Re: Scalloped tires?!? and parts appetite...

[adams@churchill.columbiasc.ncr.com]

> This week I had the 22.5k service for my '93 90CS. When I brought it in to
> the dealer, I complained of vibration and shaking in the steering wheel
> and in the front end in general between 55-65MPH. I figured that perhaps
> a wheel or two was out of balance.
> 
> When I picked the car up, I was told that the problem was scalloped front
> tires. Since, they said, balancing could not fix this problem, they rotated
> the front tires to the back and balanced the wheels going on the front.
> 
> I asked how this could happen at such a low milage; alignment problems,
> perhaps? They told me that alignment was not (and would not) be the cause;
> more likely uneven pressures or an act of the tire God. Since I'm pretty
> careful about pressures (34psi, cold), they said it must just have been
> bad luck. The tires are the OEM Goodyear Eagle GAs, 195/65HR15.
> 
> Their other comment was that rears tend to scallop more often than
> fronts, which actually fits with my experience: the shakes cropped up 
> after the tires were rotated previously.
> 
> So, what's the deal? Is this really just a random thing, or is it indicative
> of some other problem? Driving too hard? :-) Darned annoying, since the
> tires still seem to have about half their life left; the shakes gone from
> the front now, but I can still feel it from the rear in the seat of my
> pants.

No this is not random, because this is the EXACT same problem we are
experiencing.  Our 93 90CS has ~21,5K miles and is 2 weeks from the next
service.  At the 15K service they balanced and rotated the tires.  At this
time we noticed a vibration and annoying noise.  The tires make a high
pitched wakawakawaka sound at highway speeds (at least that is were it is
noticed).  I also pay close attention to tire pressure and there are no
syptoms of alignment or balance problems.  In our case the Audi is my
wife's daily driver and it is not driven hard, so I place bets on the tires
being the culprit.  I will let you know if I get any differant response
from my dealer. 

regards,
Daniel Adams