Strange tyre wear

[Lloydfred]

Hi noticed this strange tyre wear on my passenger front wheel. It looks like it's gone over something sharp but it's the entire cercumforance of the outer tyre. Any thoughts on what might cause this? I thought tracking as it looks like uneven on the outer edge.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Snow chains?

 

[Pete_Hampton]

Pressure correct? Has it been run flat?

 

[Lloydfred]

No pressure is ok and don't own chains

 

[flying banana]

tacking. definitily.
. new tyres and tracking needed. it's a common problem and a common wear pattern on all vehicles

 

[Jabberwocky]

tacking. definitily.
. new tyres and tracking needed. it's a common problem and a common wear pattern on all vehicles

Common?? All??

 

[flying banana]

Common?? All??

yes mate. if tracking is out your tyre will wear more on the outside or inside edge. you don't notice until it's actually worn down like that. it is a common problem on all vehicles. a bang on a kerb will knock out the tracking on anything. so yea.its common and yea on everyrhing

 

[WelshGas]

No pressure is ok and don't own chains

How old are those tyres?
Most likely cause is Tracking.
Noticed some cracking in the tyre tread grooves.
Not seen that on my tyres, but then they get changed every 12 months.

 

[Lloydfred]

I'm not sure I've had her for about 6 months. I'm planning to replace wheels and tyres in the next few months. Just thinking if I need to get a bigger issue sorted at same time.

 

[2into1]

The tyre does look very old......perhaps the van wasn't used much prior to coming to you? So the failure could be age related not just tracking / balance. If your spare is half decent, stick that on for a couple of weeks and see (feel with your hand) if it's starting to get ripped up by the tracking.

edit: I think there is a way of telling the year of manufacture from the coding on the tyre.

 

[Jabberwocky]

yes mate. if tracking is out your tyre will wear more on the outside or inside edge. you don't notice until it's actually worn down like that. it is a common problem on all vehicles. a bang on a kerb will knock out the tracking on anything. so yea.its common and yea on everyrhing

Hmmm... something else other than tracking being out of spec going on here. Those cuts/cracks wouldn't be caused by a tracking problem.

 

[flying banana]

Hmmm... something else other than tracking being out of spec going on here. Those cuts/cracks wouldn't be caused by a tracking problem.

or vehicle stood a long time.that pattern is tracking. 100%

 

[Lloydfred]

I think I'll run her in for an investigation.

 

[WelshGas]

2 problems I think. Tracking and Old Tyres.

If the vehicle is low milage I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they weren't original. If that is the case 5 tyres as the spare would be dangerous to use.

 

[Lloydfred]

She's 2010 52K miles all about 3 ish mm off the market

 

[Tigger]

Hmm. This looks just like the tyre I've just taken off my front passenger side wheel. 16 plate, suspect these were the original tyres.

With Adaptive Cruise control fitted, it seems that the local tyre place can't do the tracking. Vw quote is £130-£190 + vat and not for weeks. Grrrrrr.

 

[campandfly]

We had to replace a front tyre worn badly on the edge after about 1 year of very low mileage.
It was Tracking. Glad we don't have Adaptive Cruise Control.

 

[Richard Hurst]

Why can't a normal garage change a front tyre if you have adaptive cruise control. I have never had an issue with it. ACC that causes the problem was active chassis control, now called DCC due to the confusion with active cruise control.

 

[SailSki]

When I changed all my tyres about 2 months ago no issue was raised about the adaptive cruise.
Having lived in Dubai for a number of years the authorities there apply an age limit on tyres of normally 4 years due to the harsh conditions, but in northern Europe they should last quite a bit longer before the rubber dries out and hardens. You can see the week and year of manufacture as the last part of the DOT code on the tyre sidewall. It is a 4-digit number (WWYY)

 

[VW Guru]

Hi definitely a tracking issue the wheel is towing in however the inside looks a bit worn off as well so possibly it’s a little under pressure or it may just be the angle of the photo. As for an earlier comment about any garage changing tyres then yes any garage with the tyre equipment can however the problem lies with adaptive cruise control or emergency city breaking if you have the geometry (tracking) of the vehicle adjusted then the garage requires special equipment to carry out the calibration of the radar sensor to the angle of the rear axle and not every garage has that equipment. Vw dealers nation wide have the equipment as it’s mandatory for us to have it and there are some National windscreen centers over the country that can carry out the work. However I would always recommend going to a vw centre as we are specificity trained on the vw/Bosch system.

 

[EddieEagle]

Illegal. New tyres... and tracking.
no question

 

[VW Guru]

Illegal. New tyres... and tracking.
no question

Hi @EddieEagle just out of interest what’s illegal about the tyres ?

 

[EddieEagle]

I wouldn’t like an insurance assessor to get involved but the cuts, cracking and lack of depth to the tread would not be looked at as ‘ safe’. IMHO
In hindsight perhaps I should have said unsafe .
May I ask you would that pass an MOT ?

 

[VW Guru]

I wouldn’t like an insurance assessor to get involved but the cuts, cracking and lack of depth to the tread would not be looked at as ‘ safe’. IMHO
In hindsight perhaps I should have said unsafe .
May I ask you would that pass an MOT ?

From what I can see of the tyre yes. The mot rules state a tyre must have a minimum of 1.6mm across the central three quarters around the entire circumference of the tyre. The rest of the tyre can be bold as long as the cords are not visible. Also you can only fail a tyre on cuts if the cuts reach the cords and they are directly visible without separating the rubber. A slight difference to this is if A cut is 25mm or more and reaches the cords this does not have to be visible and the rubber can be separated to inspect this. If that makes sense. Over all from what I can see it passes.

 

[EddieEagle]

No argument from me !
I wouldn’t drive on it.
Thank you for your input and valuable advice. As always.