Four wheel alignment.

[Am89]

Used progrip prev on my C63 and he didn’t get the steering wheel centred. Starting to think maybe I’m too fussy

Put it down to badly worn tyres, not sure that was true though

[Am89]

After about 300 miles of use on the tyres post alignment - the steering wheel is sitting a fair bit off to the left. The rear Pirelli’s are near the limit and the fronts could do with being replaced soon.. all four have more wear on the outside and seem to have decent tread left on the inside. When I first had the alignment done the steering wheel seemed slightly off to the left but not as bad as it is now.. could this be down to the tyres wearing in and making the wheel sit off centre, if not - what could be causing this? My next step was to go back for a recheck of alignment but I feel maybe I should put 4 new tyres on first.. I’m slightly reluctant as if this doesn’t solve the off centre steering wheel I’ve spent £850-900 I don’t need to right now. The current tyres still have some life left but could be badly misshapen. Any ideas what I should be doing next?

[Nuclear Nick]

After about 300 miles of use on the tyres post alignment - the steering wheel is sitting a fair bit off to the left. The rear Pirelli’s are near the limit and the fronts could do with being replaced soon.. all four have more wear on the outside and seem to have decent tread left on the inside. When I first had the alignment done the steering wheel seemed slightly off to the left but not as bad as it is now.. could this be down to the tyres wearing in and making the wheel sit off centre, if not - what could be causing this? My next step was to go back for a recheck of alignment but I feel maybe I should put 4 new tyres on first.. I’m slightly reluctant as if this doesn’t solve the off centre steering wheel I’ve spent £850-900 I don’t need to right now. The current tyres still have some life left but could be badly misshapen. Any ideas what I should be doing next?

First, what do you mean by 'badly misshapen'? It's normal for tyres to wear a little unevenly across the tread due to characteristics of the car and its use pattern. Perhaps you could give us some pics.

I'm surprised the tyres are nearing replacement after only 17k miles. That suggests a hard life bordering on abuse and was behind my original question on whether you know the history of the car. What are the tread depths now? If they are near to replacement, ie 3mm or below, I would replace all four and get the steering wheel alignment corrected at the same time. If the car has had a full laser alignment and is now within limits there's not really anything else you can do.

[adam b]

Can someone confirm for me:

I fitted 2 new front tyres recently and included was a free wheel tracking check. Garage said it wasn't worth doing given the front tyres are new and rears are 50%.

I assumed this was BS and garage was being lazy, and car was off the lift and I was in a rush so didn't bother.

Any truth in their claim?

[Nuclear Nick]

Can someone confirm for me:

I fitted 2 new front tyres recently and included was a free wheel tracking check. Garage said it wasn't worth doing given the front tyres are new and rears are 50%.

I assumed this was BS and garage was being lazy, and car was off the lift and I was in a rush so didn't bother.

Any truth in their claim?

Sounds like BS to me too. New tyres on the front would be a good time to have the alignment checked.

[Paul]

+1 to what Nick says

[Am89]

17k miles for new tyres didn’t seem worrying to me, esp on 2.5 tonne vehicle. I’ll try get some pics. By misshapen I meant maybe the car was driven a fair bit with wrong alignment settings causing them to wear badly one way, then alignment was corrected causing them to wear badly another way - possibly causing excess camber pull and wheel off centre?

[SAC1]

They shouldn't charge to check. If adjustment work is needed, you can then decide whether they do it or another firm.

With the AWD Macan Porsche state "the deviation in tread depth on an axle must not be more than 30 %." So that is 2.4 mm.(brand new SUV tyres have generally 8 mm start depth) e.g. if new front tyres only fitted, then rears need to be at a minimum of 5.6 mm.

[Nuclear Nick]

They shouldn't charge to check. If adjustment work is needed, you can then decide whether they do it or another firm.

With the AWD Macan Porsche state "the deviation in tread depth on an axle must not be more than 30 %." So that is 2.4 mm.(brand new SUV tyres have generally 8 mm start depth) e.g. if new front tyres only fitted, then rears need to be at a minimum of 5.6 mm.

The tread difference stipulation refers to one axle, ie the tread difference side to side of the car on one axle, not front to back. Indeed, Porsche state there can be a difference front to rear - 'If new tires are installed only on one axle, a noticeable change in handling occurs due to the different tread depth of the other tires. This is especially the case if only the rear tires are replaced. The effect is reduced continuously, however, as tire mileage increases.

[Nuclear Nick]

17k miles for new tyres didn’t seem worrying to me, esp on 2.5 tonne vehicle. I’ll try get some pics. By misshapen I meant maybe the car was driven a fair bit with wrong alignment settings causing them to wear badly one way, then alignment was corrected causing them to wear badly another way - possibly causing excess camber pull and wheel off centre?

Quite few members on here get 40k plus out of a set of tyres.

I think you are overstating the effect of 'normal' misalignment on tyre wear. It would have to be a gross error to cause the sort of wear pattern you describe, the sort of misalignment caused by a serious collision with a kerb or similar. As I said, the steering wheel off centre is either badly repaired crash damage or a lazy fitter not adjusting both track rod ends equally when doing a realignment.