Odd rear tyre wear! Any ideas?

[AndymacA4]

I have just cleaned the car, and the back tyres are showing some weird wear.

The outside half of the tyres on both sides is worn to a few mm off of the wear markers. The inside of both rear tyres is showing pretty much no wear at all. The tyres are Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3s. They went on as a full set of 4 last September. They have done about 6K. There is no feathering or tearing to speak of on the tread blocks. The fronts are wearing evenly and showing minimal wear.

Any ideas on cause? The alignment was setup by Audi in September after the replaced the front track control arms due to seizure. The springs and shocks are original ride height ones and are in good condition.

What can be adjusted on the back suspension of A4s?

ta

Andy

 

[ScottyP45]

the rear wheels can be aligned as well mate.

you probably need to get all 4 wheels checked on a laser jig, most tyre places have one.

 

[AndymacA4]

So what kind of maladjustment can cuase these issues? I have seen dodgy front alignment tear and the inner sides of tyres before, but that usually leaves feathering on the edges of the tread blocks.

 

[ScottyP45]

dunno mate, they are maybe out in camber terms rather than toe or castor, so leaning on their outside edges more and wearing them rather than dragging them forward like when toe-in feathering occurs, if that makes sense.

 

[Broken Byzan]

2wd arnt adjustable are they?

 

[ScottyP45]

dont know for sure but possible mate. Im maybe talking out of my **** as well though lol

 

[JohnboyC]

Out of curioisty .....are the Quattro A4's any more difficult to laser align front & rear than the FWD version sof the B6 ?

 

[AndymacA4]

Okay, I took the car to a local garage who have a reasonable set of diagnostic 4 wheel alignment kit. They poked and prodded it for a while, then re-set the front wheel alignment. They looked over the back and found the adjustment for castor and camber settings. They didn't find any available adjustment for toe-in.

They poked it a bit more, the front wheels needed a little adjustment, which they did. They were flummoxed by the tyre wear at the back. The chap who did it said he had worked in the garage trade for 12 years and had ever seen wear like it. The wheels had spot on camber measurements.(they couldn't measure castor on their equipment)

The drivers side wheel outer edge shows 5mm tread, the inside is 6mm The passenger side shows 5mm inside edge tread and 3mm outer edge tread. He asked how long they had been on the car. They have done 6K! The fronts show a consistent 7mm across the full width of the tyre.

The car had new tyres all round in Sptember, then went to Audi in November to have the front track rods replaced as they were corroded solid preventing adjustment.

I am thinking, is it possible for the front alignment to be so far out it could scrub 4mm of tread off a tyre in 2K?

I am beginning to think that the fronts were really stuffed after 2 months on bad alignment, the car went to Audi to have the track rod ends changed, the alignment was then set and the tyres were rotated?

Is this a possible explanation?