Passat Uneven Tyre Wear

Donie75

Hi,
I have a 2007 Passat 140bhp with the monte carlo pack on it. It's slightly lowered and has 17 inch alloys. I'm having trouble with uneven wear on the front and rear tyres. The rear tyres are wearing on the inside and the NCT guy said they are sligtly deformed. They are lumpy on the inside and I think this is causing a thudding noise on very smooth roads at certain speeds.
The front drivers side is also wearing very unevenly. Is this likely to be a ball joint or bushing?
Has anyone any experience of this and is tracking likely to fix this fully?

apoeiguq3094y

First step would be to get it up on a lift and have a look for obvious signs of wear on bushings and ball joints. If you bring it to get the toe &tracking done, they should spot straight away if there is wear in the suspension.

Are you using oversized wheels? if so is the outside tyre diameter the same as the original tyre&rim combination?

cjt156

The NCT guy should have pointed out any wear in bushes or balljoints if they were worn that much.
If the alignment wasn't checked and adjusted since the car was lowered that'd definitely contribute to uneven tyre wear. Take it to somewhere recommended and get it fully looked over. Dave McCann if you're near Blanch, others recommended elsewhere.

Nissan doctor

Is is factory lowered or have you had it done?

Lowering a car effects the wheel alignment, especially the camber which will give the symptoms you describe.

The 'lumpy' parts on the inside of the tyre could well be(depending on the tyre, cheap/premium etc) a feathering effect caused by a failed shock which leads to the wheel bouncing when it hits a bump. It could also be caused, again depending on the thread type on the tyres, by too much positive toe(wheel pointing outwards in relation to the direction of travel) which assentiall drags the inside of the tyre along the road.

B6/7 Passats in general are also prone to prematurely wearing bushes aswell and this would be exaggerated by large wheels and lower suspension.

Moanin

The B6 passat is notorious for wearing front wishbone bushes. Mine failed it's first NCT on these and a guy who works with me had his 06 passat fail on the same thing.
I would bring it to a mechanic to check the bushes and then get new tyres + tracking & alignment done.
The Passat needs to have it's rear wheels aligned along with the front ones.

R.O.R

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Is is factory lowered or have you had it done?

Monte Carlo Sports pack was 17" Monte Carlo wheels, Tinted rear windows and Sports suspension (lowered 15mm from standard).

I amaze myself with the information I remember!

Nissan doctor

R.O.R wrote: »

Monte Carlo Sports pack was 17" Monte Carlo wheels, Tinted rear windows and Sports suspension (lowered 15mm from standard).

I amaze myself with the information I remember!

And people call me a car nerd!:P