Facelift Pirelli Tyre Defects - Response

I think all of us in this thread got the cords showing after 10k miles but others haven't got it at all. Do you get the swaying thing?

Not that I've noticed but the car just got out of the break-in period this past weekend so I haven't been all that aggressive with it yet. That gives me a bit of time before I have to worry about it.
 
Had a flat tyre last week, turned out it was due to the tyre being shredded to **** on the inside wall after 10k miles. Garage at time made no mention of the other 3 tyres. Car was in for a full service, haldex service, new front and rear pads today...informed the front drivers side has 4.4mm left of tread but it’s cut to sh*t as well. Rears have 3mm left. Be Michelin all round or Goodyear’s shortly.
 
Had a flat tyre last week, turned out it was due to the tyre being shredded to **** on the inside wall after 10k miles. Garage at time made no mention of the other 3 tyres. Car was in for a full service, haldex service, new front and rear pads today...informed the front drivers side has 4.4mm left of tread but it’s cut to sh*t as well. Rears have 3mm left. Be Michelin all round or Goodyear’s shortly.

Don’t you check your tyres at all ?

A simple lock to lock viewing and you can see the inner edges.
 
Don’t you check your tyres at all ?

A simple lock to lock viewing and you can see the inner edges.

right on the inner edge and truth be said couldn’t see anything, amazed the other garage had missed it also, however having seen the tyre myself when taken off, amazed it was missed!!! Said when up on ramp and spinning the wheel that they saw it.
 
I think I've commented on this thread once already but I have now gone through 10 front tyres in 18 months.

Each time I buy a new tyre I rage a little inside but I've just learned to expect it now. For extra context I have done 45,000 miles in my car.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FBF01
Don’t you check your tyres at all ?

A simple lock to lock viewing and you can see the inner edges.

I couldn't see mine when I did lock to lock viewing but I could feel it by doing that.
 
I did check mine regularly as I was aware of the problem. However the problem is they go from showing a slight wear mark on the edge to showing the chords very quickly. So it’s easy to get caught out. My mechanic alerted me to the chords showing when he was doing some suspension work, when I looked a few weeks beforehand they were marked but ok.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FBF01
Don’t you check your tyres at all ?

A simple lock to lock viewing and you can see the inner edges.

Wrong. Couldn't see the insides on mine when I did this.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gussyldr, sve170, infernox and 1 other person
My RS3 had done 75 miles and I noticed a wobble over 70mph, took it to Audi and they replaced the front tyres under warranty. They were incredibly misshaped. They too were Pirelli. This was a month ago.
 
  • Like
Reactions: infernox and sve170
Wrong. Couldn't see the insides on mine when I did this.

Agree, lock to lock does not allow you to see inside edge of tyres.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: infernox and Callump01
My RS3 had done 75 miles and I noticed a wobble over 70mph, took it to Audi and they replaced the front tyres under warranty. They were incredibly misshaped. They too were Pirelli. This was a month ago.

Wow that's very early. Good they changed it under warranty at least.
 
First service today (9100 miles) and the dealer failed to spot the wear on the inside of the front tyres - they just reported 5mm and wearing evenly across the surface. :nomouth:
 
  • Like
Reactions: sve170 and AudiNutta
Agree, lock to lock does not allow you to see inside edge of tyres.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sorry to post this but a friend of mine disagrees.

Full lock bend down and look inside.

4857b880480732d388359ba64bc1ae38.jpg
 
My RS3 had done 75 miles and I noticed a wobble over 70mph, took it to Audi and they replaced the front tyres under warranty. They were incredibly misshaped. They too were Pirelli. This was a month ago.

hmmmmmm...I’ve had a wobble also. Ever so slight. Unsure if I’m imagining it. Had two new front tyres. Unsure if maybe wheel weights are off and not balanced correctly?
 
