uneven tire wear (was sublte pull to the right)

[vw4life]

Hi Folks,

I have found uneven tire wear on my right side, inside shoulder of my tires. I first noticed this problem 4 years ago and spoke about it here.

Now that I have gone through one set of tires, put on a second, and pulled them off for winter I have definitively observed that my front right tire is wear excessively on the inside shoulder.

I have always found my car to pull to the right. Any tech or guru that drives it briefly says the alignment is perfect. I even had an alignment checked- they printed it out and it shows the major dimensions are pretty good. Alignment jpg here

So I have this long term subtle tirewear- I am getting only 60-70,000 km on a set of tires instead of the 80,-100,000 km I should get and it is clearly evident there is uneven wear.

I keep the pressures about 35-38 PSI so even if over inflated I assumed I would get excessive wear in the center, not the shoulders.

It is suspect to me that I have always noticed this subtle pull to the right and now it is clearly manifested in tire wear. All the digital alignment checks say nothing is wrong? I have also noticed this issue since I owned the car (since 20,000km , now 110,000 km) so I don't think it is a ball joint wear issue - unless there is a control arm/joint issue that was pre-existing.

I did find this thread on the subject interesting. I guess I need an alignment guru?

What do I do?

 

[aja8888]

I have found that these cars don't get along well with directional tires. Rotating front to back and then front seems to end up with cupped tires (2 sets for me so far). I just bought non-directional tires and will be rotating in an X pattern.

I have not had alinment problems (one side wearing more than the other) that I can visually see, except for the cupped tires.

 

[thundershorts]

Brian is the expert on the front end geometry on these cars. perhaps he can help. you didn't mention tire size and make.

 

[thundershorts]

it would sound like the camber is negative on the right if this was a conventional mac strut system. possibly the toe has not been set correctly with the tool.

 

[vw4life]

see my link in the first post for the actual alignment results.

First set of tires wore to the radial belt in 70,000 km (Nokian WR)- should have easily gone 80,000 km.

Second set of tires, I was the second owner of, but it is evident after only 12,000 km on my car that the shoulder has began to rub off. They are Michelin Pilot Exalto. As you can see they are both quality tires.