R36 - tyre wear issues.

[Steve]

Today, I bought my R36 a first birthday gift - a one year service!

After 13 months and 13400km, life is good.

The only drama to report is that the inside of each front tyre is worn - so much so that they are on the verge of becoming illegal.

The service guys assured me that it's not my fault, and that it is most likely a set up problem from the factory or from the dealer. They reckon that the rest of the front tyres are in great condition.

The tyres are the standard Dunlop tyres, and while they aren't all that great they certainly should not be worn so much.

Has anybody had similar issues? I recall reading something about this once before, so I know I'm not the only person having this problem... but I can't remember where I read that it's happened before, let alone find the post in question.

I'm going to contact the dealer and see if I have any recourse, which is unlikely but possible I guess.

I was looking at tyres for the GTI on Tyre Rack, now I guess I have to look for R36 tyres too - $$$$

I have four spare Eagle F1's, but they're some crazy 235/60/18 setup... no thanks!

Edit: Here we are: http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newf...ad.php?t=21799

[team_v]

I have heard that the first thing you should do from pickup is check the fluid levels and get the wheel alignment checked.
The ride over might have knocked it out a bit and given you uneven wear.

Just note that tyrerack is a US site f memory serves correct and they will ask over $700US for postage of a set of 4 tyres.

[gead]

had my wheel alignment done pretty soon after pick up and was told the alignments were quite a way out....mainly toe at the rear....

[Steve]

Yeah, I've always been under the impression that alignment and fluids are part of the pre delivery inspection - I guess I was wrong!

I don't think postage from Tyre Rack is that much, but even if it is it's probably cheaper than buying new decent tyres here anyway - we get gouged something fierce.

[Steve]

Ouch... four 225/45/17 PS2's for Mum's GTI = $US748.... four 235/40/18 PS2's for my R36 = $US1052

[team_v]

Yeah, I've always been under the impression that alignment and fluids are part of the pre delivery inspection - I guess I was wrong!

I don't think postage from Tyre Rack is that much, but even if it is it's probably cheaper than buying new decent tyres here anyway - we get gouged something fierce.

I thought that the dealer should check the car before it leaves for everything that could go wrong. But it seems that after it arrives, they give it to you so you take delivery, they get their money and the car and any problems are now yours.


I contacted tirerack to get a quote for shipping of 4 x 235/50R15 tyres to Australia. In the end it will cost much more than sourcing tyres here.
Then you have to consider the exchange rate as well as the taxes on import and export.
I have attached the qute i recieved below for your information.

Just a note, they ship the tyres in sets of 2 so you get hit with double postage costs.

FED EXPRESS (2-3 DAY)- $ 563.60 SHIPPING METHOD FIP
FED ECONOMY (3-5 DAY)- $ 216.80 SHIPPING METHOD FIE

QUOTE FOR 4 TIRES SHIPPING FROM SB TO AUSTRALIA
SHIPPING WAREHOUSE:
2 PKGS OF 2 TIRES - 2 @ 27 X 27 X 20

So the product and shipping cost will be either $1,119.60 for 2 to 3 days shipping (FIP) or $772.80 for 3 to 5 day shipping (FIE).

[Steve]

Ouch... thanks for the figures, that's interesting.

The good news is that rather than $600 per corner for R36 size tyres, the PS2's from TireRack are $US263/$AUD$330 - nearly $300 cheaper per corner!

That's using figures from one of Cro's threads... I haven't had a quote locally yet but I'm expecting some serious coinage.

Say each package is two tyres and one shipping cost...

Tyre: $660
Shipping in $AUD: $271
= $931

So needing two such packages, $AUD1862 plus whatever the import duties are. So that that's nearly $500 difference, but no doubt the import duties will eat up a bit of that.

It's tempting, especially since PS2's seem to be a little hard to come by here.

Hmph...

[team_v]

It does seem fairly competitive.
Best to get a quote from them directly so you know exactly how much it will cost rather than specualtive figures.

Might also want to think about what you will do if you get a damaged tyre/puncture.

Best of luck and let us know what you end up going with

[Steve]

Hm, I'm just thinking about this a bit more...

I only need front tyres. The rears are fine. I'm planning to spend three months overseas in the six months until March next year.

I think I'll just replace the front tyres with new Dunlops, and save some $$$ - I really want to do a dive master course for a month or so in Thailand, and spend a month in Laos...!

[Cro]

The front is setup at 1 degree negative camber, and is non adjustable. Mine also had a large amount of toe out, this I got changed to 0.
I had the same problem first with the PS2's and then the Goodyear F1's. Both were pretty much worn out on the inside edge after 12,000kms.

My rear has been adjusted to 0 Toe 0 camber, and now that I have 4 brand new PS2's on the car I will be rotating every 5,000kms to try even the wear out and possibly push the life to 30,000kms. I think it's possible, as two of the PS2's I had lasted the full 30,000km with a 7,000km stint on the front.

I recently ordered the PS2's from Tirerack for $2104 delivered (FedEx Economy 5 days) with all custom duties paid. This is when the exchange rate was 1 AUD - 0.81 USD.
If you do go down this route, you only pay custom duties on orders valued more than 1k AUD (inc shipping). So if you only got two PS2's you would not have to pay duties HOWEVER, if you were to order 2 shipments of 2 tyres each the extra cost of shipping would be slightly more (~$100 AUD) than the custom duties you would pay on a single shipment of 4 tyres.