Tyre Wear - 130 TDi

[DEAN0]

I have had the tracking set many times to try and slow down the tyre wear on the inner edges of the front tyres on my car.

Finally I went to a place that sets up rally cars and measures more than just tracking.

They have said that the car has too much front camber for road use.

Driver side has almost 2º negative camber and passenger side has 1.5º negative camber.

The SEAT technical specs say it should be 0.5º negative +/- 0.5º.

The car has not been lowered or modified in any way around the suspension and the camber is not easily adjusted.

The rally car company say the only way to correct the camber is to start grinding slots in the wishbones or the top mounts.

Has anyone else had/got this problem and how did you cure it ?

 

[Smee]

i have the tyre wear on the cupra. i always put it down to hard driving but when i had to swap the front tyres to the rear after 10k i decided it was camber. dont think theres a cure for it. now on 24k and need a full new set of tyres thanks god its company car and work pays id be skint other wise lol

Smee

 

[Black_FR]

That explains why i had to repalce my front tyres yesterday ! They were bald on the inside but still had tread in the middle.

 

[andydent]

Hi all

I'm having the same problem with my front tyres on my 06 FR TDI I noticed at about 14K that the steel was showing on the inside of the tyre but that there was still 3-4mm of tread on the outside. So I asked my dealer, they said that it was due to the auto centering on the power steering and that there was nothing you could do.

So I took my car to a mate of mine who builds and sets up Rally cars, he said there was nothing wrong with the tracking and that it is castor and not camber that is used to auto centre the wheels .I am in the process of trying to get the dealer to do something about it as I have only had the car 5 months (just had my 20K service!).

My mechanic reckoned he could sort it by adjusting the tracking but we wondered if anyone had tried this. Help would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Andy

 

[stoneyfordNI]

the standard settings on the mk4 is very toe'd in , ( front of front wheels points in) this causes inside edge wear , for the first fella , there is a 10mm bolt in a 11mm hole on the ball joint i believe you can get a degree or two of camber adjustment in that

get the car set up on some proper biessparth or hunter kit and itll feel 10 times better

 

[Clark10]

the standard settings on the mk4 is very toe'd in , ( front of front wheels points in) this causes inside edge wear , for the first fella , there is a 10mm bolt in a 11mm hole on the ball joint i believe you can get a degree or two of camber adjustment in that

get the car set up on some proper biessparth or hunter kit and itll feel 10 times better

Where'd you get yours done?

 

[stoneyfordNI]

central tyres , behind ormeau rd fire station , 12 quid or so i think ,

great fellas

 

[Clark10]

Cheers, I'll give them a go, been trying to find somewhere decent.

 

[DEAN0]

the standard settings on the mk4 is very toe'd in , ( front of front wheels points in) this causes inside edge wear

According to all of the major tyre companies - tyre wear on the inside is caused by toe OUT. Toe IN causes wear on the outside edge.

The book setting on the Ibiza TDi 130 is 0º +/- 0.1º so the wheels should be straight with no toe in or out.

The suspension has had all of the allowable clearence ( 10mm bolt in 11mm hole ) taken out to try and correct the camber. The readings I gave were after we did this so you can imagine how far out they were.

Guess Im going to have to trust someone to slot the wishbone holes to correct the camber.

The other suggestion that was given is to fit a strut brace. Apparently the brace helps with tyre wear because it stops the strut tops moving under cornering and adding camber.

 

[sooty22]

same problems a set or tirew will last me around 8k untill he inside edge of the tire is showing metal! my dealer has xhecked the tracking i thought it might be the wishbone bushes...... car pulls horribly to the left to ut tracking is a ok!

 

[muddyboots]

Mine had severe inner edge tyre wear on the fronts from new. Had the alignment done by a couple of fast-fit tyre places, but made no difference.

Got the alignment done carefully by someone who knew what they were doing, problems solved.
Got it done by Awesome GTI first (this was ageas ago, before they moved) and the car drove much better, much steadier and less twitchy, no pull, and the tyre wear improved. Since then I've always got to Nottingham Alignment Services in Basford (Notts), as it;s more convenient for me. They do this kind of stuff for a living, lots of major dealers - including the local Porsche dealer - take cars to them. They have proper Hunter alignment kit, and know how to use it....only about £20-30 for a check too. Only 10 mins from M1 J26

 

[mexicorich]

In addition to lots of camber, worn inner edges is typical of toe out and on the Ibiza/fabia/polo of soft/tired wishbone bushes

 

[muddyboots]

In addition to lots of camber, worn inner edges is typical of toe out and on the Ibiza/fabia/polo of soft/tired wishbone bushes

Could well be, mine wore the inner edges really badly from new, as many others have done. Those bushes are soft though, I guess if the toe is setup while the car is static, when it's on the road it could end up toeing out more than expected due to those crappy voided bushes ? Especially under braking.

 

[DEAN0]

I fitted the Cupra wishbone bushes about 6 months ago and that slowed down the inner edge wear on the tyres. ( They only cost around £9 each )

When the rally car builders looked at the suspension location they saw that with worn bushes the tracking went "Toe OUT" under throttle and "Toe IN" under braking.

I think i'm going to get the camber corrected by having the wishbone holes slotted. Have the tracking set accurately and see how it goes from there.

Can anyone recomend a GOOD place to get the tracking done properly in or near Preston ( Lancashire ) ?

 

[andydent]

So what your saying in summary guys is get the bushes changed to Cupra ones, if that fails slot the wish bones to give you more camber adjustment, if this doesn't work a strut brace would help?

Is it only the awesome torque of the Ibiza Diesels that does this?

 

[mexicorich]

Has anyone fitted the Cupra bushes themselves?
How did you go about it please?
I understand even getting the arms back into the bush is quite a problem?

 

[DEAN0]

I fitted the cupra bushes myself. Needs a few items to be able to do it.

I used some large washers and a length of 10mm threaded rod with nuts to remove the old bushes.

Then some larger washers and the threaded rod to insert the new bushes.
(Be carefull here - you need to have the bushes with one of the hexagon flats in the centre at the top when inserted )

Then the real struggle was inserting the wishbone back in to the bush.
I ended up using a 12mm tap in the end of the wishbone and then using an M12 bolt with washers to pull the wishbone in to the bush.

There is a SEAT tool to make the bush removal and replacement easier but non listed for inserting the wishbone back in to the bush.

 

[sooty22]

ah good news so the cuprs bushes do fit the 130tdi! my tires are seriously bad now and ore only lasting a few thousand miles.... anyone have any idea how much the stealers will charge for fitting?