See here, should help...

TonyB

 

It wasn't shaking before the rotation

Read that over and over.
How are you blaming the vehicle for that?

 

Yeah, I took the tech bulletin in with me, so they've given that shot. I guess based on this feedback I should unrotate them?

 

I have sneaking suspicion the tire tech who rotated tires didn't clean mating surfaces.

Check whether the contact surfaces on the brake disc and wheel are free of corrosion and dirt, clean if necessary. • Check whether the centering hole of the wheel and the centering of the hub are free of corrosion and dirt, clean if necessary. • The wheels holes and the wheel bolts must be free of dirt and corrosion. It must be possible to lightly turn the wheel bolts by hand without using a tool.

 

Hey all, the guys at Discount Tire rotated my tires and have now rebalanced and followed the tech bulletin three times and the thing still vibrates and shakes at highway speed.

Add this to the thing needing a quart of oil three or four times between oil changes, the cd player that stopped working, and I'm starting to think it just isn't worth it!

Any advice about the steering wheel shake? It wasn't shaking before the rotation so I'm considering telling them to just rotate them back and I'll just take my chances with whatever problems that causes.

Never had a car with steering wheel shake before but it ruins the driving experience completely!

Thanks for any constructive help. Or just encourage me to sell the thing and move on.

2015 Touareg V6 80,000 miles.

SWS. Your vehicle was fine before the rotation and re-balance.
The wheels/tires should be Road-Force balanced. In some cases you can get away with a regular balance of them but it depends on the expertise of the shop/techs doing it. Both mating surfaces of the wheels and rotors need to be absolutely clean and free of any buildup/debris. Then following the VW TSB on wheel/tire re-mounting on the vehicle is a must.
Oil adding. How often is your oil change? What oil are you using, ie: brand/weight/specs?
Cd player. Forget it. If you have the RNS850 with the drop down unit in the glove box then use an SD card with MP3 files on it.

Edited to say: I don't get the whole "Tire Rotation" on these vehicles. I know there's advocates on both sides of the fence, but I think if the tires are wearing evenly and the same all way around.... just leave 'em.
Such is the situation on mine. I will leave them as all looks good and will change out all four tires when the tread is low enough.

 

I don't get the whole "Tire Rotation" on these vehicles.

That's because you also don't get physics.... which applies to any vehicle, not just "these vehicles".

 

Please see the second half of that comment, especially the section highlighted in red, as using just the first sentence takes it out of context. And just to clarify it for you, this is my opinion, it is not absolute for every situation.

Edited to say: I don't get the whole "Tire Rotation" on these vehicles. I know there's advocates on both sides of the fence, but I think if the tires are wearing evenly and the same all way around.... just leave 'em.
Such is the situation on mine. I will leave them as all looks good and will change out all four tires when the tread is low enough.

 

I've left tires unrotated too long and when I finally had them rotated, the car was undrivable! The rear tires had gone bad but it was unnoticeable until they were rotated to the front. A new set of tires was the solution.

Also, I quit going to Discount Tire as they were very hit and miss on balancing tires. I'd go to three different stores before I found one that knew what they were doing. Try a Goodyear store as they have to recertify their balance machines monthly whereas Discount never recertifies their machines.

Bob

 

Lot's of good feedback here! Thanks! I'm going to consider my options, and maybe new tires will be in the mix.

 

Just as a Rosetta Stone, My 2004 V6 3.2L never consumes oil between oil changes… and I drive low RPM like most around town Americans… I go 10k between oil changes using 0W40 Mobil 1… any modern engine consuming a quart per thousand miles… is trouble waiting to happen. I’ve owned a 2L New Beetle and a 3.5L V6 Chrysler motor that were consumers. That’s too much carbon staying on the insides of the engines.

 

I took the tech bulletin in with me

That doesn't mean they actually followed it.... you can give me a set of instructions to do something and I can just throw them away and go about whatever I was going to do anyways... know what I mean?

