Ben951S

These are brand new tires, mounted after getting the attached alignment.

I was told (After bringing the car back within 100 miles for getting some wheel vibration at 60-70mph) that the front left wheel had a slight bend to it, even though it balanced out okay. I moved it to the right side. I hand secured the wheels (96FT-LBS, pattern, all lugnuts the same). It was okay, but I could still feel a little bit off...


I have changed wheels and tires completely now (thanks RList) and it feels great at all speeds.

Soooo... What's going on with my first set? Will I see this on the wheels/tires I just switched to (They are sport cups without those large water/air passageways).

Some other info... when I brought the car back, I also asked them to straighten the wheel (it was not sitting perfectly straight). So they could have borked the alignment to straighten the wheel (was off a hair).

Onto the pics... Looking at the edge on the right, typically. If you don't see it in one pic, look at another... These are two different wheels. Fronts. The rears are perfect/normal looking!











Thoughts?

plumbum

My a4 had a similar issue....drove strait the. One day when pulling the wheel off for a brake inspection cut my hand on the belt on the inner part of the tire...the rest of the tire was still in great shape.

Wheel was good and I had it aligned all within spec (I thought I had a camber issue) replaced the tire and now it seems fine.

Andral951_S

I would try taking the car to a more reputable shop for an other alignment, I am sure someone on here could refer you to a shop near you. I have seen some wicked things done to our cars to get a good reading done to our cars by those guys who gets paid hourly (factory workers). Let the power of rennlist guide you, I am not sure you getting your money's worth where you went.

JohnKoaWood

Tire pressure, caster, and toe are all off.

But I could be wrong.

OK, went back and reviewed the alignment..

Are these pictures AFTER miles with the attached alignment?

If this chunking of the tires was less than 100 miles since alignment, you may have bad bushings allowing the toe and caster to shift at speed. This would alos account for the increased vibration at speed in one position opposed to another position.

Check all your bushings, including the strut mounts.

Ben951S

I had the car looked over at RS Barn prior to inspection (good place, only does 944/951/968, lots of race stuff). New control arms, everything else looked good. The place that did the inspection did not find issue with tie rod ends, etc. All miles were after alignment.

Total mileage on those tires is about 1000, only AFTER the alignment miles on the tires. Pressure should be good, they filled it with nitrogen, though I never checked the PSI (I think they said 35?)

Andral951_S

In my experience, most reputable shops I have been in the past would not proceed with a full alignment without checking the car thoroughly. (suspension parts/ wheels/ tires and some shops will even check the car's frame upon experiencing problem with the alignment or complaints).

Ben951S

They have good reviews online, and when I asked if they could do a 951 alignment, the guy took 30 hours to call me back, because he had to check with his techs/equipment/specs to make sure he could. Also gave me a range ($125-$175) because they can be tricky (read: time consuming). So it seemed like he cared enough to try and do it right.

ritzblitz

So you're saying rs barn did your alignment?

Ben951S

No. RS Barn does not offer alignments. If RS Barn did the alignment, I would be contacting Dunlop right now. RS Barn = Awesome.


The place that did the alignment is a place next to a well known Porsche reseller that does inspection work for them (911s only), so I would have thought they did a decent job. I hate to think it but could it be the tires themselves? How does one prove that, let alone get compensation?

ritzblitz

If the car drives normally, and the alignment is right, then I'd say its a weird problem in the tire. What happens if you switch the front tires (yes theyd be backwards, try it). Then you can see if it wears the same.

Ben951S

I had switched then maybe 200 or so miles in. I did not recall seeing any wear at that time. I did try to see the 'mild bend' in one of the rims, and could not.

The annoying thing is, I want to sell these rims and tires, but I don't want to move problems to the new buyer...

Car feels totally fine with replacement rims and tires. Maybe I'll just 'give them away' at a low price with a 'heads up'? Hopefully it's just nothing and I'm being overly sensitive.

I mean heck, it could be by design and once they 'settle in' it wears normal and even.

*edit*

Is this feathering? http://www.procarcare.com/includes/c...dtirewear.html

*edit* Lol, I'm an idiot. I was doing some excessive driving in a secured parking lot just prior to swapping these, predominately left handed turns... DURRR, I probably caused the 'wear' when having 3 minutes of fun. I will see how the present wheels/tires do... durrr.

JohnKoaWood

Your caster being out of range wont help this "problem" resolve.

Yes it is feathering, your caster being out of range is causing excess camber while turning, coupled with the toe settings, this will induce the feathering seen, hence my origional response of caster, toe and bushings...

If all your bushings are new, try to move your caster blocks as far one way or the other as they will go, and have the alignment checked again... they should be able to get the caster into acceptable range.

Ben951S

JKW,

I see the caster is out of range, but where should the toe be then? It looks like it is in spec?

I suppose I should go back and ask why they didn't put the caster in spec? And show the pictures of the tires... hmmm.

Thank you for your input!

JohnKoaWood

They didn't put the caster in spec because of the positioning of the caster blocks, they have some lateral movement the alignment manuals DON'T account for, I would be willing to bet the caster bolts are adjusted fully one direction.. if this is the fact move the caster blocks fully in the direction the tabs are pointed in and take it back for them to verify the alignment again..

They will be able to put the caster in spec then!

The toe is fine IF all other specs are on the mark!

Ben951S

This is one of the reasons I asked ahead of time if they could do the alignment. I shouldn't have to be finding this out now. I would much rather explain to them the above, and let them do it. Does that make sense?