tyres/tracking

[SilentDeath]

Last two months I have done 4k miles in my new-used laguna. The tyres were borderline and now they are starting to be illegal.

However since I got it most of the wear is on the outer edges. The cord is now starting to show on one of them. Note that I got pulled over on monday and the policeman was happy after looking at that tyre! he let me go...


I admit to excessive (but safe!) cornering speed, but even on fast corners they squeak where really the tyres shouldnt. A lot of my recent miles have been country lanes too.

Should tracking sort it or do I need to get other stuff checked? ill get some pictures of the tyres later.


I have since got 4 good tyres swapped over from my other car, which I dont want to ruin if the tracking or something else is bad...

[GoNz0]

i would suggest paying the extra for a proper 4 wheel laser allignment at a tracking center (no normal garage has these by rights)

it will give you a readout of track, camber and caster of all 4 wheels, from there they can advise you what suspension parts may be out of whack so you can get the right parts fixed. they may also be able to adjust for camber if your car allows. usually unless its a RWD car it means new parts to bring stuff back into speck such as suspension top mounts, track rod ends, wishbones etc.

it can also be a sign someones had happy shopper parts fitted thats thrown things out enough to cause bad wear. may even be none standard wheels, incorrect springs (broken springs)

theres so many things to look at its worth £50-£75 to be told what you need to do.

[kalniel]

Is it likely to be tracking if the car never pulls to one side or feels odd round corners? I guess checking never does any harm, buy my first suggestion would simply be your tyre pressures are too low.

[templetons]

very lucky with the tyres since it is illegal to run a tyre with any of the wire showing.

like said above get proper tracking and suspension check done - also have you been keeping your tyre pressures up as this can cause excessive wear if you are cornering hard

[SilentDeath]

the cord was not showing when I got pulled over, or Im sure the police would have gave me some nice points.


I was going to take it to the local renualt garage, they want £25 for it. Would there be a better place to take it? I dont know of any tracking specialists...?



Tyre pressures were as I bought the car never bothered to check them.


I now got the tyres swapped over.

Old and standard tyres are 195/65/15
Current (new ones) are 195/60/15 (all 4)

This seems to drive fine, no squeaky, and im aware the speedo is now going to over read a little.

If I take it for tracking will the smaller tyres cause problems?



Im thinking of swapping car soon (again) so I dont want to spend too much, mot is also soon so I want this sorted first.

[kalniel]

Smaller tyres shouldn't make much if any difference to tracking*. My money is still on tyre pressures so switching probably just got you tyres that weren't as under-inflated. Get to a BP garage and take advantage of their free air (yes, won't be as accurate as a digital meter, but it'll be close enough. Also try and go when tyres are cold).

*edit: It'll affect more advanced values like scrub radius, but I don't think it'll affect the common, and more importantly, adjustable, ones like toe-in and camber.

[Sybarite]

I avoid Kwick-Fit and the like - but have used merit (www.merityre.co.uk) not sure if they'll be in your local area. If you apply online for the loyality card first you'll get a discount. They should perform the tasks as outlined above - which seem like sound advise to me.

[SilentDeath]

i would suggest paying the extra for a proper 4 wheel laser allignment at a tracking center (no normal garage has these by rights)

it will give you a readout of track, camber and caster of all 4 wheels, from there they can advise you what suspension parts may be out of whack so you can get the right parts fixed. they may also be able to adjust for camber if your car allows. usually unless its a RWD car it means new parts to bring stuff back into speck such as suspension top mounts, track rod ends, wishbones etc.

it can also be a sign someones had happy shopper parts fitted thats thrown things out enough to cause bad wear. may even be none standard wheels, incorrect springs (broken springs)

theres so many things to look at its worth £50-£75 to be told what you need to do.

****. Im an idiot...I took it to the local renualt dealer without bothering to ask what exactly it is that they check for the quoted £25.


Expecting them to do it properly as you say above. 2 hours waiting and I get a piece of paper asking for £29.38 (yay for unquoted VAT) saying everythings ok which I doubt since I have smaller tyres fitted and bad sidewall wear on the last set. However this set dont squeak like crazy like the last set did

Only its not all ok becuase I have a note saying

Checked and adjusted tracking.
Road tested and found car camber sensitive.

I am not pleased. The idiot woman said it didnt need any adjustment and it cant be fixed... They didnt give me any readouts of the tracking either.. *it had better pass the mot next month or I will be going back*. Feels like the time I payed £70 to get an engine light checked...

[GoNz0]

doh, there never much help

[RavenNight]

Another vote for Merityre, they have a pretty swish laser rig at my local one and they provide a full print out of all the details, very useful.

[kalniel]

Only its not all ok becuase I have a note saying



I am not pleased. The idiot woman said it didnt need any adjustment and it cant be fixed...

Maybe talking at cross-purposes. The tracking seems to have been adjusted, but the camber sensitive as a result of a road test means that the car is sensitive to the camber of the road... which is quite normal and the cause of most people thinking their tracking is out when it's actually fine. Sounds good that they actually took it out for a road test too.

So I'd be happy and leave it there to be honest - I'm still convinced your problem was under-inflation in the first place so you've got nothing to worry about now.