I love my Touareg. Best vehicle I have ever owned. I purchased it new in December 2010, the first one that my dealer received, and have had zero problems, except tires. And this thread will discuss what I have found. Hopefully this will help other new Touareg owners.
The truck came with new Pirellis, which I hate. I have owned two sets of Pirelli tires on different vehicles in the past and both sets were total junk in comparison to a Michelin. So I was not pleased with the Touareg coming factory with these things. And their demise was quick, but a bit too quick. In 20,000 miles they were worn completely out. By 27,000 I could not drive with excessive vehicle vibration as if the noise wasn't bad enough. I purchased new Michelin Latitude Tour HP's.
When I purchased the vehicle, I asked the dealer to check the alignment. After much debate, the sales manager came out of his office and thought of every excuse to not check the alignment and assured me that the vehicle was right from the factory and they would make it right if there was a problem. Fast forward and there was indeed a problem and my dealer, Terry VW in Lynchburg, Va. made it right. My dealer has been awesome to work with! Nothing but the best experience. But they know me well and they know I maintain my vehicles to the T. And I purchased two new vehicles from them in 2010, this Touareg TDI being one of them. So maybe my experience is an exception, but I doubt it. The staff there is great.
Before I purchased my new Michelins I asked the dealership to check the alignment, at no charge (remember the discussion above). No wonder the Pirellis lived a short life - the vehicle was way out of align on all four wheels. I watched the technician realign the vehicle. Understand, this Touareg occasionally sees deep snow and tows a trailer, but never sees dirt, pot-holes of rough roads. I did not knock it out of align. I am confident it came from the factory with improper alignment.
Next, the new tires were installed and were rotated at 5,000 miles. I rotate my tires early on the Touareg since it weighs 5,820 pounds full of fuel, exhaust fluid and my stuff, without me in it! So this vehicle is 6000 pounds. If you don't believe me, take your Touareg to a truck stop and drive onto the CAT scale and pay for the weigh ticket. It is a heavy beast, which explains why it plows through snow like a train with street tires... Immediately upon the tire rotation I felt a slight lateral vibration in the steering wheel as if a tire was out of balance. But a quick hand rub-around my right, front tire revealed slight, almost not noticeable, irregular cupping wear immediately past the outer tire shoulder. I knew this indicated another alignment issue. So I took the vehicle back to the dealer and they checked the alignment and it was way off again!!! And I didn't knock it out. Apparently the alignment slipped out on the rear. So when the tires were crossed to the front, the problem came with them, where it was noticeable. Looking back, the day I brought the truck back from the dealer after the first alignment I backed it down my steep driveway, set the park brake, placed the vehicle in park and quickly took my foot off the brake and heard and FELT a loud pop in the rear left of the truck. I attributed the sound to a brake pad slip. Now I am confident that the sound was the alignment slipping because the cam bolts were not torqued and locked down properly. This is only my opinion though as I have no proof.
The dealership realigned the vehicle at no charge, again. But the vibration in the steering never improved. So I had the tires rebalanced. The vibration problem didn't go away. Next my dealer had the tires Road Forced Balanced and this TOTALLY CORRECTED the vibration problem on the wheel. No charge again.
The summary of my story is this. Your Touareg, most likely is off alignment from the factory. Your factory tires will not last if the vehicle is misaligned. I purchased a Jetta TDI the same year and it too was misaligned! Dealer realigned it at no charge. You get the drift here. Watch your tires, especially on a vehicle this heavy. I like heavy for safety and ability, which is one of the reasons I went with the Touareg. I could care less about saving the planet and the global warming junk science. Besides my Touareg is now getting 33mpg on the open highway and 29 around town. Most tin-can cars half the weight of the Touareg can't do this. Additionally, have your tires road-force balanced as a normal computer balancing machine cannot properly balance these big wheels and tires. Oh, the computer balancer will indicate 0.00 a 0.00 to the tire technician, but they are not balanced as well as they could be. Truthfully, I am impressed with this device, which is made by Hunter Engineering. If it can balance a slightly incorrectly worn tire this perfect, it can balance anything. Now my Touareg can be driven with one finger. And again, I am well pleased.
