TDI 170 Tyre Wear!!!

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coupe-se

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I parked up today with the front wheels at an angle so I had a quick look at how worn the tyres are ............. wish I hadn't!! :crying:

Iv'e done 8,700 miles since August 80% of which is motorway driving and the tyres are Conti Sports 225/40/R18's.

The drivers side front has just over 1mm left before the wear markers (across the flat of the tyre) and passenger side about 2mm!!:wtf:

I don't drive the car like a loony and didn't think I cornered too hard in it. My Impreza which I did drive like a loon used a set of tyres every 15k and it was usually the shoulders that wore out not across the flat of the tyre.
The shoulders of the tyres look fine with no graining on them which would indicate that I haven't been ragging the car.

Are A3's known for being hard on tyres? Are Conti Sport tyres particularly soft and offer good levels of grip at the expense of tyre wear?

Must say I'm gobsmacked at how worn the tyres are given the low miles and type of driving they are subject to.:mad:
 
I didn't think Contis wore that quickly although I have never had them. The Rossos I took if at 4k miles had worn down to 5-6mm but they are known to have very bad wear properties(1k of that was running in). Maybe it could be down to the way that diesels have a narrower power band so the power is put down as more of lump rather than gradually building with the revs of the TFSI.
 
Those wear rates do seem high. I wouldn't consider conti's performance tyres. Usually I've found the passenger side wears faster due to going around roundabouts is always turning right.

Do you regularly get a little chirp when pulling away before the TC cuts in?

Tyre pressures ok 35psi? Might be worth getting the dealer to check out alignment and stuff.
 
Also remember the nose of the car is considerably heavier with the diesel lump in there.
 
The factory fit Rosso's that my car fitted with didn't last very long, struggled to get into double figures before they where completely illegal.

J.
 
southpaw66 said:
Those wear rates do seem high. I wouldn't consider conti's performance tyres. Usually I've found the passenger side wears faster due to going around roundabouts is always turning right.

Do you regularly get a little chirp when pulling away before the TC cuts in?

Tyre pressures ok 35psi? Might be worth getting the dealer to check out alignment and stuff.
Click to expand...

I check tyre pressures every month or so, and get the very odd bit of wheelspin when taking off at busy roundabouts. The tyre surface all over is nice and smooth with no sign of surface tearing or chunking out (unlike my old Impreza ;) ), it really does appear to be uniform wear that I'd expect to see at alot higher mileage.

The car is booked into the dealers next week, be interesting to see what they say.
 
That sort of wear doesn't surprise me. Our A4 1.9 130 was down to 4mm on the fronts after 8k. It was wearing Conti SportContact 2s.

The next diesel I buy will need to be Quattro
 
I have the same tyre on my A3 TFSi, 4000 miles so far and they are still like new, Conti's are re-known for therelonger life due to being a harder compound.

I am really looking at changing all four and fitting Yokohama AVS Sports, yes the Yoko's will only last half as long but the performance is superb.

I have tha same model Continentals 235 35 19" tyres on my Vectra SRi CDTi (1.9), this is running 195bhp and 312lb/ft and I got 22300 miles out of the set. So your 8000 miles does seem very low.
 
My old Seat Leon 110tdi did something like 36k on fronts and the rears swapped to the fronts were still ok at 50k! Michelin Pilot MXM I think. I didn't hang about but they didn't have alot of grip either.
 
coupe-se said:
...Iv'e done 8,700 miles since August 80% of which is motorway driving and the tyres are Conti Sports 225/40/R18's....
Click to expand...

I've done about the same mileage with the same tyres and have just been out to check mine. I have 2-3mm left above the wear line. I'd guesstimate that I'll get 12000 miles out of them based on the current wear. Certainly comparing front to back there's a massive difference in wear. I wonder how much a new pair of fronts will cost?
 
Actually they don't seem too expensive.
Mytyres quote £115 for SportContact 2 or £123 for SportContact 3. Be interesting to compare that to a price from Audi...
 
