New tyres and tracking advice

Matthew.M

Matthew.M

Matthew.M

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
3,324
Location
Birmingham
Hi all,

I got a puncture the other day which provoked me into finally getting some decent tyres all round, so my Focus now sits outside with 4 brand new T1-Rs :)

Anyway I can't really comment on them yet because I've only driven the 2miles or so back from the garage and I'm assuming they need scrubbing in anyway, but anything will be better than my previous P6000s on the front and mis-matched ditch finders on the rear (thank the previous owner!).

Anyway the purpose of this post, the garage said my tracking was out by about 2-3mm, is this anything to worry about? I didn't bother getting them to adjust it because spending £240 in one go felt bad enough. Should I go to another garage to get a second opinion? Will it noticably affect tyre wear? They wanted £35 + VAT to adjust it and to be honest that's well on the way to entire new tyre so I'm undecided. What's the usual rate?

Any advice appreciated :)
 
I had ATS euromaster do the tracking on my Mondeo as it was pulling left, and 25 pound later it was still pulling and they said it must have been a complicated issue out of there levels :rolleyes:

Took it to the Ford dealer where i live, and they have done a cracking job on all 4 wheels and it goes dead straight now, absolutly perfect.

If the tracking is off it can wear the tyres unevenly so it needs to be done, its gonna cost me 100 pounds to replace a tyre part worn due to bad tracking.
 
Get the tracking sorted out, its causes abnormal wear on the tyres so you'd go through a pair quicker than if it were straight. The other tell-tale sign is a wobble through the steering wheel at motorway speeds or drifting about when trying to go in a straight line!

I'm not too sure on the tolerances on the focus, but 2mm/3mm sounds quite a lot
 
Was there abnormal wear on the tyres you removed.......particularly on the edge.......just out of interest why did the garage check the tracking.....or was it some free thing you did not ask for.

Does the car pull at all to one side on a road with no camber.
 
*Moangroan* said:
Was there abnormal wear on the tyres you removed.......particularly on the edge.......just out of interest why did the garage check the tracking.....or was it some free thing you did not ask for.

Does the car pull at all to one side on a road with no camber.
Click to expand...

No abnormal wear that the eye could see, and they checked it for free on their own accord I didn't ask. At the time I just thought they were trying to fleece more money out of me for something unnecessary.

There is a vibration at 80mph ish actually :o This could be it...
 
Matthew.M said:
No abnormal wear that the eye could see, and they checked it for free on their own accord I didn't ask. At the time I just thought they were trying to fleece more money out of me for something unnecessary.

There is a vibration at 80mph ish actually :o This could be it...
Click to expand...


I may be wrong here but tracking out wouldnt necessarily cause vibration just uneven tyre wera ?

vibration could possibly be down to them not balancing the tyres correctly though.
 
As said it is likely you need to nip back and explain about the vibration. At that speed its likely one of you back wheels but they will check them all.
 
memphisto said:
I may be wrong here but tracking out wouldnt necessarily cause vibration just uneven tyre wera ?

vibration could possibly be down to them not balancing the tyres correctly though.
Click to expand...

Hmmm okay, they definitely vibrated before the new tyres I haven't had a chance to go fast enough to find out if thats been fixed or not yet. Next time I go out I'll go for a quick spin up the local dual carriageway to see if thats gone.
 
Definatly go easy on the new tyres for a while! I had put about 150-200 miles on my tyres when i had to brake sharpish and locked the front two up with not an excessive amount of pressure on the brake pedal... :o

T1-S x 4 on mine, good now they have been broken in fully.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom