My fronts are knackered due to poor tracking after all the front suspension components that were installed with only a "that'll do" set up.
The four tyres were bought as a set and are about 50% worn. If I get another pair on the front, will I be causing issues in the drive train? Should I get 4?
Cheers!
Depends if you want a new viscous coupling and uj's ;)
How badly worn are the fronts? Fronts are always going to wear faster even if your alignment is spot on, why not just swap front to rear to even them up?
They're badly worn at the left shoulder on each front tyre :(
As long as you have a tread depth of over 1.6mm over 75% of the width, then putting them on the back will be fine.
Wot ^ he sed
:)
I've got the Vredestein Quadrac 5s on mine which are a combined summer/winter tyre. The inside edge is a softer compound rubber with a snow type tread pattern while the outer edge is a harder summer compound with standard summer tread pattern. That, combined with slightly too much toe out meant my fronts were wearing on the inside edge and down to about 1mm while the rest of the tyre was at around 4mm while the rears were at around 4mm everywhere. So I swapped them front to back to even out the wear. They've been on there for about 45,000 miles so not bad wear rate even though I will need to buy a new set for winter if, assuming we're allowed to go anywhere by then, I take the planned trip to Latvia. Most European countries insist on a minimum of 4mm tread on M&S or three peaks marked tyres in winter (which is where most of the part worn tyres come from).
Rears don't wear as fast as the fronts anyway as they don't have the lateral load from cornering, rears just push you along.
Well they're not looking great at the front :(
Compared to the Rears which are nice and uniform.
Annoyingly those ATs are NLA so if I buy any tyres I'm looking at a full set.
There's plenty of tread over 75% of the width so perfectly legal, I bet there's hardly any difference between them and the rears in the centre. Bung them on the back and the ones from the back on the front. Just don't forget to change the pressures.
Morat - have the front tyres always been on the same corners? The wear pattern is a bit odd - it's almost as if the whole axle is tilting to the left - or you're driving around an oval racing circuit in the same direction. I wd swap the tires as Richard says (front to left, but also left to right), but I'd be trying to figure out what was causing the issue before you do the same to the rear tyres.
sadly our local MOT tester has already indicated his displeasure...
The point about an oval track is probably valid. I've had a lot of components changed at the front including the track bar and the wheel has always been a bit offset to the right when driving straight.
The front left is also prone to leaking down over a week or two so has been run pretty low on occasions.
I'll get the tracking done and swap the tyres. If the ex-rears wear evenly on the front after tracking I'll see whether we need new tyres come MOT time. If not, I'll treat this as a test period to get the geometry sorted.
Thanks Fellas
The front left wear does look like what you'd expect from under-inflation, wear on both shoulders with the middle much less worn.
the first tyre is an under inflated issue, the second is a toe out issue, if it was worn in the middle it would be an over inflated issue.
PS neither of those tyres would pass here , and the fine here is per tyre, generally the fine is more than the replacement of the tyre?
It's also 3 points per tyre here, where 12 points is a driving ban :O
I've had them swapped front to rear and had the tracking done. I'll see how they ex-rears wear over the next few hundred miles and get a new set.
I'm a bit sad they don't make that pattern anywmore as they're a nice compromise for wear, all season performance, offroading and price - but I guess things move on. I don't really want to put an aggressive looking tyre on a P38.
Front Left, apart from being underinflated, was also much more worn on the outside shoulder, whereas the Front right was worn on the inside shoulder - and the difference between the shoulder and the centre of the tread is over 4mm depth so it's quite a severe gradient. That's on the correctly inflated tyre :(
The front left probably caused the front right to wear. A soggy tyre on the left will cause the steering to pull to the left, so you will be constantly turning right to keep it straight which will wear the inside edge on the RH tyre. If you'd kept it pumped up, both would still be good.......
That would be nice :)
Let's see how the next few hundred miles work out.
Maybe put some of that gunk into (what were) your front tyres to stop the leaks? was v successful on mine. Did you only have tracking checked, or also toe?