Volkswagen ID.3 Forum

Bought my Family Performance Pro with just over 1000 miles on, probably used by the dealer for demos and test drives. Now it's at 2500 miles and the tyre tread is 5mm all round, which the local dealership says is 50% worn. What? The tyres are the standard factory fit 18" Bridgestone Turanza Eco.

I didn't specifically check tyre wear on purchase (my bad), just assumed matching collars and cuffs, as you do. So either these are very poor tyres indeed, or someone has switched them before sale. Or, possibly, someone hacked the odometer... unlikely these days. Either way I'm not happy!

Anyone else suffering from excessive tyre wear? Let me know, please!

My wife's previous Karoq had 18" Bridgestone Turanzas which were still legal when car changed at 18000 miles. However, I think the amount of torque from the ID3 would be responsible for a lot more tyre wear, along with the massive weight increase compared to the Karoq.

I believe that the tyres are 8mm tread when new so they have lost 3mm, approx 50% of usable tread so the dealership is right when they say 50% wear. \In 2500 miles that is a little concerning. It will be interesting to hear what other owners are experiencing from their tyre wear.

Just checked wife's 19" Goodyears on her Family Pro and they tyres are 4.7mm front and 4.5mm rear at exactly 3000 miles. Hmmm, some Tyres needed sooner that hoped...

That’s really fast! I’ll be keeping an eye out. I know @monkeyhanger isn’t a fan of the original tyres!

Probably not what you want to hear, but I’d be thoroughly pleased if the Bridgestones wore that quickly so I could put Michelin Pilot Sport 4’s on each corner more quickly

Picked up my ID.3 Life Pro on Friday and it has the same tyres.
I saw on another thread that cars had been delivered with over-inflated tyres, so thought I'd just check mine.
Recommended pressure is 36psi front/rear and mine were all inflated to 40psi.
They are now at the "correct" pressure for performance and wear.

Having covered 9400 miles I thought I should check my tread depth alerted on the concerns expressed above .
Both fronts have 6mm remaining and rears 5.5mm (all even across the tyre) - (Goodyears)

I was surprised that drive seems to be harder on the tyres than braking/steering, especially given c.70% of braking effort comes from the front.

Based on this I'm targeting 25k tyre life - I will change front to rears at 12k miles so they wear out together.

Replacement cost works out at 2.8 p/mile - 50% more permile than the best managed fuel costs (Octopus go)!!

ColinID3 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 03, 2021 3:29 pm Having covered 9400 miles I thought I should check my tread depth alerted on the concerns expressed above .
Both fronts have 6mm remaining and rears 5.5mm (all even across the tyre) - (Goodyears)

I was surprised that drive seems to be harder on the tyres than braking/steering, especially given c.70% of braking effort comes from the front.

Based on this I'm targeting 25k tyre life - I will change front to rears at 12k miles so they wear out together.

Replacement cost works out at 2.8 p/mile - 50% more permile than the best managed fuel costs (Octopus go)!!

I've been reading these Tyre posts and it got me thinking..

"given c.70% of braking effort comes from the front "

Yes it does in an ICE car but does it in an ID.3 where braking is predominantly regen based (initially). I started noticing that when braking unlike conventional front end biased braking the car nose doesn't dive the whole thing starts to squat down and only once you really need the discs (+0.25g I believe) does the front start to dive.
I am assuming the regen is from the rear wheels and therefore actually the rears are going to take a hammering from both drive and braking assuming you anticipate and attempt to make the most of regen braking?

ColinID3 wrote: ↑Tue Aug 03, 2021 3:29 pm Both fronts have 6mm remaining and rears 5.5mm (all even across the tyre) - (Goodyears)

I was surprised that drive seems to be harder on the tyres than braking/steering, especially given c.70% of braking effort comes from the front.

Rear tyres doing all the pushing, and a lot of braking force will be regen rather than pad on disc - I've never had a car with such clean wheels thanks to the lack of brake dust

Nice to see the Vogons are switching to ID3, I wonder how the poetry is coming along Mr Vogon-jeltz.

KenMason wrote: ↑Tue Aug 03, 2021 6:53 pm Nice to see the Vogons are switching to ID3, I wonder how the poetry is coming along Mr Vogon-jeltz.

Been too busy building another bypass.
And have you noticed the funny wipers?

I am assuming the regen is from the rear wheels and therefore actually the rears are going to take a hammering from both drive and braking assuming you anticipate and attempt to make the most of regen braking?

Good point, missed that. Explains the characteristic perfectly -
'optimising Regen' is one of the new self-taught skills of the EV world!

It does seem bizarre in an ICE world that the cost of tyres may be more per mile than juice (for an EV). Though it’s easy to redress that balance by fitting cheaper tyres…

(Awaits string of posts saying why not..)

I’ve always gone for cheaper tyres in the past.
But on my last three cars I didn’t have to change them so it’s been a while.
I was looking at Avons for the ID3 as they are a respected brand made in uk and cheaper than others previously mentioned.
Would welcome opinions

I went with Avon’s on my previous car (Volvo v40) as the Goodyear seemed to west fast. They seemed fine to me…

Well, I spoke with a nice man from Bridgestone today who told me that the Turanza Eco tyre has a tread of 5.9mm when new, not the 8mm you would expect. Apparently it's a harder tyre so won't wear as quickly. I'm a lot happier now (and will be even happier when I've given the VW service dealership a bit of a maths lesson). But I'll certainly be watching the tyres carefully.

Good info.

That would make the tyres far less scary for wear!

Similar issue here. ID3 Life Pro delivered new in February '21. During a mirror repair in August my local VW workshop marked the two rear tyres as red "Immediate Action Required" on their report - the rear tyres need replacing now. After 7500 miles and barely 6 months of school runs!! I followed up with VW by emailing them at weconnect-support describing the weird issue with my rear tyres and asking why - interestingly they spoke to my local workshop rather quickly and then phoned me back. The workshop elaborated that my rear tyres (only) were "cut to the cord" and needed to be replaced, possibly by driving over broken glass!

VW's proactiveness surprised me in this instance. I am suspicious. And I don't buy the broken glass explanation at all - not least because that wouldn't typically affect just 2 tyres, on the same axle.

So now I'm left with a nearly new car that has some kind of fault with the factory-fitted rear tyres. And I am just out of the VW 6 month warranty on consumables (they were keen to point out to me on the phone, somewhat smugly). So I have to pay for the new boots. For your comparison purposes, typical car tyre life ranges from between 3 - 6 years, and between 20,000 to 60,000 miles.

If this tyre wear issue is impacting many owners we should collectively approach VW as it is my belief there is a product quality issue at play here. Any interest out there? Any more folks with catastrophic tyre wear experiences?

If they were Bridgestones I'd be glad of the opportunity to ditch them early. Cost notwithstanding, obviously.

Utumno wrote: ↑Tue Sep 07, 2021 1:10 pm If they were Bridgestones I'd be glad of the opportunity to ditch them early. Cost notwithstanding, obviously.

Agreed, they are shite! I have ditched Bridgestones on day 1 previously on a few hot VWs because traction, grip, ride and noise have been woeful (rock hard compound).