly wearing front tyres to the rear - suggesting to the uninitiated that the rear alignment is out of specification, when indeed it isn’t. 

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[cliffcoggin]

Wait a moment, there's something a little odd about this. Why didn't the mechanic who fitted the new bolts set the alignment himself? Why did you take the car to a second person for the tracking?

[den9112]

The garage that fit the bolts don't have the facility to track(i presume) maybe the mechanic did track it ..IAt the moment i am on call so i can't commit to traveling back and forth to the garage that fit the bolts and bush   and then to the tyre fitters ..The total cost so far as been £170 for rear tyres,£45 for tracking and £220 for bolts,bushes and fitting..

[Magnet]

I’m still with my suggestion of getting the alignment checked at another establishment. 

[den9112]

1 hour ago, Magnet said:

I’m still with my suggestion of getting the alignment checked at another establishment. 

I will at some point soon,also with an update... This is one of the original rear tyres that was on the car when I purchased with 77k taken off at 97k was told it was a cheap budget 

 

[cliffcoggin]

Well the tracking was definitely wrong to scrub the shoulder off like that.

[Magnet]

Hello Dennis,

I’m sure you will appreciate that information and detail are of vital importance to be able to offer sensible advice. We now know far more than we did. 

So to get this right, was the rear (budget?) tyre nearly new and evenly worn when you acquired the car? i.e. confirming the uneven wear has occurred during its use with you - only on the rear of the car. 

Just an observation, but if this is indeed a budget tyre and its lasted 20k miles and would still have ample wear left if it was even, then that’s some budget tyre. 

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[den9112]

Hi, i purchased the car in May 2019 as a second owner with 77k on clock and all tyres on the car were put on by previous owner..The front tyres have been replaced by myself a few months ago ,i replaced the front with like for like and they were Altimax (general) ..Last week is when i replaced the rear and i asked for Altimax as i had them on front and presumed they were Altimax on rear  as well,but it turned out they were a budget tyre with an A in the make making me believe they were Altimax however they were not..When i took the car in last week my mileage was over 99k and i can say 100% i have not changed the rear tyres ...When i viewed the car from side and rear i always believed the tyres were fine ,i got a slow puncture in offside rear and thats when i found out i had to change them otherwise believe it or not i would still be driving around with them on.....Just noticed you can actualy see the screw head on the inner were it as worn..Just checked the exact mileage when i purchased the car with thise tyres on rear and it was 76,768 miles and replaced at 99,500

[cliffcoggin]

I somehow doubt we are going to get to the bottom of the mystery by further speculation here. What is needed is some definite measurements of the suspension geometry, so I suggest you initially get the car tracking accurately checked, and if that does not reveal the problem then a body shop can measure the geometry of the whole car from the alignment of the floor pan to the length of the springs

[Magnet]

Hello Dennis,

As Cliff says, but with the caveat that the repeat alignment check is carried out by another recommended tyre retailer /garage. 

Altimax sounds like a budget brand to me, unless this is a tyre pattern name used by a well recognised manufacturer. 

If your rear tyres were (also) budget and started with ‘A’ , they could have been Accelera. These are budget, and I have used this brand on non-Audi cars for some time without issue, and has been my budget tyre choice brand.

Kind regards,

Gareth.