Most dealers dont do tyres inhouse now, they use a man in a van. Sheffield Audi use Kiwik Fit mobile tyres
 
Interesting to hear southpaw66's comments re Michelin's. I'm planning to sign up with CostCo for their low-cost Michelin's when the time comes. I had an Audi 80 many years ago and when I traded that in after 85k (14 years old) the garage were staggered to find the original Michelins on the rear - albeit with perished sidewalls.

Also interested in TDI-line's comments re his tyres with 4WD. Although I've been driving relatively gently I have been unable to spin the wheels on this new Quattro. My old A4 SE TDI 115PS used to light up the front tyres all the time. It is an irony that with today's super powerful diesels 4WD may actually give less tyre wear than 2WD.

I guess the 4WD uses more fuel though. What mpg are you getting southpaw?
 
I've got Conti Sport 2 225/40/R18 W92's on my TDI, I got 18k miles before they were down to the marker so your 8k sounds poor.

Had them changed at a independant tyre dealer in the northwest (Barry & Wilkinson), both fronts changed for £260 that included valve, balancing, fitting, old tyre disposal + VAT. It was priced matched against Kwik Fit's January sale. Best price I could find.

Had them changed before taking my car for its 1st service so the dealer didn't try to con me!
 
trims said:
I guess the 4WD uses more fuel though. What mpg are you getting southpaw?
Click to expand...

After 2600 miles total average about 40mpg according to DIS. The run to work is about 42-44mpg now it's run in (in the first week this was 38mpg), but in town 36-38mpg. To put this in perspcective I had a 2.0tfsi 2wd for the day and the run to work was 28mpg (800 miles on the clock)

Agree with very difficult to loose traction with quattro - but I have had four wheel drift. I've since calmed down.
 
trims said:
I'm planning to sign up with CostCo for their low-cost Michelin's when the time comes.

. . .

I guess the 4WD uses more fuel though. What mpg are you getting southpaw?
Click to expand...

Costco aren't that cheap for tyres. I looked but they only do Michelins and they were going to be around £130 a corner for 235/45R17. I ended up getting mine from MyTyres.co.uk

As for MPG. I had an A4 Avant 170Q a few weeks ago. MPG on the DIS didn't go over 33 which probably means about 30-31 in reality :ohmy:
 
I barely got to 10000 miles before the Sport contacts were done.
I don't drive like a loon,sliding everywhere,but I do tend to 'drift' the car around,for want of a better word.
What I mean by that is that I don't sit wheelspinning like a twit,but I do tend to corner right on the limit of slip/grip.
Accelerating out of corners/roundabouts with the tyres slipping,but not enough to have the TC light coming on.
Know what I mean ?
I've read that this type of driving is the most punishing type for tyres.
Constant 'slippage' rather than occasional full-blown slides.
This seems to be borne out by the F1's I replaced the SCII's with.
They've been on for around 11000 miles and are getting well iffy.
I'm trying to take it easy on them,as my MD will undoubtedly question why I need new tyres again and it may harm my chances of getting 18" wheels on my next motor.
 
Seems like a real mixed bag when it comes to tyre wear on here, I have the 130 PD quattro and I got about 48k out of my original Dunlop SP2020 tyres, i'm now on 60k and my Eagle F1's have about 6mm left on them. Only thing with the quattro is instead of buying 2 tyres at a time its all 4.

Rotating the tyres gets more out of them.
 
A4Quattro said:
Rotating the tyres gets more out of them.
Click to expand...

Yeah,but then you just end up with a bill for four tyres,not two.
I really don't see the point in rotating at all.
IMO,it's one of those things old blokes in the pub used to do,when money was tight and they were trying to eek every last mile of their car as cheaply as possible.
 
Ok, so looking at everyones comments its seems that the bucket loads of torque being pushed through the front wheels .......... coupled with the occasional spirited drive, has led to this wear that is actually normal. :bye: The rears have absolutely minimal wear and have loads of life left in them.

I thought my Mazda 6 TDi was bad as at 15k miles all 4 Bridgestone tyres were down to 1/2mm all round even though it was front wheel drive. Local tyre fitters said they had found this to be quite common on the 6's.

