Tyre Trauma Help needed

[wolf02]

Ive just taken my S4 B6 (2003) into the audi dealership and they have noticed a major problem!

I fitted aftermarket alloys to my car about 2 years ago and during the inspection this year the inside inch of every wheel has been shredded down to the core!
The rest of the tyre is fine and has about 2.5mm tread on it!

Audi are saying its because ive fitted the wrong tyres to the car but I dont think so.

I fitted R8 replicas ordered from wheelbase (using the car selector) and they sent the following tyres fitted to them - 235/35/19.
From what I have seen on this forum that should be correct, but audi are telling me that I need 255/35/19's fitted and thats what caused the problem.
I dont think so, can someone help out ? are 235's correct or are 255's ? and if 255's are right can I just drop them on my current wheels ????
One other point, i paid audi to do a wheel alignment last time i took the car in to them (around a year ago) is it possible they did the alignment wrong ? if so how can i prove it ?
BTW Ive only done about 8000 miles on these tyres in about 2 years as I dont drive it much, so i dont think its just usual wear.

[paulyd65]

I have exactly the same problem. I bought some original 19" MTM alloys with 235/35/19 fitted. The tyres looked as though they have been stretched across the alloy to fit so I researched it and MTM advised me that 245/35 or 40/19 tyres should be fitted. If your tyres are not wide enough then I would have thought the inner side would wear because of the heavy lump at the front.

If you have only done 8000 miles then I would questions if the alighment was down properly in the fisrt place. Can you get Audi to check the alignment and see if it is still correct (give or take a minor bit of movement). That level of wear to me seems to be a mixture of wrong tyre width and poor alignment.

Hope this helps.

[wolf02]

Thanks, do you know if there is any way to confirm from the alloy markings which tyre should be fitted to the alloy ?
I dont want to order 255's from black circles only to find that they dont fit my alloys! The other thing is that wheelbase where I bought the wheels from are still selling these alloys with these tyres as the recommended ones for the Audi S4.

Im probably going to get an independent place to check the alignment becasue audi did the original alignment, if they then re-check it they can easily hide the fact it was wrong in the first place.

Someone along the line here has done something wrong and I dont really want to pay the price for that.
To my mind, either
a) the alloys have been supplied with the wrong tyres (supplier defined what was the correct tyre size for my vehicle) in which case its the suppliers fault
b) The alignment of the car is wrong, in which case audi are at fault
c) Both tyres and alignment are wrong in which case im not sure what to do.

Dont get me wrong im not they type of person who blames everyone else for things all the time.
But in this case I checked with the supplier and with my dealership BEFORE I fitted the new wheels so sombody told me wrong or setup the car wrong.

[marv]

Did you get the specs of the wheel when you bought it? If so what are they?

[pandavet]

Hello,

I'm a newbie on RS246, and I owned a 2003 b6 S4, which had been sold a week ago.

The 19" wheels are not certified by Audi (at least in France) : so, the genuine geometry parameters (for 18" wheels) are not perhaps the good ones and this may explain your problems

JP

[AdrianE]

replica wheels are nearly always narrower than the genuine article - not uncommon for them to be 7.5-8" diameter, so you need a smaller tyre if that's the case. It wouldn't surprise me if the load index of the tyre is all wrong (most tyres supplied with reps are shocking and not suitable for the weight of the car)

To be honest if the tyres only have 2.5mm of tread they're fit to be junked anyway - I change mine at 3mm as they don't work well in the wet below that. If you're through to the canvas anywhere they'll have to be changed or you're looking at £1000 fine per tyre, and potentially licence losing number of points as well.

If you have the choice, go back to the OE rims and junk the reps, or buy some genuine Audi rims the right size with correct rolling radius tyres. You'll be looking at a set of new tyres in any case....

[xyber]

Sounds like Audi talking crap again. I've got 225/35/19 on 19x9 wheels and they are wearing perfectly evenly. Sounds to me like the geometry has been set way out by Audi.

Take it to a decent tyre place with the proper laser alignment gear and get it done and ask for a print out of the before and after. Unfortunately it seems often Audi techs know little more than what the computer job guide tells them. I wouldn't let my local dealers near my car after dropping in there once. Simple question about a SW upgrade on RNSE and they said it was impossible and that I needed the newer unit. I laughed and walked out. The manager also crashed their R8 demo shortly after released, £33k to fix hahaha

[wolf02]

The wheel specs are 235/35/19
DW500 19x8j
650KG limit
ET 35
PCD 112

Does that sound correct ?

[spikeyboy101]

Dont know enough about weheels - but those specs would suggest that you need a 235/35/19 tyre.

With regards to the wheel aligement - when i have had mine done in th past i have always been given a colour print out of the before and after report. Did Audi give you one of these when they did it ? im guessing not, and if my experience with Audi dealers is anyhting to go by i wouldnt be surprised if they just did a tracking check (if that) and charged you for work they didnt do.

[AdrianE]

The wheel specs are 235/35/19
DW500 19x8j
650KG limit
ET 35
PCD 112

Does that sound correct ?

8" has got to be narrower than a factory 19" wheel, hasn't it? I'd expect an 8.5" at least but worth checking. If it varies at all then whatever Audi say isn't relevent as they're not talking about the same wheel size, more likely an 8.5x19. The factory 18s are 8" wide though, from memory with 235 tyres so that would indicate the tyre width you have is correct?

Is the 650kg figure relating to the wheel or the load index of the tyre? In either case, look at your full VIN plate for the maximum axle weights - tyres should be capable of taking the full laden weight of the vehicle that's allowed for by the manufacturer. Double the maximum load index for each axle and compare to the VIN. If you don't know how to read the load index of a tyre then Google/Wikipedia it for conversion to kg.

[wolf02]

Thanks for the help, based on what ive heard ive bought new tyres for the current alloys (which I now believe to be correct).
I'll get an independent alignment done with confirmation of the current vs new setup to ensure its correct over the weekend.

Im sure audi will somehow manage to worm their way out of responsibility for this!!

[marv]

It's definitely worth checking the alignment that was originally performed - when mine was done by a main dealer, the first time they tried the alignment they aligned it to the older B5 S4 settings, because there was no S4 specific setting in their system for the B6 (instead it was listed under a specific suspension type for the A4)!

It was only picked up when I checked the before & after alignments against the desired settings, and found quite a lot of the post-alignment settings were way out of the desired alignment (obviously, because the desired values were for a B5!).

The alignment printout should show the car type on it somewhere, so be sure to check that it's been done correctly.

[dantheman]

I take it the tyres in question are marked Extra Load (XL) as recommended for that age of S4

Probably to obvious, but you never know....

Cheers

[wolf02]

Thanks for all the advice, im going to get the alignment done over the weekend now that the new tyres are fitted.
Hopefully that will shed some light on what the problem is.