Wierd 'sawtooth' tyre wear ... advice needed

[Matt22]

Could do with someone's expert opinion on the following issue... as the garages don't seem to have a scooby doo..!

I have a 57 plate (2.5 years old) GTI with the original Dunlop SportMaxx tyres on the back (OK, I should have rotated them but I haven't got round to it yet). Anyway several weeks ago I started hearing a rumbling sound from the back which sounded a bit like a wheel bearing was on its way out.
I took the GTi in for service last week and mentioned this, they seemed to think it was something to do with a deformed tyre (from hitting a pothole).
I then took it to a local tyre guy who pointed out that by rear left tyre was wearing in a 'sawtooth' pattern. This means that the individual blocks of rubber (that make up the tread pattern) are wearing unevenly so that the leading edge of a block is raised (less worn) than the trailing edge (giving it a sawtooth profile)... and is more prominent in the inside edge of the tyre. I have also found it (although slightly less) on the other rear tyre.

I have 'Googled' 'sawtooth tyre wear and sure enough people talk about a rumbling sound (like a worn bearing), but I can't get any concensus on what causes this and how to stop it. There is talk of 'characteristics of a car or tyre', tracking, too much toe-in, damaged susp :angry:ension... etc.

Has anyone come across this before and know what I need to do to fix this (as the garages don't seem to have a clue)... I could rotate the tyres now, but I don't want to see a new pair of P Zeros (currently on the front) ruined??

Any help is really appreciated.
Cheers.

[Ed30DSG]

It is definately a worn rear shock - a neighbour had the same problem last year.

[ub7rm]

A number of people have had this issue, and found that it was only specific to the Dunlop Sportmaxx's.  Get rid and your problems should go away 

[block]

Me and my dad have had 4 mk5 gti,s between us and all of them have worn Tyres like this, all you need to do is swap your Tyres round every 5-6k miles and it'll keep itself hidden. I'd heard it was from the ESP system doing tiny bits of braking when cornering that you don't even realise and causing this weird wear pattern. Certain tyre types will disguise it better than others but ive seen it on sport maxx and eagle f1 gsd3's.

[luvmygti]

Hi mate,

I work in a garage and come across it fairly regularly on Dunlops and only Dunlops, unfortunately there isn't much you can do to stop it. Its just one of those things

The good news is it doesn't rly have any affect on anything other than the anoying noise, so i'd put up with the noise till they actually need replacing, then when they do DONT GET DUNLOPS 

 

[Saint Steve]

A number of people have had this issue, and found that it was only specific to the Dunlop Sportmaxx's.  Get rid and your problems should go away 

He is very correct. Replace those tyres and not your shockers.
Dunlops go out of shape and WILL wear like a "sawtooth shape". The tread will also have a stepping stone look to the tread level, due to the deformaty and thus giving your ride quality a worn out wheel bearing noise.

I had these dunlops and never again will i buy sportmax dunlops.