Help with alignment problem: did poor alignment cause rear inner tire excessive wear?

[SteveBruin]

I need help with an alignment questions. TIA!

My driver side rear tires keeps on losing air, but I can't find any nails. I brought it to my local tire shop, no nail was found but they said that it's due to poor alignment wearing out the inside severely. As you can see in the picture, the tire is pretty worn on the inside and little cracks have formed (see attached photos), which I was told that's why the tire has been slowly losing air. All of the other tires had even wear. I replaced both rear tires and performed a 4 wheel alignment.

However, when I did the alignment, the driver side rear tire was not out of alignment. Does anyone know why one rear tire was worn so unevenly if the alignment was within spec? I would like to prevent this from happening again.

The car is a gen 1 Taycan 4S with performance package (same suspension as the Turbo/Turbo S I believe). I'm not sure if it matters, but I bought the car 7k mi ago, CPO. I assume the tires were evenly worn at that time since it was CPO.

Thanks!

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[SteveBruin]

Forgot to mention that most of time the car is driven by my wife who isn't doing high speed corning or driving aggressively per se. I do drive it spiritly 30% of the time but no track use or even canyon runs.

 

[Tooney]

If you google search for Taycan tires worn, you will get results from many posts in this forum about the problem.

 

[BjörnfromHamburg]

This problem is more common on the front-axle.
I drove my tires down to the carcas unknowingly.
Note: keep an lose eye on your tires, as they can wear down the last bit pretty quickly.

Concerning the leakage. Was the valve checked?

 

[r553]

Also where are you getting your alignments? There is aspecial tool required to adjust the rear toe. I bought one and keep it in the car. It is VW tool # T90009 (~$165 from Snap On ). As the alignment tech goes through the alignment steps the Hunter machine will tell them they need this special tool to adjust the rear toe. Dealers will have the tool I just refuse to pay the dealer tax for an alignment. Good luck.

 

[r553]

As far as the leak goes your whole wheel ought to go into a water tank to look for the leak. There could be an issue with the wheel itself or the bead. Has this wheel been curbed ever?

 

[Mad Matter]

Also where are you getting your alignments? There is aspecial tool required to adjust the rear toe. I bought one and keep it in the car. It is VW tool # T90009 (~$165 from Snap On ). As the alignment tech goes through the alignment steps the Hunter machine will tell them they need this special tool to adjust the rear toe. Dealers will have the tool I just refuse to pay the dealer tax for an alignment. Good luck.

Looks like the only thing they touched during his alignment was the front toe. Nothing else.

 

[r553]

Was it at the dealer?

 

[SteveBruin]

If you google search for Taycan tires worn, you will get results from many posts in this forum about the problem.

Thanks, I did some quick search but it seems like most of the posts where this happened was due to bad alignment. but my alignment was pretty good, that's why I'm puzzled.

 

[SteveBruin]

This problem is more common on the front-axle.
I drove my tires down to the carcas unknowingly.
Note: keep an lose eye on your tires, as they can wear down the last bit pretty quickly.

Concerning the leakage. Was the valve checked?

Thanks. does it happen in the front-axle even when the alignment is not out of spec?

I'm not sure if the valve was checked. But it hasn't leaked air in over a week since the tire was replaced.

 

[SteveBruin]

Also where are you getting your alignments? There is aspecial tool required to adjust the rear toe. I bought one and keep it in the car. It is VW tool # T90009 (~$165 from Snap On ). As the alignment tech goes through the alignment steps the Hunter machine will tell them they need this special tool to adjust the rear toe. Dealers will have the tool I just refuse to pay the dealer tax for an alignment. Good luck.

Thank you for the tip, I'll look into that tool!

The alignment was done at my local Discount Tires. I called all over, this was one of the 2 local shops that can do the alignment, most places declined. I was charged $80 more than the standard alignment, they called this "Luxury Alignment."

My left rear toe was changed 5 degrees. I'll ask them if they have that tool, but perhaps they might have it?

 

[BjörnfromHamburg]

It happens also with good alignment.
Helpful is having the tires slightly above standard pressure as it puts more force to the middle.
Also driving less in low/ very low helps.

 

[SteveBruin]

As far as the leak goes your whole wheel ought to go into a water tank to look for the leak. There could be an issue with the wheel itself or the bead. Has this wheel been curbed ever?

Looks like the only thing they touched during his alignment was the front toe. Nothing else.

Doesn't it also show that the left rear toe was changed 5 degrees? or was that too minor to be meaningful?

 

[SteveBruin]

It happens also with good alignment.
Helpful is having the tires slightly above standard pressure as it puts more force to the middle.
Also driving less in low/ very low helps.

Thank you, great tips!
I'll inflate it slightly more. We don't drive in low often. I'll put it in sport/sport plus modes around the freeway ramps, but will switch it back to normal right afterwards.

 

[SteveBruin]

Was it at the dealer?

The alignment was done at my local Discount Tires. I called all over, this was one of the 2 local shops that can do the alignment, most places declined. I was charged $80 more than the standard alignment, they called this "Luxury Alignment."

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