Just looked at the front tryes on my 2004 Stilo JTD and noticed that both front tyres are worn to the limit on the outside edges. This seems a little odd for such uneven and rapid wear to occur since I have only done 22, 000 miles. Anybody else had a similar experience. I am in the UK.
Thanks,
Andy
Yes, however in all cases I have known it has been on the inside edges.
The factory and book quotes a toe figure of -1 +/-1mm, i.e. toe out 1mm Many were shipped with -2mm. A known problem. I had mine stripped in 12K miles. Had to have them replaced whilst abroad which was most inconvenient in the Italian Dolomites because of location and few and far between tye shops. Also cost me 300 Euros and disruption of at least one day of my holiday. Having done all my own car tracking in the past I instructed the tyre shop to set the Toe to 0mm and ignore Fiats figure.
When I got back to England I put a claim in through my Fiat dealer. Then I found out it was a known problem. They put a claim in to Fiat for me and I got my 300 Euros back after about 8 weeks.
If your outside edges are worn then you have excessive Toe IN, the opposite of what I would expect if you have the known problem.
Suggest you get the tyres replaced and the car "four wheel" tracked to check everything out. Only the front toe is adjustable but a full track will measure the total geometry thus ensuring that you don't have any other problem. Remember to get the track set to 0mm.
You might like to ask your dealer to confirm that zero is the current prefered value. It works for me.
You are unlikely to get a refund from Fiat unless your car is less that one or two years old. The nrmal would be a 50% refund for 12K miles and 12 months. At 22K miles you are only 2K miles short of the 24K miles that most modern performance front wheel drive cars seem to make their front tyres survive.
Nick /////
Thanks Nick. It is the outside edges that are worn actually; that was a typo earlier (or just plain confusion).
Your information is much appreciated.
Andy
Yes I noted you said OUTSIDE indicating excessive toe in. The 'known' fault is excessive toe out and inside worn edges.
Mind you, knowning those Italian robots the excessive in / out may vary on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis!
Nick /////
A quick rough and ready check is to put a couple of scaffold planks on breeze blocks, or similar, lightly pressed against the tyre walls, should be parallel, if not a back of an envelope calculation will give toe in/out. Well it's quick, and free and should give you some idea if it's seriously out. Also If having the tracking done professionally, have the balance checked while you are there.
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