A6 C6 Allroad front wheel alignment.

[SJH]

I am having ongoing issues with the front tyres on a A6 C6 Allroad.  It is 2008 with 230k on the clock -2.7 diesel.   The tyres are Michelin crossclimates all round at 225 - 55 -17.

The issue I am having is wear on either the inner or outer tyre edges.  This has happened on all the front tyres ending their life prematurely.  The last cycle has been to get the front  suspension checked and the upper arms and nsf bearing replaced. The car was then tracked - but looking at the tyres, I suspect the toe in is incorrect as there is distinct wear on the outer edges.

Any thoughts?

Are Audi A6's very sensitive to tracking issues?

Are the settings for an Allroad different?

Are Michelin Cross  Climates prone to this sort of wear?

Do these cars need dealer set up for the wheel alignment?

Any suggestions appreciated.

Regards

SJH

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cliffcoggin]

Wear of the tyre shoulders is commonly caused by the wrong amount of toe-in or the tyre pressure being too low. The toe-in is easily corrected at decent tyre shops, though it is a pointless adjustment unless you first ensure that all the steering and suspension joints & bushes are in top condition with no wear or slack.

[SJH]

Thanks.  Replaced the fronts yesterday - had the tracking and suspension checked and they were fine.

The only thing left is the tyre pressures. I will monitor closely over the next few weeks.

 

Regards

 

[Magnet]

Hello Stephen,

Apologies for jumping in here, but it’s a bit odd to hear ‘wearing… either inner or outer edges..’ One or the other ( and possibly varying according to alignment being altered) is understandable - both? - very odd. 
To box it up:- wear on the inner and outer edges on one tyre, points to under inflation, as Cliff points out. 
How often to you check your tyre pressures? 
How much confidence do you have in the alignment ‘specialists’ you use? Who are they as a matter of interest? 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[SJH]

Had the car since 2016 and all of the front tyre changes have been as a result of shoulder wear. I have done around 170k in the car.

The current set were wearing on the inner edge - upper or lower control were changed and the car tracked again - but the outer shoulders ended up wearing.

How often do I check tyre pressures? - probably not often enough, but we have other cars and don't suffer with this problem on the other vehicles.

The alignment specalists confirmed that both the front and rear tracking was within limits and didn't adjust ( this week). I will upload the report.

I will keep a close eye on the tyres and see what now happens. 

Maybe the tyres need to run a couple of psi higher that stated?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cliffcoggin]

Are you running them at the correct pressures for that particular size of tyre? Look in the handbook rather than relying on a tyre vendor's recommendation.

What pressure guage are you using? Those on garage forecourts are notorious for errors, as are the cheapies from the likes of Halfords. The cost of a decent guage will be repaid many times over in longer tyre life.

Are you testing the pressures cold or hot? Cold is normal.

Edited August 23 by cliffcoggin
omission

[Magnet]

Hello again Stephen, 

If you have just had the tyres renewed and not had any alignment altered to counteract the previous wear issues, then you will obviously encounter the same wear issue with this latest set. Not acceptable?? 
Way forward if it were mine:- set the tyre pressures to those shown in the handbook. Book an appointment with another garage/tyre retailer to get the alignment checked again. In case it helps, I use my local ATS, because they will talk things through with you, and they will check - and if necessary adjust ‘out of limits’ to counteract the current wear. I’m not claiming all ATS are great, but I’m lucky that mine are. The icing on the cake is that they ask me to return in 3 weeks and they then check again, and will make minor tweaks if necessary. 
 

I think your regime for tyre pressure checking comes under the heading of ‘could do better’ - apologies but not often enough suggests seldom if ever. TPs are all important . Why not buy yourself a £12 digital gauge from Halfords, and modify your regime to checking all cars every 2 weeks -? Well worth it.

Let us know how you get on with the alternative alignment folks. 
Kind regards,

Gareth.