147 GTA Tyre wear
Discussion
11000 miles, two fronts scrubbed inside 40 mm or so only. Same with one of the rears. Three out of four tyres illegal. Car use has been mainly on motorways and has not been driven hard. Bought new in October last year, and never kerbed.
Dealer tells me this is normal ....Is this normal tyre wear??
Dealer tells me this is normal ....Is this normal tyre wear??
pdV6 said:
Pretty normal at factory toe settings. Can be reduced by aligning the wheels "straighter" than standard, but at a potential cost to handling?
Either way, 11k miles out of a set on a GTA isn't bad going (unless you drive like an angel!)
I find the uneven wear hard to digest - especially on the rear where only one tyre has been badly scrubbed on the inner edge. Has been driven as a normal car, not like a GTA should have been , and many of the miles have been wet miles!!.
I find it amazing that tryes wont last between service intervals, and that alignment is not checked at PDI or service. 11000 miles is when I noticed the wear, the tyres have probably been illegal for a while.
Daftlad said:TBH, with 250bhp through the front wheels, I'd say 11,000 miles isn't too bad.
I find it amazing that tryes wont last between service intervals, and that alignment is not checked at PDI or service. 11000 miles is when I noticed the wear, the tyres have probably been illegal for a while.
The uneven wear inside-to-outside (on mine, at least) is a direct result of the wheel geometry being correct. You could probably adjust it to get your tyres to last longer, but at the expense of handling / turn-in. Personally, I treat increased tyre wear as one of the costs of having a fast, sharp-handling car, and I just keep a regular eye on them and replace them when needed.
Can't explain the rear, though - maybe a four-wheel alignment check?
Thanks for the input guys. Still dont think its acceptable that to obtain what is only an acceptable level of handling (by no means exceptional) tyres need to be sacrificed at such a rate. I'll keep you posted in respect of a warranty claim I intend to persue.
FYI, I get IRO of 18000 miles out of my front tyres on TVRs - with track day use.
FYI, I get IRO of 18000 miles out of my front tyres on TVRs - with track day use.
What rubber are you using? Could go for a harder compound at the expense of grip... but I don't see the point.
A car of this ilk has certain associated running costs that you can't really avoid. Saying that, if you shop around you can get a complete set of F1s for it for a good deal less than £400. What's a set of rears on the Tiv gonna set you back?
A car of this ilk has certain associated running costs that you can't really avoid. Saying that, if you shop around you can get a complete set of F1s for it for a good deal less than £400. What's a set of rears on the Tiv gonna set you back?
You haven't said what tyres you are running... my guess you have the Bridgestone S-02's. These tend to wear on the GTA. Much debate has happened on alternatives so won't start that again. It is not unheard of for the rear to be out of alignment from the factory. I agree the front wear sounds close to 'normal'.
pdV6 said:
What rubber are you using? Could go for a harder compound at the expense of grip... but I don't see the point.
A car of this ilk has certain associated running costs that you can't really avoid. Saying that, if you shop around you can get a complete set of F1s for it for a good deal less than £400. What's a set of rears on the Tiv gonna set you back?
I am running Yoko AVS Sport.
I can get P Zeros at £133 a corner. TVR rears are around £135/140 each.
I will persue the warranty claim but Hopefully I have some leverage as we've already been close to rejecting the car as not fit for purpose. I'm afriad this adds fuel to the fire.
For what its worth, its not the first hot hatch I've had. Its not the first car I've run with softish tyres. I dont subscribe to your train of thought regarding "cars of this ilk" in the manner you refer. I supect the problem is a car not understood by Fiat dealers and dealers used to fobbing off owners of £5K puntos.
TBH I don't know those exact tyres, but Yokos are traditionally quite soft; I'd be quite pleased with 11k on a driven pair!
As has been mentioned already, all the 'hot' models from Alfa are set up with quite aggressive tracking. You can reduce tyre wear by moving away from the standard settings but you want to think carefully before doing so.
As has been mentioned already, all the 'hot' models from Alfa are set up with quite aggressive tracking. You can reduce tyre wear by moving away from the standard settings but you want to think carefully before doing so.
daftlad said:
What rubber are you using? Could go for a harder compound at the expense of grip... but I don't see the point.
A car of this ilk has certain associated running costs that you can't really avoid. Saying that, if you shop around you can get a complete set of F1s for it for a good deal less than £400. What's a set of rears on the Tiv gonna set you back?
I am running Yoko AVS Sport.
I can get P Zeros at £133 a corner. TVR rears are around £135/140 each.
I will persue the warranty claim but Hopefully I have some leverage as we've already been close to rejecting the car as not fit for purpose. I'm afriad this adds fuel to the fire.
For what its worth, its not the first hot hatch I've had. Its not the first car I've run with softish tyres. I dont subscribe to your train of thought regarding "cars of this ilk" in the manner you refer. I supect the problem is a car not understood by Fiat dealers and dealers used to fobbing off owners of £5K puntos.
I too heard the Yoko AVS Sports are very soft, .. I mostly use mytyres.co.uk as they seem to be cheap if that helps
I have a 2.5 v6 and after initial to and fro with the selling dealer re pulling to the left and scrubbing tyres with them saying nothing wrong, i then went to AMC in Chelmsford, asked them to give the front geom a check (without telling them there may be a fault) and low and behold they come back with "your settings were out" and corrected it, i now average 22000 on so3's and so2's. And i do quite a lot of driving.
Daftlad said:
Thanks for all the replies.
Update. After some quite unpleasant calls to my dealer, Alfa are going to fit four new tyres and retrack the car under warranty. My contribution will be £300 - which I think is fair.
wow, well done. I cheerfully expected a round 'get stuffed' - most warranties specifically exclude things like this!
wokkadriver said:
Thanks for all the replies.
Update. After some quite unpleasant calls to my dealer, Alfa are going to fit four new tyres and retrack the car under warranty. My contribution will be £300 - which I think is fair.
wow, well done. I cheerfully expected a round 'get stuffed' - most warranties specifically exclude things like this!
Thanks,
Had the car back a week now. It's been re-tarcked and now runs as close to parralel up front as the manufacturers tollerance allows. Its a much nicer car to drive now.
Alfa fitted P-Zeros which seem fine. Final outlay was £250 tyres contribution and £40 for the retrack.
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