Best vehicle for tyre wear was my D40 Navara which after 20k miles of rear end drifting the tyres still looked liked new!!:yum:
 
rotating tyres gets more out of them but also means you have to replace all 4 in one go - id rather stagger this cost
 
bowfer said:
Yeah,but then you just end up with a bill for four tyres,not two.
I really don't see the point in rotating at all.
IMO,it's one of those things old blokes in the pub used to do,when money was tight and they were trying to eek every last mile of their car as cheaply as possible.
Click to expand...

Correct. I always use tyres as the biggest pointer when looking at 2nd hand motors. Check out the condition of the driven wheels and look at the brands. El cheapo tyres or mixed brands have me walking away.
 
steve184 said:
rotating tyres gets more out of them but also means you have to replace all 4 in one go - id rather stagger this cost
Click to expand...
If you own a Quattro, as I do, you need to replace all 4 at once anyway unless you're buying the same tyre again. i didn't I bought a different brand so I replaced all 4. The fronts were knackered and the backs were getting there.

So rotating the tyres just means I'll get a bit more from the back ones before I have to bin them.

And as for buying cheap tyres, don't insinuate that I'm doing that because I'm not, I spent 26 grand on my car 2 years ago, i'm not going to fit **** rubber to it and i'm not a skinflint either. I'm just maximising the useage from my investment. simple.
 
I get about 35k out of a set of Michelin Pilot Sports, I refuse to have Contis on the car as they're so bad at grip and wear. Apparently the GSD3s are reasonably good for wear too, a colleague has an A3 1.8T Quattro and gets about 30k out of a set of tyres.
 
You find the michelins ok? I thought they were really hard compound so wear slow but grip isn't so good.
 
I think I got 9k from my first front set of Pirellis. That equated to just over 2 months :eek:) The lease company sounded pretty shocked... lol

I then got 11k from the next front set - Pirelli again. Then, just after I gave the car back at 32k, it needed 4 tyres...

I would not want to be paying for them my self, that's for sure!!
 
A4Quattro said:
And as for buying cheap tyres, don't insinuate that I'm doing that because I'm not, I spent 26 grand on my car 2 years ago, i'm not going to fit **** rubber to it and i'm not a skinflint either. I'm just maximising the useage from my investment. simple.
Click to expand...

Who insinuated you where planning to fir cheapo tyres? Did I miss something in the above posts? Or did someone just mention that if they are looking at a car with crap tyres or knackered front ones they would walk away from it?

J.
 
bowfer said:
Yeah,but then you just end up with a bill for four tyres,not two.
I really don't see the point in rotating at all.
IMO,it's one of those things old blokes in the pub used to do,when money was tight and they were trying to eek every last mile of their car as cheaply as possible.
Click to expand...

Does that not sound like a comparision with what I suggested and being cheap?
 
It does look like I mis quoted but I was actually referring to the few posts before also.

Anyway I dont' care if people think I'm cheap I've decided.
 
Replaced all 4 on my TDI170 quattro. 22,000 miles. Conti \contact 2's as standard. Replaced with Contact 3's. 3rd A4 I've had (Previous being 130 & 140) This is the best mileage to replacement - although replacing 4 at 22k on a quattro is probably no different to replacing front pair at 14k on a 2 wheel drive!!

Couldn't go back to front wheel drive. Drove a 170tdi front whel drive the other day!!! Dear God!


coupe-se said:
I parked up today with the front wheels at an angle so I had a quick look at how worn the tyres are ............. wish I hadn't!! :crying:

Iv'e done 8,700 miles since August 80% of which is motorway driving and the tyres are Conti Sports 225/40/R18's.

The drivers side front has just over 1mm left before the wear markers (across the flat of the tyre) and passenger side about 2mm!!:wtf:

I don't drive the car like a loony and didn't think I cornered too hard in it. My Impreza which I did drive like a loon used a set of tyres every 15k and it was usually the shoulders that wore out not across the flat of the tyre.
The shoulders of the tyres look fine with no graining on them which would indicate that I haven't been ragging the car.

Are A3's known for being hard on tyres? Are Conti Sport tyres particularly soft and offer good levels of grip at the expense of tyre wear?

Must say I'm gobsmacked at how worn the tyres are given the low miles and type of driving they are subject to.:mad:
Click to expand...
 
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