 

I completely get that. But what do I do about it? Each time I've taken in a printed version of the bulletin and asked them to double check it. Is this a thing where I should just be dealing with a VW dealer? I'm ignorant about how to get the job done right and know that it isn't a tire wear problem.

 

I can't see anything from here. Look at your tire wear. Check thread depth with depth gauge. I have no idea if your tires are worn unevenly, etc.
Presumably, the shop would've flagged such an issue, but who knows.
Since these tire guys are unable to eliminate the SWS, what are they suggesting as the "subject matter experts" in order to deal address this?
I mean, I do my own wheel swaps so I am able to follow the document\instructions\TSB, but maybe I'm more intelligent than the monkey you're dealing with.....
Get a refund and go to a dealer instead.....

 

I can't see anything from here. Look at your tire wear. Check thread depth with depth gauge. I have no idea if your tires are worn unevenly, etc.
Presumably, the shop would've flagged such an issue, but who knows.
Since these tire guys are unable to eliminate the SWS, what are they suggesting as the "subject matter experts" in order to deal address this?
I mean, I do my own wheel swaps so I am able to follow the document\instructions\TSB, but maybe I'm more intelligent than the monkey you're dealing with.....
Get a refund and go to a dealer instead.....

I appreciate your help. I'm going back in there and will ask some more specific questions.

 

Rotating tires is for anal retentive with healthy dose of nothing better to do than overuse, and/or damage lug nuts/studs prematurely. 🔥
Our fleet of over 100 vehicles, we never rotate tires, unless curbside sidewall gets worn out(unbecoming looks), or we install new tires on the front axle.
The way I look at it, the only thing holding a wheel to the vehicle is silly 5-6-8 lug nuts which if overused fail burdening the owner, excluding Altima owners, to repair it.
What most people fail to do is to keep an eye on tire pressure. No wonder all new cars have TPMS. Still, people manage to cock it all up.
My suggestion when it comes to tires, monitor the pressure and the wear, and approach the situation when problems arise. And not because "manufacturer" tells you to do so in a book (owner's manual) you've never read.

I haven't rotated tires on my Egg since I got them. I don't plan to. I keep an eye on thread wear and tire pressure. So fat tires wear evenly on all 4 corners.
P.S
How often does one check the alignment?

 

I’ve owned Audi Quattro‘s since 1984, and the beauty of the Quattro was that it had equilateral tire wear no matter whether you rotated or not. The T1 trucks will have similar tire wear properties, but I am not so sure about the T3’s and T4’s because they have a subtle difference in their drive line.. I would think that it may be more prudent to rotate 2011 and up vehicle tires… my two Cents.

 

A fleet typically gets looked at by people with actual mechanic bones in their bodies.... most people with a driver's license can barely check their own tire pressures.
That being said, the majority of private vehicle owners usually only replace things once they go boom or leave them stranded....
Even if everything is perfect with the vehicle, over up here in Canada, my front wheels steer so tires wear differently than the rears if I don't rotate them......
I also seem to take sharper right hand turns vs left hand turns.... also a thing.....
My lemon also splits the TQ unevenly between the axles.... also a thing....
Like I said earlier... because of physics...

....and I get an alignment check about every 60k miles unless there are other signs or I hit some massive pothole\curb whatever and I think something may be outta whack....

 

...the majority of private vehicle owners usually only replace things once they go boom or leave them stranded....

True statement. I was an office manager/service writer for a small private shop in Jacksonville, FL, 20ish years ago. Very few vehicles showed up for preventative maintenance. Ninety-five percent or better were there because it wouldn't go or it wouldn't stop. Scary to think they were on the road in that condition.

 

The whole point of rotating tires is to even out wear, but tire wear has like quite a few major things that can affect it. First and foremost worn suspension compents/worn steering components. Your fronts wear the edges faster than the center tread due to alignment and cornering. The rear on most vehicles wears the center out because it just rolls now modern suspensions throw a kink in there with most of there adjustability.

