wheel alignment & tyre wear

You have serious alignment issues in my mind.

I would recommend you find a new garage and mechanic, your 'specialist' is only specializing in taking your money.

Mike

Alan Campbell wrote:

When you take into account what the S3 is, and that the tires in question have a treadwear rating of only 140, getting 16k miles doesn't seem horrible.

I'm wondering if that because of the nature of the S3 that the alignment specs might cause inner edge wear even with the alignment set to nominal.. can you get a copy of what the specs are supposed to be, and what they are?

regards,

Jim

I agree with Mike!

You have severe negative front camber, and if it were related to the rear being out, most likely toed out or toed in. You would see tread feathering, on the inside or outside of the front tire tread.

Obviously, I don't have a manual for your vehicle, so I don't know if it is of a strut or double wishbone configuration. With another problem, some cars are built "non adjustable for caster and camber" so it would require correction kits, which are made for most cars in the US.

I don't know if UK law allows such kits being installed, in the case of no kits available in my shop. Till last month when I sold my building, I had a lathe and both a horizontal and vertical milling machine, with the drill presses heavy duty and standard duty. With my close relationship with Stemf products and Specialty Products. I would make a prototype for the car that needed correction, then send them off a copy, they would make the full array of adjustments and send me a nice sized check.

But I can't help you unfortunately, but find a shop that doesn't do as we call it in America: "A Toe N Go" Just setting the toe in and charging for a full alignment.

Refinish King

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

Refinish King - are you saying that it is feasible that the front tyre inside edge wear (I'm not sure what feathering is) could be caused by the rear being out?.

the S3 is 4 wheel drive and has the following suspension -

Front - McPherson strut suspension with lower triangulated wishbones, sub-frame, anti-roll bar Rear - Trailing arm and double wishbone at rear, sub-frame, anti-roll bar, gas-pressure shock absorbers

The guy who did the front wheel alignment has a good reputation locally. He does race cars so should know what he is talking about.

Alan.

I would suggest talking to others with the same car.. as you mentioned, 16k miles isn't bad for a turbocharged 225hp AWD sports car with 140 tread rated tires.

In the quick search I did, I did find at least one other person experiencing inner edge wear with the S3. They had the alignment checked with no problems found. Could be related to tire pressure..

let us know what you find out.

I wish they had the S3 here in the US.. that's one sweet car.

Regards,

Jim

thanks all for your help & info.

I'm still not sure what I will do, but when I decide, I will let you know how I get on.

I can't wait until the car goes out of warranty as although it is, as you say, one sweet car, the handling could be improved - it is only really superb with 4 people in the car. Everyone agrees that things can be improved significantly with a few relatively simple mods. It begs the question why Audi didn't get it right first time.

Different strokes for different folks.. Audi had to go with what they figured most people wanted (in their particular subset).

Would things like suspension mods invalidate your warranty in the UK (or wherever you are)?

Regards,

Jim