Uneven tyre wear

[microgerry]

On my 2.0 tdi Excellence the front right tyre has strange excessive wear on the outer edge - well actually about a half inch from the outer edge.

I took it to my local tyre specialist who laser tracked all four corners and then swapped the fronts with the rears. (All the other tyres have normal even wear across the width). He commented that the readings were "way out".

After another couple of months I notice the front is going exactly the same way despite being ok when fitted. The car is not driven hard so it's not a cornering issue. It is going in for it's annual service in a fortnight and I was wondering if the dealership would be able to find the cause.

Anyone else had similar issues?

 

[Tell]

Well if you have the lane assist you are suppose to have the tracking done correctly. Swapping tyres around was a thing of the past whoever did it should have sorted out the alignment. If it's a 4Drive you shouldn't swap in any case.

 

[microgerry]

Well if you have the lane assist you are suppose to have the tracking done correctly. Swapping tyres around was a thing of the past whoever did it should have sorted out the alignment. If it's a 4Drive you shouldn't swap in any case.

Could you please explain why swapping the tyres around is a thing of the past when the owners manual states that it should be done? In my case I had the tyres swapped so that I could continue to monitor tread wear.
Also, it is a 4Drive - why should that make any difference?
And finally, I am trying to find out where the problem lies and looking for a way to resolve it so my next set of tyres does not go the same way.
I must admit, I was not expecting such criticism.

 

[Tell]

Swapping was to save money. I haven't done it for 35 years. Problem is if you have uneven wear due to alignment you just move it which is what happended to you. Clearly they didn't fix the alignment issue since it has re occurred again. All 4Drive tyres are suppose to have the same level of tread which you can see where the argument comes for moving them around, but then they bed in on those positions so if you swap them around the handling changes. Two wheel drive I outed them in pairs now on my first 4Drive I reckon I will be outing them in sets. The alignment issue is an issue if you have lane assist since that is suppose to be recalibrated with VAG equipment which many Seat dealers don't have although you are suppose to be able to do it via setting the front at dead centre and adjusting the back using normal four wheel alignment. My dealer washed their hands of four wheel alignment so I wasn't impressed that they were up to speed with what was required with lane assist. Although if you don't use lane assist it's probably not an issue. It was the rear allignment, the toe in that was the issue on my old Altea that needed fairly often adjusting and it's that adjustment with four wheel alignment and lane assist where dealers and tyre retailers don't have the equipment.

 

[G.P]

Swapping tyres from front to back was and is never anything to do with saving money.

Out of interest how does lane assist affect the geometry alignment?

 

[Tell]

It doesn't affect it. It's that the steering has to be bang correct else it doesn't work correctly and will probably steer you from left to right to left with more correction... not that I use it myself - too frightening. There is a moderation setting on that one via VCDS / Obdeleven.

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/376265-lane-assist-tracking/

https://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7698

& I forgot ACC which the youngsters like so they can lock onto the car in front and wonder why they get stone chips then the expense of getting everything re-alligned after the glass is replaced.

Suppose to be done with one of these

http://hella-gutmann.co.uk/products/csc-tool/

So if you start swapping stuff around without getting down to the root of the issue it doesn't help and your average tyre place or dealer doesn't have it. Although as the Briskoda site people say there might be a way around it with fixing dead centre.

That's why I was a bit grumpy since when you do old school things they aren't inline with how the car is suppose to be set up. Your average Seat dealer won't be too bothered on a PCP car since the final year will be on a set of tyres that aren't aligned correctly if changed once without correct alignment. Your average tyre place isn't likely to be interested. As reported on that Briskoda site some tyre places won't touch cars with Lane Assist.

All of this stuff is in the Erwin Ateca maintenance manuals not in the user manual that comes with the car. To me me defective front tyre wear with lane assist / ACC and then swapping the tyres around with a 4Drive isn't good. Didn't determine whether the poster had lane assist or ACC but they did have 4Drive so the tyre place or dealer failed when they swapped the tyre unless they did it to see how it went before a complete tyre swap out if it was that bad... Problem of 4Drive and the alignment required on cars with elements of self drive systems. The 4Drive means you risk replacing all tyres with one or more damaged. The fancy self drive elements if the car has it means you need VAG approved alignment equipment or a tyre place that knows how to frig it without. If the rear toe is changed with lane assist you need the fancy equipment. It's that one I was always getting adjusted on my old Altea.