Alignment - Tire Help

[nickyh]

Hey all,

Got an issue with my 02 1.8T Jetta and I hope this does not turn out to be a major repair.
When I bought my car, the dealership had the Goodyears (cannot remember much more than that) on (225/45/17) and they lasted 3 years even with replacing them to run winters. Then I started to get really bad tire noise and the dealership checked and told me I was looking a tread seperation issues and recomended I replace them right away and get a wheel alignment done, so I replaced the Goodyears with a nice pair of tires (Auroura sp??) that my dad hooked me up with and got the wheel alignment done.
Now after 1 summer there are still issues.
Left front when I switched over to my winter is almost shaved bald on the inside.
We take the car onto gravel roads becuase hubby & I mountain bike but the raods are not that long and we don't go above 40km so we know that has resulted in some tire wear - but to only get 15,000 (one summer) seems awful. Now I am looking at buying another set of tires and we want a durable tire that will last - any ideas why I am chewing through my tires and what I should replace with?
Any other people experiencing alignment issues like mine and could this be a bigger issue other than a simple alignment?
Right now I am looking at Bridgestone 009's and my dad has recommended the Bridgestone Serenity's (which claim 140,000km). There is a price difference

Sorry for such a long post.............. any help is appreciated.

[Smarty39]

Re: Alignment - Tire Help

Does the car track left or right at higher speeds? Does the steering wheel vibrate? Only thing (other than an alignment) I can think of off the top of my head is a bent control arm causing your camber to be all out of whack...especially if it's just one corner that's causing problems. If you took it to the dealership they definately would have noticed...unless they're completely clueless. Take it to Dave at SCFC, he'll be able to tell you what's wrong.

[Kor]

Re: Alignment - Tire Help

I took my car to 2 calgary dealerships for alignments and got it back and it wasn't aligned properly. Sooo thats a possibility.

[Khyron]

Re: Alignment - Tire Help

Definately get a 2nd opinion with someone we know who has a clue - either Dave at SCFC or perhaps George at Tunedub. Could be anything. Bent strut tower could maybe do it, and if it's subtle it wouldn't be easy to notice. Crash into any curbs in the winter? Even a hard bump? Got any kids that might have borrowed the car and not mentioned such an event?

Btw - Falken 512s are a good cheap long lasting all season. Crap for heavy winter though. Wouln't invest in expensive tires until you find the problem.

Khyron

[nickyh]

Re: Alignment - Tire Help

No kids yet so they would not have done anything, and yeah hubby & I have both bumped curbs in the shopping mall but on the right side not the left.

One thing - ever since the banner alignment job we got done last year, the steering wheel is not straight.
Under high speeds there is some vibration but it's hard to tell on Calgary roads and especially when driving on winters if that could be another issue.

We're getting the car checked up this week, hopefully this won't be an expensive repair.
My last service at SCFC, they were supposed to do a tire rotation but they told that since I have winters on they skipped it. Perhaps they could have picked it up then........ who knows...

[nickyh]

Re: Alignment - Tire Help

Well I thought I would update on my car.

Took it to a car shop, thought they could do the tire install and alignment and front end inspection, but they won't touch my car (I have Longbeach wheels so they said no) but they did do the front end inspection.
No damage. Good news.

Took car to SCFC to get the new tires installed and do the alignment, and to verfiy that the front end was ok, they got the car into spec and said the front end looks tight, but it kept pulling to the right when we took it home. Checked tire pressures as that may do it sometimes, but they were both correct and the same, so took it back to SCFC to get it re-checked.
Had another alignment done and they got the numbers to look much better but the car kept pulling to the right, rode tested with the mechanic but still no resolution, they decided to over-compensate the left side so that the car does not pull to the right, but that throws the alignment numbers off.
Now the car drives so much better than it did after the first alignment on Tuesday and the 2nd on Saturday..... has anyone else had this happen to them or know why we need to over-compensate the left to get the car to drive straight?

Now I know we have not hit anything, and also having two shops look at the front end and both agree that there is no damage - why would this happen, or is it just another VW quirk?