Tyre Stepping?

[sirbenfro]

My Sirocco is about 16 months old, 13k miles, and I have what is getting to be a really loud road noise, sounds a bit like bearings. I'm very unhappy about the service from my VW garage, quite frankly they are useless, so I asked a friend that works in a SEAT garage what he thought. I mentioned that before I had a slight bulge on a tyre on a previous car, and that it sounded similar to that. He checked it out and said the two rear tyres are "stepping", and you can feel it's like ridges on the tyre. Given that replacements are around £120+VAT each, I wondered would I get any joy from VW, is this normal wear and tear, anyone experienced this problem. According to this guy, it's quite common with these Dunlops, he said he would never fit them. He said it's safe to drive, and as I only normally keep a car 2 years, I'm wondering whether I can stand the noise much longer, or bite the bullet and get some new rubber! Any thoughts?
Thanks

[Cuprabob]

Very common and not just with Dunlops. Folks with Golfs and Leons have discussed it at length on their respective forums, Unfortunately no real solution as it's a characteristic of the suspension set up on the rear

[popjunkie]

I've had this on my old Golf, which was on Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetrics. I think the only thing you can do is buy new tyres!

[RW1]

According to this guy, it's quite common with these Dunlops, he said he would never fit them. He said it's safe to drive

It is safe if.... VW documentation states its safe providing the stepping is no more than 0.8mm. Above that they expect tyre performance to deteriorate. It states it more likely occurs on non-driven tyres. They suggest rotating the tyres front to back & b. to f.. (Providing of course the tread depth is OK for all tyres.). This will help reduce the noises as the tyres are brought into line in their new positions on the front axle. The one thing they make quite clear is use of correct tyre pressures at all times.

C.

[sirbenfro]

Ok, thanks for the feedback all.

[sirbenfro]

Very common and not just with Dunlops. Folks with Golfs and Leons have discussed it at length on their respective forums, Unfortunately no real solution as it's a characteristic of the suspension set up on the rear

Previous to buying the Scirocco I had four Leon's in succession, and never a problem with any of those. Normally I only keep a car for two years, and as I don't do high mileage, I usually get away without buying tyres, but looks like I'll have to splash out around £250 for two new tyres.
Thanks.

[chrisyboyc]

Exactly the same happened on my last Audi a3 S-line sounded like the wheelbearing but actually the tyre had a bulge i still ran on it for about 35,000 miles with no problem My wifes saab 9-3 aero has also developed the same problem and i think my current rears on my Roc are doing the same. I had never heard of this until 3 years ago and never had this problem on any other cars i've own for the last 20 years.
What are they making tyres out of these days

[wigit]

not had this issue on the roc but reared its head on the Golf after 30k on the rears, increased road noise and feels out of balance and car becomes dire to drive

[sirbenfro]

not had this issue on the roc but reared its head on the Golf after 30k on the rears, increased road noise and feels out of balance and car becomes dire to drive

I'd be delighted with 30K, but this started at around 10K, and it's only 14K now, and it's really noticeable especially on the smoother roads.
Thanks

[Pauly B]

Bit late to jump in but mine is exactly the same. If you remember, what cured it?

[carlpea]

Bit late to jump in but mine is exactly the same. If you remember, what cured it?

Swap wheels front to rear or get your tyres changed.

[speccy48]

Hi,

I had this exact issue when I bought my 3 year old 2.0 TSI 17 months back. the rears were stepped quite badly on the inside edges.
I would seriously consider getting a four wheel/suspension alignment done, as my rear wheels where toeing to a combined total of -8 degrees. Now it's setup to a combined total of +8 degrees.
It only cost £80 but I had to replace the tyres as the noise would still be there otherwise.
Apparently as mentioned this is quite common through the VW group & there are rumours that the cars are setup incorrectly from the factory.

[Pauly B]

Thanks for the replies. If is was incorrectly set up at the factory can it be reversed by a dealer. It has a new tyre on the fns with no change and the other tyres have even wear.

[Pauly B]

Just had a quick check and all the tyres appear new apart from the offside front. That one seems to have more wear on the outer versus the inner tyre. The rears both have even wear and the ns front is only 2 weeks old with 800 miles on and no apparent wear. Any ideas?