Screenshot 20191121 223013
First service today (9100 miles) and the dealer failed to spot the wear on the inside of the front tyres - they just reported 5mm and wearing evenly across the surface. :nomouth:

Just noticed the chamfering on the inside edge on the Audicam report. (sorry about the poor resolution)
 
Ive been lurking around here since ordering my car a couple of years ago and just signed up.My car is a 2018 RS3 Facelift with mag ride and staggered wheels and has done 13k miles.Predominantly used by my wife and rarely driven in anger(probably 80 per cent of its miles have been on 30mph roads!)my car is in for its first service today at the local Audi dealer and,like many others have experienced here,the front tyres are worn to the cords on the inside-despite the tread depth across the contact area being fine.Is it still worth retaining the old tyres and informing Pirelli?My Audi centre want £280 per tyre to replace and black circles are around £225.Any other good offers on at the moment. Will
 
  • Like
Reactions: infernox and sve170
I’ve got the car back now and had a chance to have a look at the tyres.The contact area tread is around 4mm with the cords just starting to become exposed on the inner walls of the inside edges-hard to see unless at full lock.On the one hand it’s a good job that they have been seen but frustrating that two half worn tyres have to be replaced at a cost of £450!
 
Ive been lurking around here since ordering my car a couple of years ago and just signed up.My car is a 2018 RS3 Facelift with mag ride and staggered wheels and has done 13k miles.Predominantly used by my wife and rarely driven in anger(probably 80 per cent of its miles have been on 30mph roads!)my car is in for its first service today at the local Audi dealer and,like many others have experienced here,the front tyres are worn to the cords on the inside-despite the tread depth across the contact area being fine.Is it still worth retaining the old tyres and informing Pirelli?My Audi centre want £280 per tyre to replace and black circles are around £225.Any other good offers on at the moment. Will

Challenge the dealer on that price, even more so if you bought your RS from them.
My Audi dealer does my tyres at cost price, so worth speaking to them, forget the Service advisors, ask to see the Service Manager and if ask if he drops the price to a reasonable level you will buy them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I’ve ordered 2 new tyres off blackcircles in the end.Kwik Fit were slightly cheaper but I’m still traumatised from the last time I went there when they damaged a 2 week old Mercedes wheel I took to have a puncture repaired.The local garage blackcircles use are great and I’m confident they will keep my wheels like new.I use my local Audi garage for the least I have to after having bad experiences there too over the years.
 

Attachments

  • F6ADAA8F-4199-4D00-8F21-305FFE7C1C24.jpeg
    F6ADAA8F-4199-4D00-8F21-305FFE7C1C24.jpeg
    78.7 KB · Views: 460
  • 5814A777-E2AF-4CE9-B804-A028D4820452.jpeg
    5814A777-E2AF-4CE9-B804-A028D4820452.jpeg
    56.2 KB · Views: 472
It is a shame. I got 25k out my rears and they still had 4mm across all parts, but again 2nd set of pirellos at front already well worn down at edges.
I jumped to Michelin all round now like a lots of others . Better and cheaper

Still frustrated as per others posts above about having to change tyres so quickly especially with most of the tyre having plenty of tred

Sent from my SM-N976B using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: infernox
Not an RS3 - SORRY but on my S3 using P Zero 235/35/19 I have just changed my RO1s after 20K with no unusual wear to RO2's done about 2K on the RO2s so far with no issues to report so far. Prob early days but will post updates if they are relevant, BTW it is lowered on Eiback Sportlines with a slight aggressive camber
 
Hi Matt, just found your post from 2018 and the following discussions, after googling this exact issue. Just had my first service on 2019 RS3, only 11k carefully driven miles, tread on tyres only 30 % worn. Inner edges ripped through to the canvas and cuts on the walls and treads down to cord.
Can you let me know the latest on this issue please and where you got to in the end. Currently putting together complaint to dealership and direct to Audi, my initial thoughts before finding your post was sub standard tyres (perhaps Audi brought a job lot to go on the RS3), so was going to throw it back to Audi for supplying the car with sub-standard tyres. Dealership tried to fob me off (being a women) and telling me caused due to slightly low pressure in the tyres and them being low profile. Didn't buy it, check alignment, tracking and pressure often as aware what affect it can have on tyre wear. I've owned plenty of cars with hard suspension and low profile tyres, never experienced this. Be interested to know what happened. Thanks for doing the post.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AudiNutta, infernox, Riko0073 and 1 other person
As far as I am aware (I don't have an Audi but follow the forum) recommendation is to contact Pirelli and they will collect the tyres and have them checked.
It may be a good idea to try the Audi supplying duff tyres as well .
 
Liz - although this thread has gone a bit cold I would recommend you keep hold of the tyres. Once Matt has a chance to respond (or you can send him a PM) I'm sure he'll give you his contact at Pirelli who were looking into the issue. They will collect the tyres for testing - perhaps they are looking at the affect the RS3 geometry has on the construction of the tyres (which is where the issue lies in my personal view), but no-one is sure...
Despite this hope you're enjoying the RS!
 
