Hi friends, what would cause a tyre to wear like this please? Said tyre is near side front. Thank you
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Combination of tracking being out for some reason, and by the looks of it age might have something to do with it. The patch of expopsed cord could be either due to a bent wheel, or external damage (something you've run over) or some other cause. Though to be fair, the rest of the tyre edge looks fairly worn so wouldn't expect it to be anything too much to worry about.
You really should replace them before cord is exposed though. That one would be enough for you to get points/fine if pulled over for it.
Inner edge is down to secondary rubber all round by look of it,I would say it's nothing more than that section of tyre has lost the remaining secondary rubber first in my opinion
Thank you both, the tyre has now been replaced and it is reassuring to know that it was just the result of natural wear and tear and some mild tracking issues rather than more probably something horrendous like the wheel hub being wobbly or something like that!
Are they 17' wheels by any chance? These do seem to like munching on the inner edges with larger wheels.
I'm sure you will have but you are running Extra Load (XL) tyres?
Now there's a thought... actually, it's entirely possible they weren't XL tyres.
I've just gone out to the car to check what I got fitted and the new ones are:
Cross Climate 2 97V XL in 215/55 R16
On the front they're ordinary Cross Climates but they are indeed XL ones.
(I had the axles switched over by the way so the new tyres went on the back and the back were moved to the front)
It's quite possible that the old front ones were not XL ones.
I will DEFINITELY be looking out for that in the future!!
Underinflating them also would cause shoulder wear, though usually on both sides of the tyre. I've had cheap (what I'd term as no-name) tyres on the previous Galaxy and they were awful - they were XL rated, but really didn't last anywhere near as long. I've got a set of Maxxis Premitra All-Season AP3 on mine at the minute, the fronts are approaching 27k and are needing replacement now as it seems the tracking isn't quite in the right place on mine either (doesn't help that it runs around with a boot full of stuff for work).
I acquired some time ago a Dunlop tracking gauge the same that I used fifty years in my apprenticeship, this has enabled me to do my own tracking on my own and various other cars over the years, The toe setting on the galaxy is actually toe out on the front 0deg 10min +- 0deg 30min but I found toe in by similar amount gave more even tyre wear on the front without any noticeable affects.
The wear on the rears I think is very much affected by the loading not much you can do about that.
The rear the most effect I've had on it is running fully loaded when it is fully loaded (upping the tyre pressure to the max). I run mine without the rear two seats installed, anyone whos owned a Galaxy will know how heavy those things are.
Once I went up to 49psi on the back end, the shoulder wear stopped at the back.
The Dunlop gauge - is it one like this?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234642492668
Yep same idea the periscope on mine is chromed and I've lost the rubber eyepiece, I've had it 35 years+ and it wasn't new then.
Out of interest, what pressure would you set the tyres on an Alhamb with medium to high loading (family in the car most of the time, all seats fitted, often with a full up roof box etc)?
I now do 46 psi all round, which seems high in some ways but my tyres tend to wear on the outside edges first so it makes me think maybe they've not been pumped up enough in the past. Plus they do say with all-weather tyres to put an extra 3 psi in anyhow. The tyres are the 215 55 r16 ones.
Tyre pressure seems so important yet is often glossed over. Plus there is so much contradictory and garbage information on the Internet, including tyre fitters' own websites!
The indication of fully loaded on the fuel flap is 7 passengers plus luggage, which sounds like your loading to me at least most of the time. Higher pressure will make for a harsher ride to a degree though. Fully laiden is 49psi in the back, front I think 44? (might differ with different engines/models though).
Used mine as a delivery van for many years. 17 inch wheels, used 44 front, 49 rears.
S-D-A - Sorry if I am a bit 'late on duty' with this one. I experienced abnormal front tyre wear a few years back - the vehicle passed an MOT test with the requisite (5mm+) depth across the central tread, but absolutely bare shoulders on both front tyres - and replacing the rubber bushes in both front lower 'wishbones' solved the problem. The front bush is solid all the way through and is quite robust, but the rear bush is much more vulnerable. There is an aluminium collar around the outer circumference with a steel tube core suspended in a rubber web which is not continuous, and tears easily. When I removed the near side rear bush, the steel core fell out in my hand, the rubber web having been torn during a visit to a pot hole.
Regarding tyre pressures, My Alhambra has 16" steel rims, 195/60/16 tyres and the handbook specifies 49psi front and between 45 and 52psi rear, depending on load.
I've just had both front tyres replaced as they looked exactly like yours plus it's mot time next week so I'm going through the car. Getting it off the ground today I've found a little play in the steering most noticeable on the offside, it's definitely not in the track rod ends so I'm replacing the inner tie rod tomorrow in the hope that's where the play is. This is one of those issues that's close to impossible to pin down when you are working solo, so without any more than a jack and axle stands I'm stuck to putting new bits on until I've eradicated the slack. It's already booked in for alignment which I know the fitter will say he's unable to track a car with play in the steering, the tyres it scrubbed the shoulder off were yokohama and it did that damage in less than 10k. I expected the car to be hard on the front tyres but to that degree of uneven wear worries me, I'll report back after its been on the alignment depending on it passing its mot.
S-G please let us know how you get on with your steering/tracking/tyre wear issues.
Quick update, having fitted the tie rod I can instantly feel a difference to the steering. It now has zero play on centre while having more texture, the tyres being new obviously has an effect too so again I'll let you know how the alignment goes.
Another update, the car now has a new mot so I've had the alignment done. It was obviously out on the side I'd fitted the tie rod but wasn't too far off on the other side, it's all done and square so I'll report back again after I've done some miles then I ought to be able to determine if the tracking was what took the edge off of the previous tyres. Thanks all.
Well done, it does sound like the tracking was out of tolerance so that is pleasing to hear
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