s3 Uneven rear tyre wear.

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hopeless

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I had a good look at my tyres this weekend and the rears seem to be wearing on the inside edges and have made the tread look uneven across the width of the tyre with feathering on outside edges. There is also slight feathering on front tyres, on the outside edges.

Tyres seem very noisy and sounds like a wheel bearing gone sometimes. They have done 15000m, currently about 1mm above treadwear indicator. Continental sport contact 3’s.

Tyre pressures have been set religiously at recommended pressures of 2.9 (42) and 2.3 (33) bar (psi). Also rotated at 9000 mile

Driving mostly motorway and slow B roads. No track days.

So i think i need new tyres now and 4 wheel alignment done.

So based on this I have some questions.
  1. Is 15000 reasonable for tyres on an s3
  2. Is irregular rear tyre wear normal
  3. Does a main dealer generally have good 4 wheel alignment kit
  4. I don’t like the continental tyres and want to put some Michellin tyres on but I don’t know what the equivalents are now. ps3 is not the direct successor to ps2 and the pilot sport is the successor to the ps2 or some such shenanigans. So would the current ps3’s be ok or the new pilot sport.
any advice appreciated
 
I had slight more wear on my rear tyres before I changed them and it was the camber or alignment that was off, I just changed all mine to eagle f1s got them from camskills for an awsum price then got the alignment and camber done £90 for it to be done but was worth it. If that's any help
 
Hi, I have a 2007 S3 that has the following setup

38psi in front, 36 or so psi on back.
Alignment done by Blackboots/Wheel in Motion (WIM)- Didnt need much so was only £40! UK Tyres Online Cheap Car Tyres Shop | Blackboots Wheels in Motion
Then I bought a set of PS3's after it had Falkens on it (binned them with around 3mm on them)

Everything is perfect, the drive is amazing in the wet and dry and WIM did a great job at fitting my tyres that I got delivered to them from a broker I use.

Email Chris at https://www.tyrefactors.com/ and tell him Maneesh sent you :)

Let me know how you get on.....WIM is 2 hours away from you by the way and is based in Chesham.
 
Here's my take on it...


1.15000 miles is frankly excellent.


2.Alignment is a real issue as it drifts out very easily.
I have mine checked twice a year or more.


3.Dealers may have very decent equipment but there's no substitute for a tuner or tyre outlet you know and trust.


4.The Pilot Supersports are excellent tyres and quite close to trackday levels of dry grip as well as being predictable in the wet.
 
For reference, I paid £432.16 for 4 tyres delivered to WIM plus £15 or so per tyre to be fitted (using the BOSS touchless machine)

Michelin also sent me a £50 gift card for buying the tyres :)
 
Interesting and timely thread...

My 2012 S3 has done 10k miles. I've owned it from brand spanking new. Yesterday I took it in to the dealer for a health check; The rear tyres are on 4.5mm however the fronts are 4.0mm across the outside and middle but down to TWO mm (2.0mm!) on the inside edges. I'm stunned! Thankfully the Service guy felt the same and it's going back to be looked at. There's no way the tracking can drift out that much in 16months - is there?

15000 miles on a set of tyres is really good in any performance car tbh. I'm jealous!
 
batch said:
Interesting and timely thread...


There's no way the tracking can drift out that much in 16months - is there?


15000 miles on a set of tyres is really good in any performance car tbh. I'm jealous!
Click to expand...


Yes there is!


My A4 ,A3 3.2 and this car all did this.
 
Got Goodyear Excellence Grip on my car. After 15k miles, still 4.5mm all round.
 
Thanks people for all your advice. Its nice to know that 15k on a set of tyres is acceptable for an S3. I achieved 30k on a set of dunlop sport maxx tyres on my R32 i had but they were so bald and noisy at the end when i traded it in for the S3. Couldnt afford the petrol to drive it how it should be driven, and had collected 6 points by then.

So heres what i'm going to do, based on your advice, about my tyre situation and I will post back here my experience.

I'm going to get 4 Michelin PS3’s fitted because wet weather grip is more important to me than outright summer performance due to car mainly being used for commuting.

I going to get laser 4 wheel alignment done with a garage that has hunter equipment as local as possible to the Bristol area

There are two garages near that I’m looking at and an Audi dealer

  1. Miles Tyre & Exhaust Services, Thornbury. They have Hunter Hawkeye with wheel sensor kit that clamps to the tyre and fits flush against the wheel therefore No damage to lips of wheel rim. Also have a hoffman tyre changer that they say shouldn’t damage alloy wheels
  2. Carson Tyre & Autocare, Melksham. They have Hunter equipment, I’m told but the pictures on their website shows the aligment gizmos that clamp to the wheel between the rim and the tyre and I can see that this could scratch the alloy. Don’t know about their tyre changing kit.
  3. Go to Audi, take out a second motgage and bend over. But they did say they wouldn’t damage the wheels if I took it to them.
What option should i go to and has anyone had any experience of either of the garages listed.
Thanks.
 
Hi, where are you getting your tyres from and how much? I cannot fault the PS3's they are superb!!!
 
PS3s are a surprisingly good tyre,and coped pretty well on my car,so that says quite a lot for them,and wet grip is excellent.

The Supersports are much better in the dry,as you'd expect,and at least their equal in wet conditions,but that's how far you need to go to find a MUCH better tyre.
 
I must be driving Miss Daisy! I have 13k miles on my S3 and the tyres have tons of tread left! Thinking about rotating front to the rear so I can eventually change all 4 at the same time. Do any of you lot do this regularly?
 
Hi S3Alex. I couldnt find the size super sport that fits. They didnt have 225/40/18 92Y listed on their website otherwise i would go for them. They have great reviews.

Also havent decided which of the two garages to go to. Waiting for someone to recommend one or either.
 
Replying to my own post here but i dont like loose ends.

just had 4 PS3's fitted and alignment done at Carson Tyre & Autocare in Melksham and i'm now very happy with the handling of the car.

The printout showed that the front camber was out a bit and the rear toe in was actually toe out, with a slightly off thrust angle.
The rear toe out would account for my uneven rear tyre wear. All set symetrical and within spec now.

I managed to eke out 18000 miles out of the contis but man they were noisy and behaving badly this last week, glad to be shot of them.

And a plus point is i whole heartedly recommend the aforementioned garage. No damage to wheels or sills, steering wheel dead straight and no vibrations at high speed (70mph obviously).

The new tyres also sorted out the horrendous drone that i thought was the rear diff on its way out as well.

I really hope that these cars are aligned and set up correctly at manufacture but i dont know many people who find they are still within spec after a year of driving. Either they are thown together or just not tough enough for our superbly smooth and well maintained British roads.
 
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