[TheTeaman]

Hello!

I bought a mini last April, 5 door Hatch Cooper, finally took delivery in August 2018, my first brand new car.

The tyre pressure light came on recently so i added air, I have been monitoring the pressure and it very slowly dropped over the last few weeks. I filled it again on Sunday and it dropped from 2.2 to 1.6 over night. So, puncture I thought. I parked with a full lock to run my hand over the tyre to see if i could feel a nail, to my horror, the inner side of the tyre is through to the steel wires pretty much all the way around the front drivers side, and showing in patches on the front passenger side.

I have done 13500 to date, motorway and village and carefully!

The tyres are Hanook Ventus S1 Evo2 - 205 45 R17 88W

Due to the uneven wear, in that it is on the inside rim of both tyres to my mind this suggest that the tracking has been out since the car was new.

I wondered if anyone else had experienced similar problems or if you can confirm my thought that the tracking has been out since new (and therefore a fault under warranty!)?

Thanks for taking the time to read.

 

[TheTeaman]

View attachment 275622 View attachment 275622

 

[TheTeaman]

any advice / thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
I am taking a mini technician out on Friday from the dealership to test.
Be great to have a little knowledge prior to this.
thank you

 

[garybee]

It does appear that the camber and/or tracking is significantly out so you definitely need at least a front end alignment. It also appears that at least that tyre is below the legal limit for tread depth across the rest of the tyre anyway.

 

[TheTeaman]

thanks gary, i have left the car with mini, they seemed surprised that i thought the tracking had caused the wear and that as it was new it would be done under warranty!

As for the rest of the tyre, its very close to the limit yes, although this graduates from the inside.

Any idea what the average mileage should be for the standard fit tyres a new mini cooper comes with?

cheers

 

[knt]

If the dealer think it's due to wear and tear, I would be surprised if they will actually do anything.

Also with tracking, it'll be hard to proof that you had this problem since new 2018 and not caused throughout the 2018-2019 period due to road condition.

13,500 miles does seem low miles to get the tyres to that level, but some tyre compounds do wear faster than other tyre compound and is also down to driving habits and conditions.

Keep us updated how this goes as it'll interesting to know if the dealer actually do something or just fob you off with wear and tear.

 

[garybee]

I wouldn't expect the dealer to do anything other than suggest you get the tyres changed and a front end alignment. You can affect the tracking by bumping a kerb or going through a pothole or similar. That can't be the dealer's responsibility.

 

[TheTeaman]

Guess what you are both correct! The alignment was checked (free of charge as a goodwill gesture I was told!) and is a degree out, over tolerance, however this can't be attributed to the dealership / manufacturer, they too mentioned potholes as an example of what can adversely affect it.

They were keen to put tyres on at £235 plus £99.99 for the alignment, I was keener to save where I could and have the car booked in locally for £196 + 49.99 alignment on their hunter machine i think it is.

Thanks for the comments.