Is my excessive tyre wear normal?

I've got a 01 Audi A4 1.6 Petrol (newer shape) and spent €620 on four firestone 235 x 45 R17 tyres. However, after only 13,000 miles there is very little life left on them, another 2-3k miles at most. I've really looked after them, had them rotated after about 7k and haven't been spinning wheels or any of that boy racer stuff. One of them (back left at present) is worse than the others alright and is pretty much at the end of its life already. The wear is even through all of the tyres.

Question 1: Is this about the normal for this size wheel? It seems terrible to me.

Question 2: I've heard that some of these big name brands aren't really worth the money; can you recommend a more reasonably priced tyre for what looks like an almost annual expense I'm going to have to budget for?

Thanks 

Ciaran Lutttrell (Cork)

May 2010 Filed under: tyres

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Expert answer

Hi Ciaran.

Funnily enough, I was just last week at a tyre event and we got a full briefing on tyre wear, which I knew would come in useful somehow.

Firstly, no this isn't normal wear at all unless you were on a track racing. I take it that you aren't and from what you are saying the wear is even. Usually shoulder wear is a sign of under-inflation. Under-inflation can also lead to tyre blow-outs.

Drivers should check their tyre pressure every two weeks according to the manufacturers. One-sided wear is usually an alignment issue and that doesn't seem to be the case here.

Anyway, we contacted Bridgestone / Firestone on your behalf and they are happy to send out an engineer to inspect your tyres. I have sent you their details. They want to check out if there is a fault and we can take it from there.

What we will say about tyres is that it does not make economical sense to buy cheap ones. They tend to be of lower quality and there is no wisdom in having poor tyres on your car. See how you get on with the engineer and let us know by posting a comment back on this page.

Hope that helps. 

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