Hi All,

Now this is much delayed because it's taken me an age to find the motivation, truth be told I'm exhausted with dealing with car issues from previous experience and just want this to be as painless as possible.

So some may remember that I was one of those who has suffered the dreadful wear on our P-Zero's on the Facelift RS3, such wear was causing the inner ply of the tyres to be exposed on the inside edge.

Below are pictures of the wear on my tyres:

cd8e0f4bf877f851db3dc0b61e4afada.jpg


4d81fe897bff1fa3e893e07670a914a2.jpg


3671da6c4249174bf79bd6f922ed2ff5.jpg



My car had wheel alignment 3 times in an 11,000 mile period yet still had this issue, never out of specification and when Pirelli checked my car at 11,000 miles they were genuinely shocked to see how well set up it was. All was green, a slacken of one of the track rod end lock nuts was enough to perfect my alignment.

It all started when I went in for a service and Audi found the wear, it is scary because I wouldn't have noticed it knowing in my mind I had a good 3.5mm+ of tread not triggering me to check the inside edges. I contacted Pirelli who were superb from start to finish, they put me in touch with one of their Field Engineers who came to the house to carry out as much of an inspection as is possible on a sobbing wet day with the car on the ground. Their engineer took my tyres back to their factory and testing facility in Burton-upon-Trent where the tyres were "cut, sectioned and shaved" for analysis. No defect was found with either tyre, I was assured beforehand if there was an issue it would be address / adequately compensated because of the pride in their brand and the kind of cars they are proud to work on.

Below is the report as received from Pirelli (Ignore the RO1 Spec stated, the tyres are RO2):

40f7b8123a18920d66fed552e9837c6a.jpg

b9cf29de73b01a658dccea600be54dfd.jpg



From this it was agreed I would pay a visit to the 'UK Leading' tyre centre, which is the purpose built Pirelli Performance Centre in Burton-upon-Trent outside the factory. A tank of fuel later I made the trip up and back, the same field engineer also made the 5+ hour round trip to be there with me on the day. They fitted two new rear tyres as these had limited tread remaining and they preferred to do a setup on 4 new tyres. They rebalanced all 4 wheels on their road force balancing machine so the car as far as wheels and tyres were concerned was spot on when I left.

They inspected the footprint of the tyre on the road and found how the car seems to lean heavily onto the inside and outside walls when on full lock on some gradients, which they believe could be causing the wear as when the inside edge is the only 1/3 of your tyre on the tarmac, it doesn't take a genius to work out this is an issue.

The Performance Centre was incredible, you won't have ever seen a tyre shop like it and the investment into the equipment there is second to none, as the photos should tell you:

e18f50607a4f39a751c1c2cfbf4c0f4b.jpg


a93e70ba0ecfd9c39e60aec80f9d4a31.jpg


f10e301e476dce19e06349260982abaa.jpg


aba0fdcb389b6ddba86bf11d3f1f14fd.jpg


ea7bed02fc8db64f1073cf6a39844810.jpg


89bca753c3a2645418d1bd0a2bedef54.jpg


b6cdd8a5a456a4fe7690e5a69d5d376d.jpg



I've gone back to Audi who have said they can't do any more than what has been done, new tyres, rebalanced and alignment is 100% perfect and if the wear persists as Pirelli have said "is a characteristic of the chassis". I have pushed however and am trying to get the technical department of my local Audi Centre to lend a helping hand to get me in touch with the big guns. I've been assured that Audi have their own field engineers and although they don't like to send them out they are available to inspect the car and progress from there.
I will try when time allows but Customer Service will be a total waste of time as they usually are and won't be able to help with this issue other than to get the car into Audi for an inspection and alignment, which has been done.

I fear this is a characteristic of the car and a major design flaw, hence would require a major repair to rectify the issue. If it is a characteristic, it isn't one that Audi had actively worked to design into the car now is it? It is an issue and an unforeseen problem in the development. If Pirelli get enough people complaining, it will be raised at their Head Office in Italy and then they Dan make the awkward decision whether to contact Audi themselves and raise the issue, but for this it will take numbers! Can you imagine how awkward it would be for the tyre supplier to contact the manufacturer and tell them “we think you’ve made an issue in the design of your car”, it may rock the boat.

