C5 tyre wear outside edge on all 4 tyres??? Help!

[C5Alan]

Hi I'm new to here and quite new to french cars unlike my father but I will do an intro thread latter.

I have had a C5 since christmas it has 204,000miles on it from new and I am the second owner after my dad so know the cars history. My dad has always been a drop it off at a dealer for every fault while I'm a fix it myself so hope someone can he'll as I'm lost, all 4 tyres are wearing along the outside fronst guessing tracking plenty opf pot holes and speed bumps round here rear not got a clue a kwick fit suggested replcing parts and see as they said there is no adjustment I quickly left. I don't like kwick fit but thy are the only peeps that do 4 wheel alignment locally by the way this diagnoisis was from a quick look in the car park not even up on the ramps ahhhh

So what am I looking at and how might it affect the mot in a few weeks time????

Cheers for any help

[citronut]

hi and welcome

if both front tyres are wearing identically this will be tracking, otherwise it will be down to worn bush's or swivel joints,

the rears will almost certainly be trailing arm bearing shot,
if you put the car fully up on high and stand back from the rear end the rear wheels might look like this / \, if the do then its the above requires sorting,

regards malcolm

[C5Alan]

trailing arm is that hard to sort??? will get a look at her this week I hope its just tracking as worn bushes always sound expensive but I have been driving Mercs so most things are what are Citroen parts like for prices???

[citronut]

it really depends on your nut and bolt skills, but there is a guide on here on how to and the best/cheapest way to purchase the parts,

regards malcolm

[C5Alan]

I have had a quick read through this thread http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... =3&t=30110 and think this is slightly out of my comfort zone for repairs takes me back to doing a wheel bearing and destroying a hub and 3 bearings so will have to be a garage

This car has been nothing but a pain to me, heater fan went and replaced, a sticky reverse gear - I hate the lift up collar the inventor should be shot as it wont always disengage, the seats aren't comfy (205k worth of driving???), its slow, and now its eating tyres, it hates speed bumps ahhhh

[Jeff]

Tyres have a direction arrow on them these days, I dont remember these years ago, is this just a con to prevent turning the tyres round on the same wheel?

Any thoughts ?

[C5Alan]

Tyres have a direction arrow on them these days, I dont remember these years ago, is this just a con to prevent turning the tyres round on the same wheel?

Any thoughts ?

I think this more to do with the tyre tread design to disperse water from the middle to give better grip

[cachaciero]

You don't say which C5 and what year. In my experience fronts do tend to wear more on the outer shoulders and there does seem to be a history on early estates of the rears wearing on the outer shoulders as well, for reasons not really clear but may be related to the fact that the early ones had lots of rear axle problems never as far as I can see ever clearly explained by Citroen. Seems to help running the tyres slightly over the recommended pressure.

cachaciero

[Citroenmad]

I find C5s can be hard on tyres, tracking makes a big difference to them though. You can do tracking yourself fairly accurately but its only around £25 to have it adjusted at a tyre place.

As said, if they are both worn then it does sound like tracking. If one is worn (usually the NSF always wears on the outside edge first) then it might be due to something worn on the suspension. If there are any clunks going over bumps I would get a garage to have a check of it. Or jack the car up and see if you can detect any movement in the wheel, top and bottom and side to side.

Rear, well C5s do toe in slightly at the rear, its in the design, though though should not give overly bad tyre wear (its more heavy on more recent Citroens actually) and so the problem with yours might well be radius arm bearings. The rear tracking is not adjustable.

Also, make sure your tyres pressures are correct, as the C5 is a big heavy car and so a slight decrease in pressure will make it eat tyres much faster, especially on the outside edges.

If the rear arm bearings are all ok and there is no play in the front then try as cachaciero suggested and increase tyre pressure slightly. Some tyres do have softer sidewalls and this will increase shoulder wear.

Tyres have a direction arrow on them these days, I dont remember these years ago, is this just a con to prevent turning the tyres round on the same wheel?

Any thoughts ?

Some tyres are directional, usually 'V' style tread patterns but not always. They can obviously be used on either side of the car, however if you are swapping the wheels from one side to the other you will need to have the tyres removed from the rims and swapped to rotate the other way.

[Derekofpriory]

Hi all, Not car connected but in my younger days I had a kwaka 550, the tyres on this were rotation sensitive, I was told by a tyre dealer that it was all to do with the direction of power across the tyre, front wheels braked - rear tyres accelerated- mostly. Therefore the same make/type of tyre on the front rotated in the opposite direction to the rear, this always worried me a bit as whilst the tread pattern may have shifted water away from the centre on the front it was moving water into the middle on the rears. or vice versa.
Just muddying the waters, Cheers Derek B.

[Citroenmad]

Hi all, Not car connected but in my younger days I had a kwaka 550, the tyres on this were rotation sensitive, I was told by a tyre dealer that it was all to do with the direction of power across the tyre, front wheels braked - rear tyres accelerated- mostly. Therefore the same make/type of tyre on the front rotated in the opposite direction to the rear, this always worried me a bit as whilst the tread pattern may have shifted water away from the centre on the front it was moving water into the middle on the rears. or vice versa.
Just muddying the waters, Cheers Derek B.

I believe its different for bikes, mountain bikes too, of which I do a bit and my front tyre does rotate in the opposite direction to the rear. Its to aid grip apparently. Also in a motorbike you only really ride on a very tiny part of the tread, so it probably doesnt catch much water.

In a car you would not want your tyres 'catching' water and it is an MOT fail should it be noticed.

I guess it enables the tyre maker to make the optimim tyre as they know which way it will be rotated, but its mainly for water dispersal.

[C5Alan]

Its a 2003 2.0 HDI saloon the last set of tyres wore out in a month of looking fine to oh fudge I need new tyres yesterday both front and rears they were 195/65/15 now running 205/55/15 as I had a set spare

Anyone know off hand what presure the tyres should be at??

Will get tracking sorted shortly and do some of the other checks suggested and will report back thanks for all the help

[Citroenmad]

We have an identical C5 saloon with 195/65/15 tyres and I run that with 33psi front and 31psi rear.

A month seems a little excessive! I would get the tracking checked first, it could be something silly like it having had a new track rod end recently and it has not been adjusted correctly. Or it could be something worn, either way its going to be better than replacing the tyres every month

[C5Alan]

OK got the tracking sorted and he said both tyres where toeing out and it should have been the inside that was wearing??? He had a quick and I do mean quick look at the back end but couldn't see anything but she is booked in for the mot fri morn so we will see what they pull her up on before I do much more to her

[Citroenmad]

Interesting that it was toeing out, so its either a worn suspension component or the tyres have been run underinflated for some time. Though I would expect that to make worse the inner tyre wear expected by the toe out.