I have a late 1980s Mitsubishi Colt that's been having some problems with heavy wear on the outside third of the front tyres.
I put a new front tyre on in October last year from Garage A. The existing front tyre I think was fitted in 2006 (perhaps 8000 miles before) - it was worn, but I can't specifically remember if it was just the outside.
600 miles later in December, it needed a new track rod end for the MOT (from Garage B, who don't do tyres). I also replaced the other front tyre (again worn) and had the tracking done at Garage A. Garage A said the tyre I got from them in October was "completely gone", despite only having done 600 miles, and that the tracking was "over 2mm out".Two weeks later I had the tracking checked by Garage C (in the same chain as Garage A). It was perfect, they said.
In April both tyres were too worn to be legal so I had them both replaced with Firestone F590s by mobile tyre fitting service D. This was 1500 miles after October.
The new tyres are now starting to show the same problem. This week (about
2500 miles after October) I asked Garage B to perform a suspension check. They said the suspension was fine, they'd checked it over and that the tracking was "off the scale" (they use tracking mats). He also pointed out that one wheel was noticeably toeing in. I asked if it was likely that tracking could drift in that time, and they said there was no chance. They said it wouldn't be caused by speedbumps, but only by hitting the kerb at speed (which I haven't done). He said that the car needed serious attention and should never have been left in that state by garage A.I went back to garage A. The spannermonkey firstly that there was something clearly wrong with the car as there was about two inches more gap from the wheel to the front wheel arch on one side than the other (I could see that, but checked on known-level ground and it wasn't obviously there). He pointed out that the suspension bush (not quite sure of the term, but a rubber bush on a suspension joint that wasn't the track rod end joint) was perished. He intimated that there was something seriously wrong with the suspension. The manager climbed down a bit from this - said the bush wouldn't cause a problem, and said it could be the tracking, but said that if the tracking was wrong it would have completely ripped apart the tyres in that time. He said that anything could have caused the tracking to go out - speedbumps, potholes. He said the new tyres are now gone. He blamed tyre fitters D for not spotting problems. He kept repeating the mantra "we only give a 30 day warranty on tracking".
The steering wheel has never been straight - to drive in a straight line you always have to turn it slightly to one side. In April at one point there was one new tyre on the front and one old (outside worn) tyre - then the car noticeably turned to one side unless you applied force to the steering wheel. Replacing the other tyre fixed this.
So, can anyone suggest who I should believe in this? How resilient should tracking be on a car of this age? If tracking was adjusted with tyres that were not in the same stage of wear, should that affect it? Should I have been warned of that? Do I have a case against garage A? And if I get t[Bwo new tyres and get it retracked what's the chance of the tracking drifting off again?
Thanks theo