8L quattro eats back tyres in 23K!? Haldex issue??

[jimmp]

Hello,

following my MOT this week, I've had to replace my rear tyres on the 8L. They're finished in 23 months and 23 thousand miles.
I've had a few quattros and I don't remember one being this aggressive on the rubber at the rear. It makes me wonder about the front/rear torque split on the standard Haldex which I've heard conflicting reports as to whether the drive is really there at the back during normal conditions or whether it's on all the time.
Following a couple of "exciting" winters does everyone think this is normal (I know the drive changes with temperature) or do you think I've a larger DTC-invisible Haldex issue...?

Thanks

JimP

 

[fran-s3]

I don't know what everyone else thinks but personally getting 23,000 miles out of tyres seems blinking amazing to me! I'd be well happy if that was me.... (10k here)

 

[jimmp]

crikey- really??!!

 

[Dane]

I don't know what everyone else thinks but personally getting 23,000 miles out of tyres seems blinking amazing to me! I'd be well happy if that was me.... (10k here)

 

[s3dave]

Is the car lowered? do you have adjustable arms?

 

[sportstractor]

I don't know what everyone else thinks but personally getting 23,000 miles out of tyres seems blinking amazing to me! I'd be well happy if that was me.... (10k here)

dam right!

 

[Broken Byzan]

Thats about 3 x the miles i get.

Sounds good to me assuming they wear evenly

 

[steve bain]

sounds good to me too! i get around 12,000 normally on non quattros

 

[Alex C]

really! you only get 10K, 12K, 8K out of the rear tyres, thats not very good. Although yours is an A4 with Torsen 4WD Mark, is it? But still they are very low numbers. For me that would equate to a max of about 1 year of tread for the rear tyres. The fronts i could understand. At the same time i wouldn't complain if i was only getting 23K out of my rear tyres, that seems pretty good. I think i managed about 20K with my last set of rears. Although my car has since been lowered which may effect the tyre wear...

 

[<tuffty/>]

My rears have been on for not much more than that and have lived through 2 sets of fronts... I am on my third set of fronts now and the rears are close to the wear marks... I reckon they haven't done much more mileage than yours tbh 24k ish at a guess...

Fronts wearing concerned me more but I put that down to my my driving style... I like to carry as much of the speed the limit allows around corners as my car handles well so the fronts take a pounding with 1.5 tonnes of vehicle asking that of them...

<tuffty/>

 

[jimmp]

oh right- thanks for that lads...

no- the car is totally standard- it has had all the rear end replaced in terms of rolls bars/bushes and springs in the time I've had it so mabey it rides a little bit harder than a softened up '01 plate...?

That's splitting hairs though by the sounds of it!

Somebody at a local tyre outfit was telling me I couldn't mix tread patterns on the car as it affected "rolling circumference" and would cause a differential issue. Audi agreed with that when I mentioned it to them but honestly, what do they know about 10 year old stuff now?!

MOT place told me that was crap- what do you think??

JimP

 

[DaveA3]

wtf anything over 20k in 2 years is brilliant!

 

[<tuffty/>]

oh right- thanks for that lads...

no- the car is totally standard- it has had all the rear end replaced in terms of rolls bars/bushes and springs in the time I've had it so mabey it rides a little bit harder than a softened up '01 plate...?

That's splitting hairs though by the sounds of it!

Somebody at a local tyre outfit was telling me I couldn't mix tread patterns on the car as it affected "rolling circumference" and would cause a differential issue. Audi agreed with that when I mentioned it to them but honestly, what do they know about 10 year old stuff now?!

MOT place told me that was crap- what do you think??

JimP

Its plausible but really dependent on the tyres... a 225/45/17 'should' have similar rolling diameter as any other and lets be realistic fronts and rears wear at different rates so that in itself presents as a difference between fronts and rears..

the problem you would potentially have is the difference affecting the speed measurements from the ABS sensors which could at worse case throw a fault up for the ESP...

I would not mix on axles though and I would replace tyres in pairs... this may not be the most practicle solution for some people maybe but I can see where the tyre outfit are going with this... mixing tread patterns across the axle can lead to unpredictable handling... if you find a limit going around a right hand corner it may not be the same going around a left hand corner...

Anyhoo... its sensible advice to keep all the tyres the same on all 4 corners, replace in pairs unless changing to a new trye manufacturer/tread pattern in which case replace all 4 and sell the good ones on ebay..

<tuffty/>

 

[Alex C]

Somebody at a local tyre outfit was telling me I couldn't mix tread patterns on the car as it affected "rolling circumference" and would cause a differential issue. Audi agreed with that when I mentioned it to them but honestly, what do they know about 10 year old stuff now?!

MOT place told me that was crap- what do you think??

JimP

My personal opinion based on not alot is that that is bull. I am sure the wear rate across the front to rear would cause more of a disparity between rolling circumferences, but we dont worry about this. But when it comes to tyre brand we all worry that we must have exactly the same front to back....I dont know, maybe i am missing the point here

 

[Alex C]

doh.... Tufty has written much the same

 

[Welly]

I don't know what everyone else thinks but personally getting 23,000 miles out of tyres seems blinking amazing to me! I'd be well happy if that was me.... (10k here)

lol, same here dude.

 

[Madeley]

Its plausible but really dependent on the tyres... a 225/45/27
<tuffty/>

You got a monster quatro/truck tuffty lol

 

[<tuffty/>]

You got a monster quatro/truck tuffty lol

DOH!... S3 Allroad lol... edited

<tuffty/>

 

[Broken Byzan]

really! you only get 10K, 12K, 8K out of the rear tyres, thats not very good. Although yours is an A4 with Torsen 4WD Mark, is it? But still they are very low numbers. For me that would equate to a max of about 1 year of tread for the rear tyres. The fronts i could understand. At the same time i wouldn't complain if i was only getting 23K out of my rear tyres, that seems pretty good. I think i managed about 20K with my last set of rears. Although my car has since been lowered which may effect the tyre wear...

yeah damned torsion has eaten a set in 10-12k miles

 

[DavidW]

Mine recently ate a set of Dunlop rears in less than twelve months/approx 10k but the front Bridgestones, replaced about a month after are still ok, worn but not virtually bald like the rears. Either something is amiss or Dunlop Sport 01's are very soft.

 

[Perplexer]

My rear tyres on my S3 are due for replacing. They were fitted on 12/09/2007 and have covered 35K miles. (Michelin PS2's)