I wrote this quick thread note to possibly help other Touareg owners before it is too late with their tires. The Michelin tires are awesome but they come with a price of $1300 for four. And at this price you want them to last as long as possible.
The truck came with new Pirellis, which I hate. I have owned two sets of Pirelli tires on different vehicles in the past and both sets were total junk in comparison to a Michelin. So I was not pleased with the Touareg coming factory with these things. And their demise was quick, but a bit too quick. In 20,000 miles they were worn completely out. By 27,000 I could not drive with excessive vehicle vibration as if the noise wasn't bad enough. I purchased new Michelin Latitude Tour HP's.
When I purchased the vehicle, I asked the dealer to check the alignment. After much debate, the sales manager came out of his office and thought of every excuse to not check the alignment and assured me that the vehicle was right from the factory and they would make it right if there was a problem. Fast forward and there was indeed a problem and my dealer, Terry VW in Lynchburg, Va. made it right. My dealer has been awesome to work with! Nothing but the best experience. But they know me well and they know I maintain my vehicles to the T. And I purchased two new vehicles from them in 2010, this Touareg TDI being one of them. So maybe my experience is an exception, but I doubt it. The staff there is great.
Before I purchased my new Michelins I asked the dealership to check the alignment, at no charge (remember the discussion above). No wonder the Pirellis lived a short life - the vehicle was way out of align on all four wheels. I watched the technician realign the vehicle. Understand, this Touareg occasionally sees deep snow and tows a trailer, but never sees dirt, pot-holes of rough roads. I did not knock it out of align. I am confident it came from the factory with improper alignment.
Next, the new tires were installed and were rotated at 5,000 miles. I rotate my tires early on the Touareg since it weighs 5,820 pounds full of fuel, exhaust fluid and my stuff, without me in it! So this vehicle is 6000 pounds. If you don't believe me, take your Touareg to a truck stop and drive onto the CAT scale and pay for the weigh ticket. It is a heavy beast, which explains why it plows through snow like a train with street tires... Immediately upon the tire rotation I felt a slight lateral vibration in the steering wheel as if a tire was out of balance. But a quick hand rub-around my right, front tire revealed slight, almost not noticeable, irregular cupping wear immediately past the outer tire shoulder. I knew this indicated another alignment issue. So I took the vehicle back to the dealer and they checked the alignment and it was way off again!!! And I didn't knock it out. Apparently the alignment slipped out on the rear. So when the tires were crossed to the front, the problem came with them, where it was noticeable. Looking back, the day I brought the truck back from the dealer after the first alignment I backed it down my steep driveway, set the park brake, placed the vehicle in park and quickly took my foot off the brake and heard and FELT a loud pop in the rear left of the truck. I attributed the sound to a brake pad slip. Now I am confident that the sound was the alignment slipping because the cam bolts were not torqued and locked down properly. This is only my opinion though as I have no proof.
The dealership realigned the vehicle at no charge, again. But the vibration in the steering never improved. So I had the tires rebalanced. The vibration problem didn't go away. Next my dealer had the tires Road Forced Balanced and this TOTALLY CORRECTED the vibration problem on the wheel. No charge again.
The summary of my story is this. Your Touareg, most likely is off alignment from the factory. Your factory tires will not last if the vehicle is misaligned. I purchased a Jetta TDI the same year and it too was misaligned! Dealer realigned it at no charge. You get the drift here. Watch your tires, especially on a vehicle this heavy. I like heavy for safety and ability, which is one of the reasons I went with the Touareg. I could care less about saving the planet and the global warming junk science. Besides my Touareg is now getting 33mpg on the open highway and 29 around town. Most tin-can cars half the weight of the Touareg can't do this. Additionally, have your tires road-force balanced as a normal computer balancing machine cannot properly balance these big wheels and tires. Oh, the computer balancer will indicate 0.00 a 0.00 to the tire technician, but they are not balanced as well as they could be. Truthfully, I am impressed with this device, which is made by Hunter Engineering. If it can balance a slightly incorrectly worn tire this perfect, it can balance anything. Now my Touareg can be driven with one finger. And again, I am well pleased.
I wrote this quick thread note to possibly help other Touareg owners before it is too late with their tires. The Michelin tires are awesome but they come with a price of $1300 for four. And at this price you want them to last as long as possible.
