Uneven tyre wear...

[Maelstrom]

I've got an almost 4 year old Beach that I've owned for coming up to a year and have just been for it's MOT. Correctly. it failed on the tyres, which I've been keeping my eye on anyway, as I've wanted to swap them up for all season tyres. The thing that surprised me was the wear.

Both back tyres listed as advisories as damaged/cracking or perishing (which now that I look back were also advisories on last year's MOT over 10k ago, before I bought it from a VW dealer), one front close to legal limit on edge and the other front "dangerous defects". The front near-side has "ply or cords exposed" on the edge. It does look awful (and I hadn't noticed this damage before) and they're all being replaced but the surprising thing to me, is that it was in the dealer's literally a month ago and they did a vehicle check, noted the tread depths were OK and didn't flag anything up.

It drives well (and coming from a roundabout-town, I'm used to unusual tread wear. I normally run the pressure high.

Is there anything geometry-wise that you think I need to check? The inside edge of the same tyre has loads of tread left, the other side isn't anywhere near as bad and this damage seems to have appeared pretty quickly. Or just put it down to the age of the tyres and see how the new ones wear? Do California's wear on the outer edges more because of the extra weight?

The van's done over 37k and I don't begrudge buying new tyres. With the current tyres being noted as damaged/cracking for it's last MOT at 27k/under 3 years old, I presume that these tyres are the originals

 

[GrumpyGranddad]

Think you need to have a 4 wheel alignment done when your new tyres are fitted.

 

[Stu@rt]

Think you need to have a 4 wheel alignment done when your new tyres are fitted.

I'm with GG on this. I know a decent 4 wheel alignment is not cheap, but neither is 4 new tyres. I would hate to fit new boots to find you were damaging them from day 1. Have you checked the MOT history online? i.e before the days that you owned it? Any clues there? Any accident history that you are aware of?

 

[Perfectos]

surprising thing to me, is that it was in the dealer's literally a month ago and they did a vehicle check, noted the tread depths were OK and didn't flag anything up.

Did the tech look like Stevie wonder !

as GG says get that looked at ASAP and find a new dealer (please name the dealer to assist others).

I would raise this with the dealer as a complaint, that you paid them to carry out a check of your vehicle and they specifically noted the tyres as being Fine? Which they clearly are not & are illegal to use, let alone the previous advisory 12months hence !
that is simply not good enough from a dealer whom is supposed to check your vehicle for safety issues

edit: in addition to the comments about the dealer, may I also add, It is the drivers responsibility solely, to ensure the vehicle is road legal before driving it, had you been pulled by the Police you would receive three points for every illegal tyre on the vehicle, if you had an accident your insurance would potentially be null & void.

 

[andyinluton]

That looks perfectly normal for a high mileage front passenger side tyre in as you call it "a roundabout town".

If its just about made it to 37k there's nothing too far wrong with the alignment.

As for not spotting it, there's no excuse for that as its the outside edge. Useful link below. https://www.specsavers.co.uk/

 

[ardm17]

From the photo there looks to be quite a bit of tread left inboard, so either toe setting (alignment) suddenly badly out or under inflation - alignment would be outside edge only, under inflation would normally be inside edge too - although outside edge would suffer worse in turns .. That damage to the rubber does look like over-heating .. seen that on my rally tyres .. So, unless you have been on a track day recently ..

 

[ardm17]

These work well as long as you take your time and care : http://www.trackace.co.uk/

Fronts only, but gives you an idea before splashing out on the full 4-wheel job.

 

[Wesel]

It would be interesting to show a photo of the full width of the tread. The central part seems little worn? Is it symmetrical or just the outside?
Was the car not driven with deflated tires?

 

[Sad]

You don't ride up alot of kerbs do you?

 

[B J G]

Running with over inflated tyres will reduce the tyres ability to 'flex' over rough surfaces.
On turning the Caster factor will tend to make the tyre run on its outer edge, again over inflation will cause the tyre to be even more on its edge than correctly inflated one.

4 wheel alignment to close tolerance (not just a that's OK) is best as the rear has quite an effect on the front as any rear misalignment results in the front permanently trying to compensate for it.