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I think the tread life warranty is around 60k miles. It wouldn't hurt to ask the shop where you bought them if they will pro-rate the wear on a new set of G4's. My shop honored that warranty. They gave me 60% credit towards the new ones. I think you could make a strong case, considering the bad wear. If they jabber about wheel alignment, then offer to let them do the alignment before you get the new set. That way, you are at least covered on those. Watch them closely, so that at the first sign that they are doing the same thing, you can go back. That's what I'm doing. So far, so good. Don't bother to have your G3's Road Forced. Just good money after bad. Definitely do the new ones, though.
 
Discussion starter · #22 ·
Great advice, thank you so much I appreciate it
 
Discussion starter · #23 ·
You know whats interesting about this while scenario is the tires are still feeling completely comfortable, other than a noticeable howl. They dont ride rough and they aren't jarring. On my powerstrokes when I've beat up my tires (lets not go there please.. issues) and the tires started cupping/feathering etc you KNEW it.. the thing rode terribly.
 
The suspension is excellent and shows no signs of issues


They aren't winter tires they're all weather Nokian wrg3 suv tires.
I asked the service manager at my local vw dealer and he did say this is common in touaregs because of the weight and all wheel drive system. I have found an alignment did help, yet I am doing this a few times a year.
 
Exactly the same issue with my WR G3 SUV after 30k miles on my 2014 TReg. The howling happens in the range of speeds between 40-55 mph. Suspected bearings, but after swapped tires with my other car - found it's tires problem. Road load balancing didn't help. Tread wear is more even in my case, but still looks strange. Plus noticed a lot of cracks appeared after the winter. Wheels alignment is done annually, tire rotation every 10k, no issues with suspension, driving is not aggressive.
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Those tires are toast and they could be the reason for everything. I've had warranty requests denied for this kind of wear. Yes, this is an unusual pattern but I've had issues on other cars that are similar. I'd be interested in checking a few things within a few hundred miles of getting new rubber: Tire roundness and wheel truing should be proven good first. Since I had a full self-service tire shop on a military base I learned that shops just balance a wheel ONCE, apply weights as directed, and send it out the door. Turns out, balancing is more of an art. I'd balance, apply weights, shift the wheel on the chuck and balance again until it read 0 grams consistently. It can be done.
Then you have choices. Unloaded runout measurement at the hubs (calipers and disks removed) I've clamped a ball-socket test dial-indicator to the struts or caliper mounts for this. Or you can video record the wheel at speed, turning, braking, accel, looking for hop/shift that you are not feeling. A triple suction cup mount and a good action cam is all you need for that.
Could be anything from upper shock/strut mounts to half-shafts. There's always a reason.
 
The suspension is excellent and shows no signs of issues


They aren't winter tires they're all weather Nokian wrg3 suv tires.
well, isn’t that a coincidence!
I bought a set of these Nokians and had them mounted to my OE 17” wheels... some 30k later, with suspension component replacement (3 ball joints) at the time of tire change, I also have asymmetric wear patterns. I’ve had it realigned... frankly, one of two daily vehicles, so haven’t delved into it further. Definitely gets noisy with age! There’s also scalloping at the edges.

had Pirelli Scorpion STR previously, and have put those on recently to my 07 X5.... very quiet, eerily quiet... may go back to these next time...

I went to these Nokian because of reputation, but frankly, after purchase, discovered they are ‘Made in Russia’... a major negative!! I simply don’t trust Russian manufacturing. I don’t trust the government... who could?

I’d love to hear how it’s been for others using these WRG3 Nokians.
 
Discussion starter · #30 ·
Damn, awesome information in here. I've not heard anything bad about the wrg3 suv line of tires anywhere.. but it seems the only other heavy SUV forums I can find that really love these tires is the Jeep forums. I'm def going to move to the wrg4 next to see if that fixes these issues.

Glad to see I'm not the only person w/ wrg3 suv issues. I LOVE these tires, hands down the most all-around capable tires!