Truth be told, I really can't see us getting anywhere as owners and can see this as another opportunity for Audi to let us down again, but all I can ask of you all is to contact Pirelli and Audi yourselves when and if you experience this issue. Please contact Pirelli who will follow the same process as they did with me, inspection and report. Numbers is going to be the key part to play in this, if enough of us come forwards and enough Audi Centre's come forward to Audi Technical I can only hope that this will be looked into.

Pirelli Contact: contactcentertyres.uk@pirelli.com

Audi Contact: please visit your local dealer or contact Customer Services on 0800 699 888

My next port of call (really don't know if it will work) is to contact the Driver Vehicle Standard Agency 'DVSA' who have the power to force a recall on a manufacturer if a safety issue is found, in my eyes this is a safety issue because of the condition we are all finding ourselves driving our cars in.

Thanks all for your time and I hope that anybody who has this issue will take the time to photograph, document and raise a complaint with both parties on this matter in the hope of some light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks in advance,

Matt.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I have this problem, so looking for any update on the situation. Booked into Audi next week for alignment check. I cannot believe that apparently so many people have been affected and no explanation or solution. Is it just some cars or all cars and the issue goes unnoticed? This is a highly dangerous situation especially with the long service periods nowdays. Did I read here one owner had 10 pairs of tyres in 18months!!
 
Worrying indeed!

Might change my tyres now at 5,000 miles to either MPS or Assy 5’s and just store the Pirelli’s for when I sell/hand back the car still with decent tread.
 
Zero issues here with the OEM Pirelli’s Goodyear Eagle F1 Supersports / Pirelli SottoZero winter tyres.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: sve170, DW81, Riko0073 and 1 other person
For those that think it’s Pirelli’s that are the issue, I’m running 255/30/20’s and after 15,000 miles they look nearly new. This must be an Audi issue.
What age is the car?
 
  • Like
Reactions: sve170
What age is the car?

I am into my 2nd FL RS3 and at the moment no issues at all with the Pirelli’s.
I do though have the recommended tyre pressures set at the highest psi as per the info on the drivers door regardless of how many people are in the car.

I am sure there is a post on this forum recommending all of us to increase our pressures to max and monitor the tyre wear.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dan_DJT and Riko0073
Question - is it just the 255/30/19 that have this problem or do those running 235/35 /19 also suffer? I ask because I just tried the Configurator for a new RS3 and there does not seem to be an option for the staggered set up. Next question, as this was the reason I was looking at the Configurator, are the wheels the same width (8J) on the staggered set up or are the fronts 81/2J?
 
Question - is it just the 255/30/19 that have this problem or do those running 235/35 /19 also suffer? I ask because I just tried the Configurator for a new RS3 and there does not seem to be an option for the staggered set up. Next question, as this was the reason I was looking at the Configurator, are the wheels the same width (8J) on the staggered set up or are the fronts 81/2J?
Upload 2020 1 13 16 41 13


Screenshot shows the sport edition with 8.5J front and the "normal" 8J...
 
Thanks for that - I wasn't expecting to find wheels under "trim"!
 
I am into my 2nd FL RS3 and at the moment no issues at all with the Pirelli’s.
I do though have the recommended tyre pressures set at the highest psi as per the info on the drivers door regardless of how many people are in the car.

I am sure there is a post on this forum recommending all of us to increase our pressures to max and monitor the tyre wear.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was told by an Audi sport day expert to run tyres at their top pressure on the sticker.

When I first fitted the Goodyear F1 Supersport tyres last year they looked like they were starting to wear on the inside, I spoke to GY technical about this and they too said to raise the pressures in them.
Had no issues after that and I check em all the time by the lock to lock method.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I was told by an Audi sport day expert to run tyres at their top pressure on the sticker.

When I first fitted the Goodyear F1 Supersport tyres last year they looked like they were starting to wear on the inside, I spoke to GY technical about this and they too said to raise the pressures in them.
Had no issues after that and I check em all the time by the lock to lock method.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Are you an upgrade to @T-800 :tearsofjoy:

TX.

Sent from my BBB100-2 using Tapatalk
 
  • Like
Reactions: 8YARWY
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Reactions: 8YARWY and Terminator x
Have covered 7500 miles on my staggered setup and have used the max pressures since day 1, which are showing even wear across the surface. Perhaps its still early days (not sure why the image isn't being shown)
 

Attachments

  • front inner tyre.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 358
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: sve170 and 8YARWY

Similar threads