vw passat estate - Tyre question

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Wed 8 Aug 2012 13:52
vw passat estate - Tyre question - arsenalboy

Hi Guys (and girls!) need some advice please.

I have a 57 plate vw passat estate tdi which I have owned from new. Last October I needed two new front tyres and went to a national chain. I purchased one new and had the spare as the second tyre, which was new and unused. The purchased and spare were same manufacturer and markings i.e., identical, although obviously manufactured a few years apart. Also had the tracking done.

Left the tyre centre and hadn't driven more than 100 yards when I knew there was a problem, the car was pulling strongly to the left which it had never done before. So I went straight back in and the manager took over. He checked the tracking again and said it was spot on. He switched the two front tyres over and asked me to try it again, this time it was perfect, carried on straight with hands off the wheel. I was puzzled as what was wrong and how it had been corrected but thought no more of it.

Within the same week I had 4 new fuel injectors replaced under the VW safety recall and ever since then my fuel economy has worsened by nearly 10%. I have never known whether this is a tyre problem or the new injectors.

Fast forward to this week and the car has just had service and on the paperwork they give tyre tread wear for all 4 tyres for outside, inner and middle. The good news is that all 4 tyres are wearing evenly across each surface.However, the front left has worn 1mm more than the front right?

Is this the cause of my lack of economy and is it all linked to the problem when the fronts were both replaced?

Any thoughts would be really appreciated.

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Wed 8 Aug 2012 13:56
vw passat estate - Tyre question - skidpan

The tyres on the front are differnet ages by your own admission. Rubber hardens as it gets older thsu one tyre will be wearing faster than the other.

Nothing to worry about provided the wear is even across the tyre.

With regards to your original problem I would guess that the garage corrected a fault they caused and never admitted it.

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Wed 8 Aug 2012 15:18
vw passat estate - Tyre question - quizman

Although some national chains do the job quikly, they do not necessarilly do the job properly.

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Wed 8 Aug 2012 18:11
vw passat estate - Tyre question - arsenalboy

Thanks for that, it sounds very logical!

Would that account for the worsening in fuel economy? Effectively I have a different compound on each of the front wheels?

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Thu 9 Aug 2012 13:00
vw passat estate - Tyre question - industryman

Almost certainly the steering side pull was the tyres, mis-tracking on its own should not cause this. A rolling tyre generates lateral forces due to the nature of its construction. These forces vary from tyre to tyre, and the direction of one of the force components (ie pulling to the left or the right) depends on the rotation of the tyre (clockwise or anti-clockwise). By swopping the wheels side to side the directions of tyre rotation are changed thereby altering the lateral forces. This is the first step in any investigation of steering side pull and if it is tyre related will often cure the problem. Other permutations can be tried - front to rear swops, turning tyres on the rims etc. In the unlikely event that a tyre has a very high lateral force (which might be regarded as a fault), the steering wheel pull will remain but will change in amount or direction until the "bad" tyre is put on thr rear. If moving the tyres around does not affect the original pull, the suspension and steering would need to be checked. With regard to fuel consumption, a 10% drop in fuel economy will not be due to the tyres.

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Fri 10 Aug 2012 09:02
vw passat estate - Tyre question - arsenalboy

Industryman

thanks for that comprehensive explanation and comment on the fuel situation as well.

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