V50 - suggestions for causes of uneven tyre wear

[Tom Oliver]

Hi all,
Hoping for any insights this group might have on reasons for uneven tyre wear. I have a Volvo V50 (08 Reg, 2L Diesel) that has gone through two sets of mid-range front tyres in 20 months. Mileage in that time has been about 35k (mainly rural roads) so not too concerned about the rate of tyre wear itself (17.5k a set isn’t great but not a problem in itself). The issue is that both times the tyres have failed where the tread meets the inner side wall, despite having c. 4mm of tread left.
Two tyre failures in this manner 10 months apart suggests something isn’t right. It certainly isn’t safe, the tyre failure yesterday occurred not long after getting off the motorway. We were very very lucky to have a 20mph flat in a queue rather than a 70mph blow out on the M56 with our little one in the back
Garage looked at it today briefly when they changed the tyres and it’s booked in for a proper check on Monday. A google suggests this could be wheel alignment or suspension. I’m going to ask for both to be checked but I’m wondering if there is anything else I should make sure the garage check for?
Little bit of extra context:
1. Car has done 90k
2. I do check the tyres and had physically looked for this issue recurring two months ago before we drove to Scotland and there was no sign of concern then.
3. The car last had its tracking checked when it was serviced in August, before that was January and then before that was March 16 when a full laser wheel alignment was done.
4. Whilst I’m not the best at checking tyre pressures it does get done every few weeks (normally when my other half reminds me).
5. 4x new bushes fitted by the dealer when I purchased the car back in Feb 16.
Thanks in advance
Tom

[BJB]

Sounds like the rear of front main suspension bushes could need changing, causing the track to be out. It won't always show up on an alignment check, because that is done without any driving movement on them. In saying that, if they are that bad, they should have shown play when being MOT'd....

[MacV50]

Originally Posted by Tom Oliver

Hi all,
Hoping for any insights this group might have on reasons for uneven tyre wear. I have a Volvo V50 (08 Reg, 2L Diesel) that has gone through two sets of mid-range front tyres in 20 months. Mileage in that time has been about 35k (mainly rural roads) so not too concerned about the rate of tyre wear itself (17.5k a set isn’t great but not a problem in itself). The issue is that both times the tyres have failed where the tread meets the inner side wall, despite having c. 4mm of tread left.
Two tyre failures in this manner 10 months apart suggests something isn’t right. It certainly isn’t safe, the tyre failure yesterday occurred not long after getting off the motorway. We were very very lucky to have a 20mph flat in a queue rather than a 70mph blow out on the M56 with our little one in the back
Garage looked at it today briefly when they changed the tyres and it’s booked in for a proper check on Monday. A google suggests this could be wheel alignment or suspension. I’m going to ask for both to be checked but I’m wondering if there is anything else I should make sure the garage check for?
Little bit of extra context:
1. Car has done 90k
2. I do check the tyres and had physically looked for this issue recurring two months ago before we drove to Scotland and there was no sign of concern then.
3. The car last had its tracking checked when it was serviced in August, before that was January and then before that was March 16 when a full laser wheel alignment was done.
4. Whilst I’m not the best at checking tyre pressures it does get done every few weeks (normally when my other half reminds me).
5. 4x new bushes fitted by the dealer when I purchased the car back in Feb 16.
Thanks in advance
Tom

Had exactly the same wear issue on my 2012 V50 after around 67k. A good quality (Hunter) alignment check and adjustment sorted it out.

[Proghound]

+1 on the Hunter alignment. You mention tracking checks and laser realignment, but the laser & mirror system only aligns the front wheels with respect to the rears. If the rear alignment was out at the time, although they may have got all the laser lines on their correct marks, the front alignment will still actually be out - possibly quite badly. The Hunter system will realign both axles with respect to the car's centreline.

The other thing is, what pressures do you set your tyres to? These cars have a lot of negative camber, which naturally wears the inside of the tyre and will be compounded by any underinflation. You really need to overinflate them to make the insides wear more evenly with the centres and to better protect your alloys against pothole damage. The recommendation on here is 38PSI all round.

[Tannaton]

My suggestions:

- Full four wheel alignment carried out by modern laser systems is essential

- Check the front wishbone bushes and replace if showing any signs of wear or excess movement. At 90k they will be about due maybe?

- I personally think that the FoMoCo supplied front suspension is not as strong as Volvo designed systems and the car is more susceptible to having the alignment knocked out by pot holes, kerbing etc. so would suggest getting alignment checked if you have had a significant knock. You did say most of your mileage is rural.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Tom Oliver

Hi all,
Hoping for any insights this group might have on reasons for uneven tyre wear. I have a Volvo V50 (08 Reg, 2L Diesel) that has gone through two sets of mid-range front tyres in 20 months. Mileage in that time has been about 35k (mainly rural roads) so not too concerned about the rate of tyre wear itself (17.5k a set isn’t great but not a problem in itself). The issue is that both times the tyres have failed where the tread meets the inner side wall, despite having c. 4mm of tread left.
Two tyre failures in this manner 10 months apart suggests something isn’t right. It certainly isn’t safe, the tyre failure yesterday occurred not long after getting off the motorway. We were very very lucky to have a 20mph flat in a queue rather than a 70mph blow out on the M56 with our little one in the back
Garage looked at it today briefly when they changed the tyres and it’s booked in for a proper check on Monday. A google suggests this could be wheel alignment or suspension. I’m going to ask for both to be checked but I’m wondering if there is anything else I should make sure the garage check for?
Little bit of extra context:
1. Car has done 90k
2. I do check the tyres and had physically looked for this issue recurring two months ago before we drove to Scotland and there was no sign of concern then.
3. The car last had its tracking checked when it was serviced in August, before that was January and then before that was March 16 when a full laser wheel alignment was done.
4. Whilst I’m not the best at checking tyre pressures it does get done every few weeks (normally when my other half reminds me).
5. 4x new bushes fitted by the dealer when I purchased the car back in Feb 16.
Thanks in advance
Tom

This is quite common and in 90% of cases is the car running around on low tyre pressures for extended periods . Try 36 to 38 psi in them ...

[MacV50]

I always ran standard pressure on mine. Tried the higher eco pressures once but found these ride to harsh on the type of roads I use.

Mine was very sudden as I tended to check the tyres regularly and switched between winter and summer wheels twice a year. Didn't have any issues running the same pressures for over 60k then this happened

I would also question is you have to go over speed bumps regularly. Particularly the type that are a pad on they road that people tend to line the car up to minimise the bump. These will wear the inside edges of tyres. A few years ago I used to have to drive over 3/4 sets of these to get to my house. They wore the inside edge of the tyres down to the steel. This was on a smaller car but still something to watch out for

[Welton]

Not sure the speed hump wears the tyre so much as the way in which the car passed over it. The suspension was never designed to take that 'equally outward' motion which pulls on the suspension bushes regularly.

Best practice is to allow just one side of the vehicle to pass over the central section of the speed table/hump...much to the annoyance of Jonny big balls in his 4x4 thing behind you.

As for alignment I've always used Hunter equipment with Camera technology and never once had uneven tyre wear front or rear.

[LizardOfBodom]

Maybe I missed it, but cant find the info if it was always the same end of car or not? On both occasions were those rear tyres maybe?