Tyre Wear - Again!

Hi All,

Spent most of today reading all of the posts on this forum and the eurovan2 forum - very interesting. The topics discussed have prompted me to register so that someone may be able to help me in my quest to win with Fiat.

We have an 04 Eleganza 2.0JTD that has honoured us with similar problems as posted by other members - leave that for another day!

My current saga is in relation to uneven tyre wear on front nearside only (15" wheels) - outside tread is now bald, middle and inside are fine (first reported at 12,000 service, mileage now 16500).

Fiat customer services reports no similar complaints - yeh right!, and have told me the tracking needs checking at my expense. They have said that it will be free if a problem is found - my reply was that the garage is not exactly going to be motivated to report that to me!

In the last 2 months, I have looked at the tyres of any parked up Fiat, Peugeot and Citreon EV2's (in region of 15 vehicles to date) and all of them apart from 2 have exactly the same problem as me - excessive front nearside tyre wear. Do we all drive our vans such that the tracking is knocked out of alignment?

Has anyone managed to get Fiat to acknowledge that there is a problem and did you get new tyres under warranty (or compensation towards cost)?

Next problem arises from trying to put the spare wheel on - couldn't find the locking wheel nut adapter anywhere in the vehicle! 3 phone calls to Fiat - 2 garages and customer services, and no-one can help. Only advice was to get a tyre fitter to cut it off! A dealer can do it for £65 + cost of new nuts - nice!

Any ideas where it can be found?

Sorry for the "war and peace" first post but, hopefully it has given a few of you a good laugh.

Hi and welcome.

My Ulysse is going into the dealership next Friday; one of the issues is the tyre-wear - they were aware of it before, but now hopefully something will be done - I will keep you all updated.

Are you getting any alignment checks done free of charge?

Hopefully I should be getting everything done foc....

My local dealership know me pretty well - the joys of having 2 Fiats

Could well be true mate,Fiat are coming down very hard on warranty work & the onus is on the dealer to 'prove' the work was required.Otherwise they have to prove the fault is down to you?

Stuart,

After reading old threads, I noticed that you use Motorvogue. I travel from Worcestershire to use them also. Thank your lucky stars that you have not had to deal with the Worcester dealership!!

For me, this makes it even more interesting on how they deal with your tyre situation. Do you have the same single tyre issue as me?

Look forward to hearing how things progress for you.

Cheers

Colin

The front nearside tyre wear is pretty normal, partly caused by the tracking which is normally always out after a new car starts loosen up and also because of the roundabouts in the UK. If you search tyre sites you will find this is pretty common complaint.

Our Ulysse had the tracking adjusted at about 8,000 because of tyre wear and then again at 20K by a local tyre place for £15.00. I am now on 22K and I think about another 2-3K will see the tyres worn out. We also had the wheels rotated at 8K to balance wear.

If you have rear tyre wear then this is a known problem and you may need a new rear axle under warranty. I don't think you will get anywhere with Fiat for the front tyres as tracking is a service item.

Hello all.

Just to put a slightly different view on things - my front tyres lasted to 36,000 miles and still had just over 2mm of tread on them, although the edges were slightly worse - back ones appear to be fine for the time being.

I have switched the fronts to Continental Eco Contacts and the mpg also seems to have improved as well - approx 2mpg better over the last 1000 miles.

However, brake pads have crept up on me and the front ones are being done next week.

Rich

Are your comments specific to a Ulysse, to people carriers or to cars/vans in general? During the 90's I had a new company car every 2 years (50-60,000 miles per year) and never had tracking problems on any of them. Tyre wear was always even on both fronts (Astra, Volvo 440, Laguna, Pug 406 and VW Bora).

If it is normal for a Ulysse, it would have been extremely helpful if the garage had advised me on the 12,000 service instead of saying " you'll get about 15,000 miles from the front set of tyres".

Don't know why I didn't think to rotate the tyres - Doh!

Thanks for your comments

I meant cars in general, but the heavier the car the worse it is. I had several BMW company cars and the front nearside always suffered more wear than the offside.

With regard to tracking, this seems to be a Ulysse problem as a lot of people have had to get the tracking done. They were either set up wrong at the factory or the tracking is easy to knock out of alignment.

FWIW, both my front tryes are getting on for bald on the outside, after 12k miles. Also 04 Eleganza 2.0JTD.

Hi All,

Can anyone help me with this please? Another call today to Fiat UK resolved nothing!

Does anyone know if there are a standard set of locking nut variations that are used for Fiats? If so, should the locking adapter is missing or lost, by providing a chassis number (or similar) Fiat could identify which adapter was originally supplied with the vehicle - and I could buy a replacement. Is this possible with Fiat? I've heard that it is with BMW and suchlike.

Thanks

I've got the same problem. Just went in for new front tyres - as mine are now completely worn on the outside edges at 20K miiles. The fitter started work, then asked me for the key to undo the locking wheelnuts. I didn't even know there should be one, and couldn't find it anywhere. Had to give up in the end and come away. Are these keys stored in any particular place on the car? I bought mine used and wasn't given one (2000 2.0 Eleganza).
Martin

New set of wheel nuts quickest option,most tyre fitters/dealers have a universal locking wheel nut socket to remove them anyway & I think a new set is £20 odd or cheaper on ebay.Better than a flat tyre on the motorway!

Have you looked in the rear storage compartments?