I'll check my date of manuf. in a bit but I'm sure they're new.. the dealer installed them before last summer
 
15K mikes? They look great. That’s a soft compound regardless of how they’re marketed. Not to mention their heavily siped, so the tread blocks flex and make noise. Even more so once the weather gets warm. Front may be wearing faster due to turning/parallel parking. Especially on roads that are sanded during the winter. Good luck, interested to hear what you learn. Don’t rule out struts either, they don’t need to leak to be toast.
 
Discussion starter · #32 ·
Look closer at the pics I supplied. I found bad-parts of the tires and took pics of them. They are wearing super funky. Before winter started my 2 4 6 was clearly visible in the center section. Now the 2 4 are basically gone and its down to the last number on some tires.
 
Lately I've noticed my tires are howling. There is a ton of tread left. Today I looked up close and I'm seeing a huge issue with my tread. Certain parts of the tread look wiped out. Other parts are worn down significantly. The fronts look worst but all around they are wearing super unevenly.

  1. Where to start?
First check the tire pressure. Unless those are the original factory tires, Adjust the pressure to 5 pounds or 4 pounds less than the maximum pressure on the tire not what it says on the door jam sticker. The front end steering components should be checked for worn parts. Then get a good wheel alignment. They should give you a printout of the before and after measurements.
 
My Nokians are end of 2017 production, installed in Nov 2018. No noise or howling issues last year - they were more quiet on the road than any tires I used before them. Howling appeared in 3 months ago January and is has nothing to do with the temperature outside. I expected more intensive wear due to soft compound, but didn't expect it becomes an issue with uneven wear producing annoying howling. Lesson learnt - no more experiments with 'all weather' 'all year around' tires
 
I'll try to get some pics

I'm thinking to take it to a high end local alignment shop. It's strange that it tracks straight, brakes straight etc...
Looks like a toe-in situation on the tire. (previous ASE tech) Just enough to show the issue. If you run your palm on the face of the tire you should be able to feel the uneven "feel" on the face of the tire as per your pics..... James, Duluth, MN.
 
Look closer at the pics I supplied. I found bad-parts of the tires and took pics of them. They are wearing super funky. Before winter started my 2 4 6 was clearly visible in the center section. Now the 2 4 are basically gone and its down to the last number on some tires.
Yes, I see it and I get it. Disappointing. I had similar issues... Replacement tire is the Continental DWS Extreme Contact. Running them at 35 front/ 41 rear psi, and did an alignment when installed. They wear quickly, but perfectly even. Right now at 8/32 with only 10K miles them. So it’s a 15K-20K tire. Still disappointing, but they’re quiet.

These vehicles destroy tires. 5500 lb vehicle, but most of the available tires are designed for cars or mid-size suv’s that aren’t as heavy.
 
Discussion starter · #38 ·
You guys have given me some great advice, thank you.

I do run 5psi over the door-sticker in the car, but with the extreme colds of winter the psi ended up 1-2psi lower than door-sticker for a while.

I'm probably going to contact the dealer that sold me the tires and see if they'll exchange them for the wrg4.. those are supposed to be better on these heavier rides. Then, I'm going to go to a high end shop that specializes in alignment and have them review the car.
 
I want to make clear that in my previous posts, I'm not slagging Nokian tires. I have used them for a long time, as has my family. I think they are a great compromise, if you don't want to do a seasonal change over. I realize that i could get better preformance with dedicated tires for the seasons. My bad experience is simply a mismatch of vehicle to tire. The G3's do not work with this vehicle. The G2's worked. One factor might be tread pattern. The G2's and the G3 passenger tire had the same design. The G3 Suv had a more aggressive one. The new G4 has the less agressive, like the G2. Also, I was told by the people where I bought the tires, that they found an issue with the compound in the G3's and it has been changed for the G4. I am giving those a try, but being very vigilant.
I shredded a set of Falkens with a previous Treg. When I switched to the G2's, everything was great. My last tire was a BFG that wore evenly but only lasted 23k miles. I only got those because the G4's weren't out in my size. The shop pro-rated the BFG's and I got the G4's for a very good price. My experience is based on having no underlying suspension problems. Your experience may be different.
Cheers!
 
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