Tyre Wear

[Q7newbie]

uploadfromtaptalk1434909531982.jpgHey guys, I'm just a bit concerned. My car is 15 months old, and I've had my car from new, I never fiddled with the tyre pressures etc, and I don't drive it like a poorer Lewis Hamilton either. But I and a 3 friends of mine who all have Q7's have observed that my tyres seem to always wear on the outside most. I've run the set of Pirelli's it came with, a set of Yokohama and I'm now running Michelin's. All have been 295/35/R21 (107 XL).
My concern is further compounded because for the Yoko's and the Michelin's I asked the garage to inflate them to them closer to the recommended "max load" pressure level. Which would normally result in the middle of the tyre wearing away fastest. But even with that pressure in place, it seems the opposite is true.

Any ideas?

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[Gavin0478]

What sort of mileage have you done.
What ride height setting do you drive in.
Do you rotate your wheels front to back?
Motorway or town driving?

[Q7newbie]

I have done just over 30k. 99% motorway mileage. I commute between Glasgow and Dundee/Edinburgh. I'm very rarely in traffic because I'm on the road for 6am and had back around 7pm. The only town driving I do is on the odd Saturday with the family or when my Mrs has the car.
I have the car set to Comfort. I do know that even in Comfort, at high speed it will lower into Dynamic. (which is the case most of my motorway drive)
I've never rotated the tyres on this one. I did it on my E60 BMW M5.
But more often than not, I'd have a picture or blowout before I could even consider rotating the tyres!

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[JMR1]

If it's only on the outer edge of the tyre, and centre and inner edge are wearing normally, then a good chance the tracking is out.....simple thing to check out first.

[Gavin0478]

You are better leaving it in dynamic, it will only lower at motorway speeds in automatic not comfort.
All Q7's do seem to eat the edges of the tires mainly due to a few tonnes leaning on them.

[Gazwould]

Needs a bit of toe out .

[Q7newbie]

You are better leaving it in dynamic, it will only lower at motorway speeds in automatic not comfort.
All Q7's do seem to eat the edges of the tires mainly due to a few tonnes leaning on them.

Dynamic all the time? Oh Lord no! Have you seen the roads in Scotland? My spine isn't cut out for that kind of self-harm.
And it actually does lower at motorway speeds even if left in Comfort. Try set yours in Comfort, do over 74mph, and then either using mmi or the driver display button on the wiper stalk check what height the car says it's at. It'll be at 2bars on the height ladder.

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[Q7newbie]

If it's only on the outer edge of the tyre, and centre and inner edge are wearing normally, then a good chance the tracking is out.....simple thing to check out first.

It's things like these that constantly erodes my faith in the UK Audi network. I was told by a few friends that it might be the tracking. I took the car in to Audi Glasgow, who reported back "no fault" in the entire drive train and Chassis/Axles. I have also had Audi Milton Keynes look at it just after fitting the Yoko's. Who, likewise said the tracking, alignment and axle are all fine. 😕. Really perturbed by it all.

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[h2bnd]

I had a set of yoko's on mine when I got it and it did the same so I tried the Pirelli R01 that audi recommend and they wore very quickly, I thought it was because I live in a town littered with roundabouts. I tried checking pressures regular, made no real difference. So I decided whatever I put on they are going to wear, so I bought budget nangkang as-1 tyres and am blown away by how well they've lasted, highly recommend, I think the yoko's and some of the others have a too square side wall meaning there is a lot more rubber in contact with the road on cornering, hence the edges get scrubbed first, whereas the nangkang tapers slightly in and has a rim protector, I will be definitely buying these again, plus they don't look too bad either. The only thing that could have contributed to excessive wear on mine was I had slight play in one of the lower arms, but that wouldn't affect both sides. I've since replaced the arm myself, and have no real extra wear on the edges, I will rotate when they start getting low, as backs last a lot longer.


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[Q7newbie]

That's quite insightful. You're right about the Pirelli's. One a Master Tech friend of mine who sadly moved to Germany told me that the "premium" brand tyres wear very quickly because they're made with a very soft compound. This is at the request of the car manufacturers,who wanted tyres that will allow for maximum grip even when the rubber is cold. This eases their ability to reach their braking distance requirements and be able to claim great resultant handling ability etc.
And the cynic ine also saw no reason why Yoko, Pirelli and crew would object because it's a win-win for them too since it'll mean more purchases of their product in a shorter period due to the smaller used life of the tyres. *conspiracy*.

Nankang it is!

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