Yes it does. Anywhere in the 5-7k mile range is a good interval for rotation.
If you have a Discount Tire store in your area, I suggest you purchase from them a Lifetime Rotation Package (last I checked it was $29.99). This includes all rotations AND balances for as long as you own those particular tires. Had you purchased these tires from them, these services would have been FREE.
I have the same problem on a 09 A3 and Pirellis P6000 and only after 7K miles and no extreme driving. The tires are effectively dead and need to be replaced. The dealer/mechanics can’t point out an obvious cause and mention either high pressure, misalignment or general problems with tire wear on Audis. Obviously, they wouldn’t replace these under the warranty, however, would it make sense to escalate it with the Audi Client Relations?
Re-read the terms of your vehicle warranty.
In almost every case, it will state that tires are warrantied by the tire manufacturer, not by the vehicle manufacturer. I doubt if Audi Client Relations will help if the warranty states that they are not responsible for tire problems.
I understand. My main concern that there’s something fundamentally wrong with the car. I’ve been driving forever and even had had an Audi with the same set of wheels before but never a problem like this. How do I make sure I don’t shell out 700 bucks for a new set of tires just to have them fail me again after a few thousand miles? Any thoughts?
thx much
The wear rating on that tire is only 180, meaning that, under the best of circumstances, it has a very short tread life–as is typical of many high-performance summer tires.
Personally, I would not buy tires with a tread wear rating of less than 350, and most of the tires that I have bought over the years have been in the 450-500 range of tread wear ratings.
While tread wear ratings are not an absolute–due to each tire manufacturer’s honesty or lack of honesty in labeling them–a tire with a tread wear rating of only 180 would probably last only about 15,000 to–at the most–20,000 miles.
Then, when you factor in other possible situations such as incorrect inflation pressures, mis-alignment, and even “enthusiastic” cornering, you could well see that tread life estimate cut in half. If Audi customer relations is of no help–as I assume–then you really only have two courses of action as I see it:
Take the car to the best alignment specialist in your area. Even if the alignment is “acceptable” by Audi standards, it is possible for it to be set to the absolute middle of the tolerances listed by Audi, rather than “anywhere within those tolerances”. The alignment shop can probably get some clues to the problem by observing the wear patterns on the tires.
When you replace the tires, take the time to do a lot of due diligence, paying careful attention to the tread wear, traction, and heat resistance ratings molded into the sidewall of the tire. Without too much searching, you should be able to find tires with a much better tread wear rating than that pathetic 180.
If you go to www.tirerack.com, you can compare all of the tires that are available for your car. Even if you don’t buy from them, the info on that site will allow you to select a better tire for your needs.
Thanks VDCdriver. All good pointers.
What surprises me the most is that the tread still looks decent. There seems to be no noticeable wear at all to my eye. Even the mechanics don’t see anything until they examine them and then all come back saying there are unevenly worn patches that get air bubbles and that’s what makes the noise, however, they still can’t assert that this is due to misalignment. Does this tell you anything?
Unevenly worn patches sounds like wear patterns that would result for badly worn front-end components. Or it could be an indication of defective tires.
I’m not sure that I understand the reference to “air bubbles” however. If there are “bubbles” in any area of the tire–tread or sidewall–that sounds like defective tires.
In addition to VDC’s excellent comments let me add one more thing:
Unless you drive a ultra high performance car (think Porsche/Corvette here), the tires that come OEM with your car when new, are the ABSOLUTE cheapest the car manufacturer can source. The 7k miles you got out of your P6000 are about average. Anything above 10k for that tire is considered hitting the lotto jackpot.
I am quite certain there is nothing wrong with your car. All you need to do is research and buy a new set of tires, get a 4 wheel allignment, and enjoy the road in your new toy.
Thank you All! Getting my peace of mind back.
Interesting observation about the OEM tires. Something to keep it mind while budgeting/negotiating a car purchase.
Yes, unfortunately for the vast majority of new cars out there, their new tires are the absolute cheapest piece of round rubber that will pass for a tire, the car manufacturers’ Purchasing Dept. can source.
One more thing…FWIW, here’s my experience with 3 sets of Pirellis (2 P6’s and a P600) on an '86 Golf GTI: all three sets had to be replaced WELL before the tread was used up due to really bad cupping and uneven wear, even though they were religiously rotated at 6k miles, pressure checked once a week, 4 w/allign. done after each new set installed, etc, etc.
In addition, nothing was wrong mechanically with the car’s suspension-proven by many checks done by my mechanic and the fact that NONE of the 5 subsequent new sets of tires (not made by Pirelli) ever suffered from cupping/uneven wear. By and large, I try to stay away from Pirelli’s if feasible.
Stay away from Continental tires also!
I highly recommend Michelins, and I think that their lower-priced BF Goodrich line represents a good value.
A couple of comments:
First to metamaterial: Given the mileage on the car, this irregular wear is probably the result of misalignment. But at this point, you are beyond the time limit for any kind of consideration from the vehicle dealer.
Second - OE tires. Most of the misconceptions around OE tires stems from a lack of understand about how this works. I’ve tried to explain what goes on here:
http://www.barrystiretech.com/oetires.html
Short version: Most of the problems attributed to “Cheap” OE tires should be cataloged as “Meeting the Specs”.