fisherpl

iTrader: (1)

Hi!

Does anybody have any clues on this one? MY04 WRX Wagon. 1,900 careful miles (yes, really!) and the outside 40mm of both front tyres are almost bald!

Car goes into dealer on Friday for a tracking check but they advise it might be faulty tyres!

I have driven the car its whole life and it's never been kerbed or spun. Tyres are OEM Bridgestone Potenzas

ThrustSSC

Your dealer might have a point. My MY03 STI eats the inside corners at the front - I swap the tyres front for rear after 10k miles to get the full 20k out of them.

You certain no-one has nicked your good tyres and put their crap ones on? With the old inside faces now on the outside? Have a look at the inside faces of the tyres for any signs they use to be on the outside - nicks, etc.

jasonius

iTrader: (1)

I've done 7500 miles in my 05 4dr with the same tyres as yours and mine are wearing very well, and I don't drive like miss daisy either..!

Good point about someone swapping your tyres.. you certain they haven't..?

Other than that they are either faulty (which you'll be lucky if you get anywhere as there not covered by your subaru warranty, they need'll to go back to Bridgestone) or most likely IMHO is that your geometry is seriously out. Not sure how you'd get on in this case either warranty wise. It's a **** take though 1900 miles and tyres shot..!

Jason

ricardo

What pressure are you putting in them ?
Is the gauge accurate ?

Underinflation could cause a lot of edge wear - but probably not in 1900 miles !

fisherpl

iTrader: (1)

Jason / Thrust SSC. Thanks 4 the input

Don't think tires haven't been nicked as I've thought they looked a bit dodgy over the last 500 miles / 3 weeks. Car is only 2 months old and first 800 miles were done in first weekend!

It spent the next month parked up as I was on holiday and I think I'd notice if someone had tampered as only I know where the key for the locking nuts is.

You confirm my fears about warranty nightmare, though. A M8 recommends if I need to pay for tyres, get the dealer to put them on and pay his mark up BUT have them make a note on Service Records that I paid for tyres under protest and dealers invoice will also have Odometer reading on so in 1,900 miles time when same thing happens I may have a case, assuming they confirm the alignment is OK!

Still a cracking car, though!

fisherpl

iTrader: (1)

Ricardo,

33 psi front and 32 rear. Checked weekly, 'cos' I,m a bit sad that way!

ShyTot

I don't know how you lot manage to wear out your tires so fast.

My My02STI PPP has done 20,000 miles.
The fronts have about 5000 miles left and the rears have about 40,000 miles left!
It's not as if I drive slowly either....

Jiggerypokery

The alignment could well be out. It is normal for the bridgestones to wear at the outer edge first, the nearside front taking most of the cornering force on roundabouts. When checked, my alignment was all over the place, I had positive camber on one wheel, the outside edges of the tyres wore away after about 5 k miles but they were still legal (checked by dealer) at 20K.

Jamesemt

The only problem I've found is that the car becomes very understeery once you wear the outer edge - especially on wet roundabouts

On my Bridgestones that whole outer section is smooth...on both fronts - admittedly nearside front is slightly worse. I've only done 6k miles too...

Foot_Tapper

Does sound like you have a bad alignment problem.
Could somone have changed alignment when tyres were changed ?
It sounds very suspect.
You could have too much toe - in , and or too much positive camber (more understeer)
Being both tyres looks like your alignment may have been altered....
bad tyres hmmmmmmm I would say unlikely , but u never know.

wacky.banana

Fisherpl,

The solution to your problem is to get both the tracking and geometry reset. Its not clear from your post whether you have had the car from new; however, from my experience the geometry is usually out on these cars, leading to the problem you have.

Its important that you get the geometry and 4 wheel alignment done, not just the tracking. If you do a search on here there are plenty of suggestions as to who is capable of doing the work (Kwik Fit isn't one of them).

Hope this helps.

WB

New To Scoob

Very high possibility of alignment/geometry problems, dealers have been know in the past to be pretty poor at setting the cars up properly.

John.

fisherpl

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for all the responses!

The consensus appears to be alignment and geometry. I thought it was doubtful the tyres were duff.

I'll try and convince the dealer to do it on Friday. Don't hold out much hope for getting replacement tyres out of him too!

I'll let you all know!

PJA

fisherpl

I had same situation on my MY03 WRX.

When I finally convinced the dealer that the alignment was out, he checked it and there was no camber on the front wheels - they were vertical thus causing exessive tyre wear on the outside edges.

Geometry was re-set by dealer at no cost in the end !!

PJA

SL_WRX

I think its well known the dealers dont setup the geometry properly - some are worse than others.

I had the same issue on a MY03 WRX, front passenger side wearing very quickly on outside edge after a few thousand miles. Went and got the geometry done at powerstation and hey presto no more tyre wear.

Jamesemt

I've got P1 geometry on my WRX...and I still get it?? Maybe the 8 roundabouts in 12 miles to work has something to do with it

Silver Scooby Sport

iTrader: (15)

Where about's in the country are you.....
Get yourself to PowerStation if you can, Subaru wheel alignment settings are not very good at all. I had a Sport that lasted 6,000 miles. I had PowerStation do the settings while fitting new tryes and now I've done 14,000 miles on that set and the last 4,000 they have been on my Turbo also with PowerStations settings and they are still going strong.

MadMark

I had exactly the same problem on my 03 WRX - actually Powerstation found the front camber to be slightly positive! Front and rear toe were miles out too - car felt fab once sorted!

fisherpl

iTrader: (1)

Hi All.


The WRX went to the dealer yesterday for the alignment sorting. Spot on analysis, the camber was out.

I was fully expecting to have to pay for replacement tyres, but no. They are putting a brand new pair on next week. I'll probably only have to pay 10 to 15% for wear and tear.

Kind of restores your faith in the Main Dealer network.

I think It's going to PowerStation, though. That looks like the best 70 quid you'll spend for a while, 300 mile round trip or not!!!!

Jiggerypokery

Good result! Before you get the geomtry set, get uprated anti-roll bars front + rear, and uprated droplinks front + rear (whiteline parts, available from PowerStation). They should be able to advise you on what parts to fit. After that, the prodrive settings will make a world of difference, your car will have much better turn-in and less understeer. One of the best mods you can do!
(You may also have to mention the uprated bits to your insurance company.)

fisherpl

iTrader: (1)

Brand new pair of Bridgestones fitted last week at no charge!

Can't speak highly enough of Montys', Subaru dealer in Sheffield. Even without this issue their service to date has been absolutely spot on. They are helpful, courteous, knowledgeable. If you're in the market for a new Scoob, they have to be worth a try. A colleague of mine makes a 160 mile round trip to use their service facilities, nuff said!

RRH

Try scoobyclinic as they're much closer to you than Powerstation.