Vito 111 CDI Uneven tyre wear

[sparkiemike]

Hi, my first post here.

I have a Vito 111 CDI that was purchased new about 2 years ago.

At about 10000 miles I need to replace the front tyres due to uneven tyre wear. I took it to a dealer and had the alignment/geometry checked. This was done with the van loaded as I normally drive it. They made some adjustments and charged me £100+VAT for the adjustments. I replaced the tyres on the front with same make of tyres (Bridgestone Duravis).

Now at 22000 miles the tyres have uneven tyre wear again.

Left hand side is the worst with outer edge wearing excessively.

Whilst the Van was in for a recall a few weeks ago, I noticed a lot of the Vitos that in the yard at the dealer were showing signs of uneven tyre wear.

Is this normal for a Vito - 10K-13K miles for a set of tyres?

Anybody experienced this and are their any fixes.

Thanks

 

[Tinkerer]

Don't know the anatomy of a Vito but if it is a front wheel drive could be that you have worn steering/ball joints somewhere allowing toe-in when under drive. Did there check the joints when you had the geometry checked ?

 

[sparkiemike]

No the Vito is rear wheel drive.

As the van was only 1 year old the 1st time this happened I can't imagine it is worn joints, and the dealer should have picked this up when alignment was done ?

 

[Danny DeVito]

Could be camber is off

 

[mobeyone]

We have outside wear which I think is fairly common and it's a 10 plate.

 

[rizzer]

I have a 59 plate vito and it also has outside tyre wear on the front. I think as its rear wheel drive it has a lot more steering lock which with the camber at full lock really punishes the outside edge. Mines at 14000 miles now and I have just swapped front to back, I expect to get the same mlieage again before needing a new set of tyres. I have just enquired about prices and have been quoted £130 for the Goodyear and £170 for the Michilin, plus vat.

 

[highland lad]

mine is the same took it to dealer at 10k re tracked it, was just the same. took it for 4 wheel alingment at 28k and it was only very slightly out , they said its caused by short runs with lots of lock to lock , they said raise tyre pressures on front,its not just vito transit does the same .
simon

 

[Danny DeVito]

No the Vito is rear wheel drive.

As the van was only 1 year old the 1st time this happened I can't imagine it is worn joints, and the dealer should have picked this up when alignment was done ?

Shouldn't this have been looked at under warranty before it ran out the second time ?

Also i wonder is camber checked on either two or four wheel alignment ? I would have thought if you pay someone to do front wheel alignment then the wheels should be right, horizontal or vertical. (Mine obviously were not checked for camber, else i would not be bringing it up ) )

 

[Danny DeVito]

mine is the same took it to dealer at 10k re tracked it, was just the same. took it for 4 wheel alingment at 28k and it was only very slightly out , they said its caused by short runs with lots of lock to lock , they said raise tyre pressures on front,its not just vito transit does the same .
simon

We had two transits 06 with long and short runs high mileage. Neither ever wore outside edges of the tires unless the tracking got knocked out. The garage did say that once the tracking was touched it always caused problems but it was usually our sheeet roads here. My old style vito wore the outside left tire because the camber was clearly on the positive side i.e. the top was tipped out more than the bottom

 

[BTB 500]

Ours has always worn the outside edge off the front tyres, left one the most (roundabouts). Swapping the wheels front to back will prolong the life.

Interestingly the van came back from service a couple of weeks ago with all the tyres at 45 PSI, which is much higher than the 33 PSI shown on the door pillar plate. I'm going to ring them up to query, when I get a minute.

 

[allias]

Is this normal for a Vito - 10K-13K miles for a set of tyres?

sparkiemike - welcome to forums.

In the answer to your question... No its not normal for any vehicle to have uneven wear. Trouble is that Vito`s & Sprinter runs on positive camber which can cause outside wear on tyres. Proper alignment can balance fine adjustment of toe with high positive camber. Problem is that under load those setting change quite a bit. So its hard to find something in "a happy middle", but for a good alignment shop is do-able.

 

[BTB 500]

Forgot to say, the tyres on our Audi A4 wear in exactly the same way. I swapped front to back a couple of weeks ago (in the process finding that BOTH tyres on one side had screws embedded in them ).

 

[wheels-inmotion]

Point to remember the MB target data is only a suggestion. I would expect this vehicle to be loaded in it's most use state and calibrate from there. This attitude goes against the guidelines offered during the MB set-up process.

A working vehicle has a unique complaint dependant on it's working environment and load, the solution should be a reflection of the complaint.

 

[zenman63]

You need it set up properly at a alinement company.
When I had mine done the company had a new vito that they reset from new and had 40k on vanconits!
The difference is like night and day when done, even did the rear tracking.
My tyres are even all round.
expect to pay £150 and it take 1.5 hours to do.

 

[allias]

You need it set up properly at a alinement company.
When I had mine done the company had a new vito that they reset from new and had 40k on vanconits!
The difference is like night and day when done, even did the rear tracking.
My tyres are even all round.
expect to pay £150 and it take 1.5 hours to do.

£150 geometrey on VITO?? What a ripp-oiff.

 

[zenman63]

£150 geometrey on VITO?? What a ripp-oiff.

!.5 hours work and then 40 k on tyres, I don't think so!

 

[BTB 500]

Well I just spoke to my dealership, and it seems M-B are now recommending higher tyre pressures than shown on the plate on the vehicle. For my tyres (225/55 R17 101H) the plated figure is 33 psi front and back (light load), the recommended range is now 2.5-3.3 bar (36-47 psi) which is why mine had been set to 45 psi. They said they would email me the chart they got from M-B.

Increasing the pressure would certainly reduce outside edge tyre wear.

 

[allias]

!.5 hours work and then 40 k on tyres, I don't think so!

I think so.... as on VITO its almost all there. Someone who know what to do its much less then that. On top of that its like dealer rate and thats way I say its a little on a high side. Im happy for you that you had 40k miles on them but thats achivable for less then that.

 

[Pete66]

Hi all, I am new to the site, My van is also wearing the front tyre unevenly, I am going to adjust the wheel alignment myself in my workshop. Can anyone let me know where I can get the data from to adjust my van and my wifes A Class as that is doing the same.

2006 (06) Vito 111 CDI Compact
2009 (09) A Class 160 CDI

Thanks

Pete

 

[Mike Edwards]

My 2006 111CDI still had the original tyres on it when I sold it with 45k on the clock.

My 2008 120CDI ranged from 8500 to 35000 miles per set depending on whether the geometry & tracking was set as per the dealer instructions or as per MB HQ instructions.

It appeared that the dealership was only given one, maybe two sets of numbers but if you ran the van with a fairly light load like I did you needed something very, very different.