Tire Wear on Inner Edge: Causes & Solutions

Hello everyone,

Vehicle: Seat Ibiza - 6K Facelift - 1.9 TDI

The tire wear on the inner edges of the front tires is significantly higher. What are the possible causes? This is happening on both the summer tires (195/50 15) and the winter tires (185/60 14). There are no noticeable defects while driving; the car tracks straight and the steering feels normal. Before I get a wheel alignment, I would like to hear some opinions.

Regards,
heco

heco wrote:

... The tire wear on the inner edges of the front tires is significantly higher. What are the possible causes? ...

Check the vehicle's suspension geometry, then I can say more.

Possible causes include anything that can affect the tracking, such as hitting a curb, wear and tear on ball joints or tie rod ends, worn control arm bushings, lowering the vehicle without proper adjustments, and excessive play in the wheel bearings on both sides.

I haven't been able to detect any defects while driving. Both tires are affected. The chassis and front axle are original and are not subjected to any unusual stresses other than chip tuning.

With the hope that it will be helpful, I will proceed as follows:

1. Have the front axle inspected and, if necessary, replace any defective parts.
Adjust the track.

Thank you and best regards.
heco

'I'm experiencing the same thing. I suspect the cause is the acceleration during turns. The inner wheel is unloaded, and it leans outwards along with the vehicle. This unloading leads to increased wheel slip. I've observed this in all my cars (two Kadett D models, an Astra station wagon, and now a Golf 4).'

Best regards, Chrigu.

Quote:

I'm experiencing the same thing. I suspect the cause is the acceleration during turns. The inner wheel is unloaded and tilts outwards with the vehicle. This unloading leads to increased slippage. I've observed this in all my cars (2 Kadett D, Astra Kombi, and now a Golf 4).

Then the outer edges would also be affected. With relatively normal driving, I would suspect a tracking issue.

I also experienced a similar problem once, but in my case, it was only the inner edges that were worn.

The reason was a misaligned wheel alignment, which I had likely caused in Norway when the right front wheel veered off the road. The wheel had gone quite a distance off the asphalt, and when I tried to steer back, the wheel seemed to "catch" on the edge of the asphalt, which had widened the track. As a result, the front wheels were no longer parallel but were angled further outwards in the direction of travel.

While the car will still generally drive straight, it becomes more susceptible to drifting to the sides. At the same time, the inner edges of the tires will wear down more quickly.

Similarly, the outer edges of the tires will wear down more quickly if the wheels tend to move inward in the direction of travel (forming a V-shape).

It could also be due to other parameters of the suspension geometry, such as camber. However, if the problem is uniform on both sides, it's more likely to be related to the toe, as a camber issue usually causes a problem on only one side (unless it's due to driver error, rather than an alignment or installation error).

With the 6K model, even with the facelift, you're still quite lucky because you can adjust the toe and camber at the front.

Simply have it measured and adjusted, which costs around €35-50. With what's called a wheel alignment, both measuring and adjustment are always included, so they measure it to determine where the problem lies, and then adjust it accordingly.

At the same time, I would check the condition of the tie rod ends. If they are already quite worn, it's best to replace them at the same time. Because if they need to be replaced later, the alignment will have to be redone.

The replacement head costs approximately €25 from parts suppliers, and installation as a group project during the calibration process takes less than 20 minutes per side.


In newer VAG models, you now have the new plug-in shock absorbers/dampers, which unfortunately means the end of adjustable camber.