C5 tyres rubbing on full lock

[Jabo]

Both my front tyres seem to be rubbing at some point, probably on full lock. The passenger side is worse.
I'm running 195/65/15's all round. That sound the right size?
Is it a common occurence on the mk1?

[Clogzz]

195/65/15 is the right size.
If they’re rubbing, there have to be rub marks on the mudguards.
That’s only possible if the height is set too low.
Low height setting comes good when driving but comes back at parking speeds.

Most likely that the LDS level is a bit low and causes the steering to shudder near full lock, as mine did and also more noticeable on the passenger’s side.
Undercover parkings with painted concrete cause noisy tyres even at creeping speed.

[Jabo]

Ok, cheers mate. I've went and top up with LDS.
My reservoir has a sliding scale on the top of it, the fluid was less than half way up it so it's at the top of the scale now.

[addo]

Does it have Xantia steel wheels on, by any chance?

[Gibbo2286]

Are the plastic under wing and body protectors securely fastened and in the correct place?

[Jabo]

Does it have Xantia steel wheels on, by any chance?

Nope, original C5 alloys.

Are the plastic under wing and body protectors securely fastened and in the correct place?

Yeah as far as I can tell.

Hopefully it was just needing an LDS top-up. We'll see.

[Citroenmad]

Our SX C5 wears the same tize tyres as yours and it does not rub on full lock - no matter what height its in.

What are your tyres rubbing on? Is it th einsides rubbing on the wheelarch liner? You might have a dislodged liner?

The early C5s on small wheels have a far tighter turning circle than the later cars, fitted with 16" C5 wheels the above car does scrub.

[Jabo]

Our SX C5 wears the same tize tyres as yours and it does not rub on full lock - no matter what height its in.

What are your tyres rubbing on? Is it th einsides rubbing on the wheelarch liner? You might have a dislodged liner?

The early C5s on small wheels have a far tighter turning circle than the later cars, fitted with 16" C5 wheels the above car does scrub.

They're rubbing on the outside. The liner's definitely not dislodged at either side. I think it may have been low on fluid.
Anyway once the new tyres are fitted I'm not going to full lock again. I had been using full lock to get out of my parking space at least once a day, every day for about 4 months now, it's obviously had a major effect.

[Citroenmad]

That seems a little odd, it might well be sitting at the wrong height, however our 2002 SX doesnt scrub at any height. To get out of our drive requires full lock both left and right and I never have a problem with scrubbing.

Do you mean the tyres are worn on the outside of the tread? Or that it is scrubbing on something on the body of the car?

If the tyres are wearing out on the outsides, especially the passenger side, then I would check the tracking and keep a close eye on tyre pressues. However I always scrub off the outer edges of C5 front tyres first, its not that uncommon depending on tyres and how you drive.

[Jabo]

Yeah the tyres are worn on the outside of the tread and the passenger side is worse.
The wheels definitely need balanced as after I got the new tyres the car straight away started with the shaking at 65-70mph. They didn't do it on the old tyres.
Could the off balance wheels cause that kind of wear?
The wheels will be DEFINITELY balanced when I take the car for new tyres.

[dnsey]

Yeah the tyres are worn on the outside of the tread and the passenger side is worse.

In that case, it's unlikely to have anything to do with full lock - you don't drive far enough on lock to scrub them significantly.
If there's no obvious suspension or steering wear, tracking would be the first thing to check (you can do it yourself if you like - see the active thread on the forum).

[Citroenmad]

The wheels which your C5 SX has are centreless and a lot of tyre fitters do not have the right balancing machine to balance such a wheel. If the garage you used for your new tyres doesnt have this, then they wont have been balanced. However, it seems a tricky thing to use or the tyre fitter doesn't set it up properly to get the balance spot on. I had to take one of my C5s back to the tyre fitters (they had the right gear) 5 times for them to balance my Michelin tyres. A 20 mile trip each time, I was not impressed. Mind I also had similar problems with them doing my tracking. Ive now found a very good tyres place and I stick with them, ive had no balancing problems since.

Do you keep a constant check on tyre pressure?

The C5 being quite a big and heavy car does give it a tendancy to eat through front tyres. Having slightly soft tyres will result in excessive tyre shoulder wear, as will fast cornering and incorrect tracking. The C5 also tucks its front wheels under whel on full lock, which makes the car corner putting more pressure on the tyres edge.

I just replaced the tyres on our SX not long ago, its previous Goodyears had worn on the outer shoulders too, mainly the passenger side which was bald. Despite me being religious with tyre pressures and having the tracking checked. All three of my C5s have worn tyres in the same way.

Keep the tyre pressures correct, make sure the tracking is correct and keep cornering speeds down. They are the only real reasons for excessive shoulder wear.

[Clogzz]

Front tyres wearing on the outside is normal.
They need rotating front to back every 5,000 miles.