Cooper S R56 Tyre wear/Tracking issues?

[mhopwood]

I have a 57 reg Mini Cooper S which i picked up brand new from the mini dealer on 1st September '07. So far i have only covered 13k miles in nearly 21 months (would like to have done more) and i rarely drive the car hard and fast so you wouldn't expect any excessive tyre wear.

However, i removed my wheels at the weekend to give them a good clean up and to my horror found both front tyres to be completely un-roadworthy. I can only assume the wheels have suffered from severely poor tracking. The passenger side tyre was the worse of the two with the tread starting to peel off. On the inside edge of both tyres between the tread and sidewall there was a thin but deep groove exposing material/wire under the rubber! I was shocked and appalled by what i found and concerned that i had been driving around with tyres in such a state. The rest of the tread elsewhere on the tyres has around 3-4mm. The tires are dunlop run-flats and i doubt they were faulty.

After a phone call to the dealer who sold me the car they are taking it in on Friday to have a look at the problem. Ok so maybe i should have checked the tyres health earlier, but the uneven wear is so severe surely the tracking has been incorrect since day one? Can anyone give advice on how to approach this with the dealer? If they're at fault for delivering a car with the tracking out then obviously i won't want to pay for new tyres.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

[DanGT]

The tyers can wrar quickly if used round town etc rather than motor ways. Power stearing + turbo. If there is a fault I think you have a chance but if it is traking how are you going to prove you did not hit a pot hole the week after you got the car?

Check what you pay for the new tyers the dealer my not be the best price.

[mhopwood]

Good point, i do live in the countryside so i'm drving around winding country roads and through towns all the time and not always on the best surfaces. That certainly would not help the matter.

I just thought it strange for both front tyres to have worn in extactly the same acute area to such an extreme. I have never experienced such a fast rate of degredation on tyres before, even with hitting the odd pothole. Tried to see if the wheels were rubbing but it seems not, plus i would have noticed when driving the car.

I wont be getting the dealer to fit the tyres if they have to be replaced at my cost, think they charge £225 per tyre + labour! Extortionate! May also consider replacing the run-flats with better tyres.

[Macboy]

Does sound like you have a problem with tracking to me. My Cooper S Clubman has just had new front tyres at 22K and they were still legal. They were the original runflats. My wifes Cooper S also had the original tyres on at 18K when we sold it earlier this month.

Andy

[Macboy]

BTW my Mini dealer was open to negotiation on tyre costs and I got a pair fitted for £260 which was the cheapest I found including Black Circles.

[mhopwood]

Macboy said:

BTW my Mini dealer was open to negotiation on tyre costs and I got a pair fitted for £260 which was the cheapest I found including Black Circles.

Thanks for the info. I would have expected 18k out of the tyres. I am taking the car in to Mini this coming Monday so we'll see what they say. Can't drive it at the weekend now, fuming!