grahamS2000

My front tyres are starting to wear quite badly on the insides I gather this is normal on the S (10k on the tyres ) I read somewhere on here I can swap the tyres over but have been advised against doing this by the local tyre guy
He seems to think the handling will suffer with the worn part of the inside being on the outside and having less tyre on the road
Is he talking out of his bottom or perhaps trying to sell me a new set of boots


graham

euan

The handling will suffer, but how much it does depends on how badly worn they are on one side, and how prepared you are to put up with slightly iffy handling. I think your tyre fitter is being fair enough TBH, it's down to you to make the decision really.


FWIW I have swapped my fronts too late before (and now have probably done it again ). It doesn't seem to have any particularly adverse effect on braking in the wet, or inded front end grip on wet corners.

Where I did feel it, was on roads with longitudinal undulations - furrows, high crowns etc. The car tramlined quite badly, and would snatch the front. Not dangerously so if you kept a good grip, but a PITA nonetheless.

There is also the potential for your tyres being deemed illegal. The 1.6mm min that must cover 90% of the tyre must cover the central part, not 90% over to one side IIRC.

GSi

Had to look it up to be sure but..
Scary to consider an S driving around with 25% of it's rear tread gone


EDIT: Just found this, which appears to be more comprehensive..

[QUOTE=from theAA.com Legal Advice]
At least 1.6mm throughout a continuous band in the centre

grahamS2000

thanks guys for the quick reply

So basically does that mean if the insides are bald for say 20% of the tyre width and the rest more than 1.6mm depth the're legal

Bonesy

mine need replacing.
16K miles, inside is 1.6mm, outsides are 5mm.

dealer reckons this S's do not wear unequally on the front, and that needs tracking. was going to do that anyway.

GSi

I reckon it will depend on what kind of driving you do.

If you look at the settings it would seem that this kind of wear is inevitable, but only if you spend a lot of time in a straight line. If you spend most of your time cornering and loading up the suspension then they should wear more evenly, although probably need replaceing just as quick..

Graham, it says 75% across the centre, so 12.5% each side could be bald... but thats pretty unlikely I guess!

euan

That sounds on the illegal side to me - there still has to be visible tread on the remaining 25% I think.

Sounds like new fronts might be in order