2010 Golf Wagon (JSW) Rear Tire Wear

My Jetta wagon (golf wagon here in Canada) has worn out the rear tires already with only 25,000 km on it. The outside half of both tires is worn down past the wear bars.

I brought the car in for the first service and it says rotate tires. I now found out that the dealer ship I am servicing at did not rotate the tires or inspect them at all. It went in for second service early because of the noise and my finding.

They found the Camber was out out by 1 degree on the back end on both tires and now want to charge me $175 for the alignment and $480 to replace the tires.

1. is this not an issue from the factory? In setup of the vehicle.
2. if they rotated the tires like it said in the first service they signed off on, should they have caught this then?

3. VW customer service line was called and they were of no help. Only told me they could log a complaint for the dealership and nothing else.

I did call where I bought the car (different location as I now live in a different place) they are going to call VW Engineering and talk to them but in the end they feel the dealer I am working with didn't do the proper job and I will have to deal with them in the end.

Camber will not kill tires unless its over 2.5 degree's, toe is the killer. The rear will fully adjustable. I would set the toe to zero all around, adjust the rear camber to -1.2 and you will have great tire wear... Also if the car came with the bridgestones el400 they are junk and usally last 25k

YES they are the bridgestones.

Dealership said the camber was out by 1 degree that is it. They refuse to show me the alignment sheet. And they refuse to help me at all.

They treated my wife pretty bad and she logged a complaint with VW Canada. It is the bridgestone tires. The fronts still seem to be good with 30,000 km on them But the rears are TOAST.

my fear is that I go and replace tires out of my pocket money and the damn things wear out. I don't have another dealership around me for 200 km. Its going to suck to take the car 200km just to get service. But I am pretty sure I am done dealing with this dealership.

When my wife was in to pay the bill the service manager told her to wait a few mins he needed a smoke and went outside to have a smoke. She left and didn't pay the bill after waiting 21 mins.

I have had alignment issues also and the dealer is uncooperative. I will just find a good alignment shop and pay for having it done right. Maybe you want to consider the same.

Just a general comment on tire wear. It's very hard to spot uneven tire wear without regularly inspecting the tires, and using a tire tread depth gauge. A tread depth gauge usually costs around $5, and can be found at any auto store.

Every couple of months I measure the tread depth across all the treads on each tire.

The readings should be very close if the alignment is good. If there's any major difference between the depth on the inside and outside treads of any tire, or from tire to tire, it's something that almost always indicates an alignment problem.

An alignment isn't cheap, but it's cheaper than 4 new tires. With the terrible state of the local roads this winter, I'll bet the alignment shops are really busy.

techdiver74 said:

... They refuse to show me the alignment sheet...

Click to expand...

Really!? What dealer is this....I would never go back....I have never had any dealer, and there have been a few, deny me reviewing the entire mechanics work sheets and they have always given me a copy of the alignment sheets if I ask...

I am glad your wife walked out, her only problem is she waited about 16 minutes too long!

I also concur that the Bridgestone EL400s were terrible and I sold mine after 5 months of being on the car...the worst traction and handling ever...I put on dedicated winters on the stock 16s and bought some used 17s from a guy stateside and new summer rubber from tirerack....tires aren't something I will ever skimp on...they are to me one of the most important items on a car...

Perhaps you need to find a good indy shop and forget about the dealer...I know I have!

which good indy shop are you "so" happy with in ontario Mr leadfoot?

Total Mechanical (Audi & VW only) in Orangeville...and only 10 minutes from my house...