Tyre wear - Some sort of record or some sort of fault?

[pcmanning]

So have just killed my first set of tyres on my S3 sportback after just under 6000 miles!

So obviously somewhat surprised!! First some facts:

1) Brand new 2009 S3 sportback with OEM tyres (Conti Sport Pilot IIRC?) with magnetic ride.
2) Used almost entirely on my commute to work/school drop offs. This does involve 12 miles of NSL-ish welsh B road each way.
3) Tyre pressures checked regularly and left at manufacturer figures for 1-3 up.
4) Tend to run mag ride in sport mode.
5) Tend to hoon corners and boot to overtake!
6) ALL 4 tyres are uniformly worn - no obvious signs of odd wear patterns across the treada
7) I have previous killed a set of rears on a VX220 Turbo in 5000 miles on the same commute - normal would be nearer 10!
8) For what it's worth, average mpg since new is 23.6mpg.
9) Only about 1 trip in 4 is on my own, and I don't push it with family on board!

So a) anyone else in the same boat? Is mag ride very hard on tyres??

Will replace with some Goodyear F1's as had very good experience of these on our A4.

Comments, insults, er welcome?
Paul

 

[pcmanning]

Took car down to Audi, they checked alignment etc - all correct, they also measured the tyre depth (I couldn't - seem to lost all my depth gauges under piles of family stuff in the garage!) - outside rears low (2mm and 1.6mm) but the majority of the tyres are 3mm all over - so legal for a bit longer. If I run them a bit longer I should get 7/8k out of them - which given the quality of the local tarmac I is getting into acceptable territory. Also wonder if winter cold weather and performance tyres would wear performance tyres faster?

Meanwhile, need a new tyre gauge - any recommendations over and above the usual standard slide variety?

Paul

 

[tobycruse]

I get around 6k to 8k on a set of tyres.... It seems to be normal. Something to do with all those torques! Though I'm running 350lb/ft so fast tyre wear is to be expected. On a stock S3 though..... Bit odd....

 

[s3mike]

I get around 9k from a set on an 8 mile commute which has a mix of country roads, dual-carriageway and town / roundabouts. I don't drive fast all the time but I do have a habit of accelerating hard and taking roundabouts at high speed!

I was quite suprised that all four seem to wear at a similar rate, this seems to disprove the widespread belief that the S3 is front wheel drive unless the front wheels lose traction. My old Cupra R would wear out the fronts in 9k but the rears would last about 20k!

The Goodyear F1 Asymmetric are great tyres but I wouldn't expect them to last any longer, I got very similar wear from the factory Sport Contact 2 as the F1s.

 

[pcmanning]

6k-9k - making me feel a bit better! Was looking at the state of the tarmac on the way home yesterday - it's pretty rough in places - suspect it's gonna take it's toll on the tyres And it's NSL for 12miles from home to town, virtually no traffic so the S3 gets tonked very regularly.

As for rears wearing - I'm very prone to driving hard through and out of corners, so it's probably to be expected. I suppose some of the shock was based on our A4 gettng 12k or so from a set, but that doesn't get driven any where near as hard, whereas if I'd based expectations on my old VX220 turbo I'd have expected 8k as being OK, especially since the S3 weights half as much again!

Gone with one of these to check the tread

http://www.justoffbase.co.uk/VS0564-SEALEY

So should be able to drive down to 2mm or so all round before swapping. Much less and wet weather grip will be rubbish

 

[Gryphon001]

Well i was told by a VW mechanic that the A3 and GTI's tend to have alignment off right from the factory. Sure enough, when I had mine done a year into owning the car the the alignment was off pretty badly and my Conti SportContact 2's were toast after 2 summers. I suspect that the Contis don't have long lasting tread anyways... you may get better results with different tires. I'm trying out the Marangoni Mythos at the moment but it's to early to voice an opinion since I've only had them for a week. Also my car only has 222Whp and under 270lb/ft of torque...

 

[pcmanning]

With my VX220 I had the alignment "adjusted" by some professional motorsport types as the factory setup was conservative (leading to towards safe understeer). Most VX owners do this, as it improves handling no end. I have wondered if there are specialists with S3's which could do the same - without fiddling with ride height etc. I'll probably not bother, it's nice having simple insurance for the moment, and mod's just complicate things (and raise premiums), but would be nice to know if it's been done and what the handling benefits are