Today I took the A6in for a tirerotation and found out the front tires (Coopers)have to be replaced. They have 23k miles over 2+ years and are only used in the summer. The inside edge of both fronttires (almost on the curve of the tire) is worn to the cord in spots. These tires are rotated at Discount Tire every 5-6k miles. The shocks are good - I posted a question about checking them last week and Joeski responded that my test was valid and it sounded like they were fine. That is consistent with what my independent garage told me before I left for a 2800 mile vacation two weeks ago.

Discount Tire is blaming the car. See history below - it was recently aligned and checked again today. Does anyone have any thoughts on what might be causing this problem? I do mostly highway driving (95% of my mileage). I think I got a bad set of Coopers and am going back to Discount to have my Pirellis re-installed and demand that they have their Cooper sales rep inspect the Coopers.

History:
I put them on for the summer two months and 4k miles ago. Discount Tire noticed some wear and slight cupping on the inside front tiresat that time. I had the car aligned. It was .05" toed in on the front. That is negligible. I just took it back in and it is still in alignment - no change from 4k miles ago. The technician again pulled on the front wheels and declared the ball joints and general front end felt solid. He also stated that a toe-in condition would result in wear on the outside of the tire, not the inside.

Pre-history:
May 2007 (96.5k miles)the left rearCooper went flat while parked at the airport. Inspection by Discount Tire showed tread separation on the inside edge. Replaced with a new Cooper.

Aug 2006 (73k miles) the right rear went flat while driving down the highway. Two melted spots through the tire edge. Replaced with a new Cooper.

 

sounds like the car is squatting/toe out? what are the offsets on you wheels? has the suspension been lowered? when you say ( rotated ) I hope you didn't put the front tyres on the rear when you can see the cord[:-]

 

If the suspension is causing problems with the tires at speed, it isNOT obvious from the laseralignment which looks correct. The car has the stock suspension which is supposedly the "sport" suspension for this model year. The specified ranges from the alignment shop and actual values are below. All the actuals are within tolerance although some are at the extreme of the ranges.

Front Left
Camber Range -1.3o to -0.4o Actual -1.1o
Toe Range 0.08o to 0.25o Actual 0.18o

Front Right
Camber Range -1.3o to -0.4o Actual -1.2o
ToeRange 0.08o to 0.25o Actual 0.18o

Rear Left
Camber Range -1.2o to -0.2o Actual -0.8o
ToeRange 0.05o to 0.22oActual 0.21o

Rear Right
Camber Range -1.2o to -0.2o Actual -1.0o
ToeRange 0.05o to 0.22oActual 0.22o

My winter Pirellis have been re-installed on the car. Discount Tireoffered tome a full prorata on the Coopers for a set of 235/40R-18 Continental Touring Contak Extremes for $175. They normally list at $869. I haven't accepted the deal because I want to find what is causing the problem before putting on new tires. I also may replace the old rims which have some minor external cracks and roadrashand one is slightly dented from a pothole. However, they were on the car both times when the alignment was checked and the tech did not see any problems with them. The dented rim was not on one of the tires with the bad wear problem today.

I'm taking the car into my independent garage on Tuesday. Maybe he can find something although he gave it a clean bill of health two weeks ago when I had the brake fluid replaced. If he can't come up with anything and no one on the forum has suggestions, then my next stop is [shudder] the local Audi dealer.

 

hope this helps these are the actual settings for your car

[IMG]local://upfiles/12092/018D8AA494374701B07498BEA5879205.jpg[/IMG]

 

Thanks again, Dave. They certainly don't match. If I read the front toe-in in degrees from your specs, I thinkit calls for .20o plus or minus .04o, or a range of .16o to .24o. It's a little hard to read.

By comparison, the alignment shop spec calls for .08o to .25o.

My actual (for this spec) is .18o for my left front, which falls within both specifications. Is that correct?

However, the front camber in my spec is negative while yours appears to be positive. Is that also correct? If so, that could be a problem!

Cheers -

 

Anyone have corrected alignment specs for 2002 A6 2.7 with Koni FSD Eibach pro springs? Just received pro kit (2100-4044) from tire rack and don't want to change until i have correct alignment specs??

 

I have the SAME problem

 

What about ware like this. Its not all the way around only about 8in or so and only on the inside of the pas front. I have had a few sets of tires on the car and they have all done this.

 

The alignment specs with the PRO springs are identical to stock. A little toe out and negative camber helps handling but will accelerate tire wear - on the inside edge - see picture above. On an A6, this type of wear indicates a bad tie rod end or control arm. I have had bad control arms that you could not see any movement whatsoever when forcing the tire around by hand. It was the bushing end that went bad, not the tie rod end. How long since you replaced at least the front lower rear control arms?

Bob

 

I haven't replaced any parts yet. I have only had the car for about a year. It started this summer with the original set of tires then i put a different set on and now the second set is doing the same thing. I have been trying to figure out what would cause this type of problem before just throwing parts at it. I's going into the alignment shop next week so hopefully i can get it all worked out soon. Thanks for the advice!