Now you do mostly highway driving very little in town then sure I get it.. and if ypu install your lugs/bolts right there is little to no wear anrld tear.

 

 

Honestly I've seen something like this in person. My favorite was my tires say it needs 41 psi so they aired it up to that on a civic and complained about ride. Half ton trucks with load range e tires that are filled to 80psi.

 

Tire rotations every single oil change on these. They are heavy SUV with aggressive AWD. If you skip a rotation it's possible they wear funny and start cupping, feathering etc which will trash the ride and they'll start howling loud

Alignments once yearly. German cars hide a bad alignment wayyyyy better than American cars, so it's possible your 4 wheel alignment is trash and you don't even know it

 

I don't know how the rest of you fine blokes drive around in your posh Eggs, but even after grueling BDR trek my tires wear evenly,
I perform alignment annually, like a well behaved VeeDub vassal. I have a lifetime subscription, it helps save few kelp when time comes to tweak suspension for no reason.

Take care if your ride tires, I am not talking about tire shine crap showboats use, and they will perform the best way possible.

 

Well we did "unrotate" the tires during my last visit. It seems to be better. Not great! But better. A little vibration all the time and more at highway speeds, but no real wobble.

I have an appointment in a few weeks to have the VW guys look into the oil consumption, so I'll have them look at alignment also!

My ride has been bumpy all of a sudden too... Shocks/struts?

 

So you have funny tire wear, unbalanced assemblies, or untrue wheels.... not sure why a tire shop or anyone with eyes can't find which of these exist....

 

Yep, exactly.

 

Perhaps I, and/or the vehicle, needs an exorcism?

 

I would imagine wheels would have a visible hop on the balancer. Also check the weights. You would be surprised how sometimes they load up so much damn weight to balance a tire on the machine but forget if it's not round on the road it will still have a hop. I used to service, sell tires. Balanced umpteen tires in my day. You CAN balance a tire on the machine that has a little warp or bend in it. It will still shake or vibrate on the road becuse its not round. Also a decent alignment shop should be able to go over the suspension and tell you if anything is loose although the fact it didn't shake before the rotation makes it less obvious.

 

Sure, go park it overnight in a church lot.... you sound like a believer!

 

Well we did "unrotate" the tires during my last visit. It seems to be better. Not great! But better. A little vibration all the time and more at highway speeds, but no real wobble.

I have an appointment in a few weeks to have the VW guys look into the oil consumption, so I'll have them look at alignment also!

My ride has been bumpy all of a sudden too... Shocks/struts?

Sounds like either crap tires not meant to hold up to the heft/awd of the Touareg, or you waited too late to rotate them. They're probably cupped badly, and un-rotating them put them back into the natural ride they found which reversed the (noticeable) poor ride.

 

The easiest test one can perform on any tire is to run bare hand over the treads.
1. Jack up one side
2. Rotate the off-the-ground tire
3. Place your bare hand on the treaded pat of the tire, apply light pressure (as if caressing)
4. Use sensory nerves of your hand to feel for discrepancies in the thread surface.

Tire thread should feel uniform and even. Even tire thread feathering should feel uniform.
Anything out of normal might cause tire to behave in unsportsmanlike manner and cause undue vexation.

Cheers...

 

The easiest test one can perform on any tire is to run bare hand over the treads.
1. Jack up one side
2. Rotate the off-the-ground tire
3. Place your bare hand on the treaded pat of the tire, apply light pressure (as if caressing)
4. Use sensory nerves of your hand to feel for discrepancies in the thread surface.

Tire thread should feel uniform and even. Even tire thread feathering should feel uniform.
Anything out of normal might cause tire to behave in unsportsmanlike manner and cause undue vexation.

Cheers...

Don't they have actual tools to check this more precisely that ones hands/fingers?

 

you can use a run-out gauge. But it would be tricky to accomplish on anything but HT tread tire.