159 / Brera / Spider tyre wear issues - VIP - Revised Information

[Graham8315]

Will forward data Steve - however I suggest a more formal approach rather than just complaining to Alfa. We need to spread it around and create a more embarrassing situation for them - listing all of us with as much info as poss.
For instance a formal letter - copied to the Times/WHICH magazine/Motoring Magazines/Top Gear/5th Gear etc - Only one influential party needs to pick up our cause for it to be effective?
Question - Is anyone on this forum a Lawyer - Consumer Act - Fitness For Purpose etc? Who can advise?

[Graham8315]

David - This is new territory for me - as I am just about to dip hand in pocket once again - if its as simple as asking the garage - I will get the data?

[saggitare]

I had to resort to a threat of bad publicity before with previous, numerous issues with my car before alfa started to listen. It was a long difficult haul with them. However i did get them to extend my warranty to 5 years and a free service. However my car is now back at the dealer on average once a month with various problems. If someone on this forum has some legal experience it may prove useful. Its such a shame that alfa take their unhelpful stance as i for one will never buy another after my experience. I think we should pursue the tyre thing with as much support from this forum as possible. There must be a way of making them listen??

[Elfred]

I'm just about to replace the Pirelli on the front of my 2.4 Ti, these have done 12,000m and as you can see the inner edges have worn the most but not so much that the tyre was trashed before its time. I'm going for Conti this time as I have had good experience with them on previous cars. Last pic is the new Conti.

[Seasider]

Just had to get a rear replaced due to a lovely nail induced puncture. In the process had a good look at the fronts which I was expecting to replace soon as the outside is getting close to the wear bars. However the insides are 'quite' low so getting them replaced this week too.

Just to recap my car is an LE spider running on the 19Ti wheels and I use the Pirellis. Fronts were first changed beginning of March 09 at approx 12.5k miles, car has now just done over 30k miles. Most of my driving is major a roads and motorways

[mrfitz]

I got through two sets and in both cases the wear was really uneven - totally shot on the inside but loads of tread on the outside.

I took it back to the dealer (Piccadilly Motors - Knaresborough - North Yorkshire) and they were very aware of the problem. They set my fronts to a new alignment and 15k later I'm just getting a new set. This time the wear's dead even across both fronts and I haven't noticed any drop off in performance or handling. In fact if anything there's been a slight reduction in road noise.

Can't tell you what the new settings are but I'm sure if you call their service department they'll be happy to tell you.

[fluke]

After suffering a puncture on my front left tyre, I was pretty shocked to see the amount of uneven wear across the tread. I have Continental SportConti 2's 235/45/18 on the 18" 7 hole horseshoe alloys.

The pics are of the front left, the front right is in the same condition so I'm getting them replaced tomorrow with Falken ZE912's.
The worn inside edge is way past the wear indicator, whilst there is about 3mm tread on the most outer wear indicator and about 5mm on the outer shoulder.

The car is in it's 3rd year warranty, do I have a case to take it to my local Alfa dealer (Westerns in Glasgow) and ask for a suspension check/set-up free of charge or will I have to pay for it?

[147 girl]

Will Alfa Romeo ever acknowledge this issue.. I am reading the post from Fluke about the front tyres. I too am in a similar situation in my third year of ownership. My last post was number 71. Had exactly the same problem with inner edge wear on front tyres. Had both replaced and tracking check carried out by the local dealership at 12,000 miles. Some 10,000 miles later (2,000 less than the last set) I find exactly the same problem occuring, despite assurances that following the tracking check, inner edge tyre wear would not happen again!!!!! Have raised this point with Alfa Romeo and dealership, lets just say they are not rushing to look into my claim. Lots of calls but no action. I still find it incredible that Alfa Romeo think this is normal, in the three years I've owned this car I'm now onto new tyres 5 and 6.....madness.

[saggitare]

Well guys, having put myself forward as a contact to collect data and put a strong collective case to Alfa exactly zero owners of Brera'a and 159's have contacted me. It seems that despite lots of unhappy owners about this issue, no one is prepared to actually do something....well I tried. I am still battling with them. call it customer service. Its a JOKE

[2ndtimearound]

Ah - that's where you're going wrong: They don't call themselves Customer Service, but Customer Relations. Hence, a lack of any sign of service as it's not what they're there for...

[Dave McNaught]

Hi everybody,
I have only just joined your forum/club and I only wish that I had known earlier.
I drive a 159 Limited Edition 1.9. The same as Ti, lowered and 235/40/19's.I seem to getting the same tyre problems as everybody else.I picked the car up new,new years eve 2008 and have done 10,000 miles.The car was getting twitchy at the back so I booked it in with Lipscombe of Maidstone.Subsequently told of inner edge tyre wear, not quite illegal.Was told the tracking was out and if I renewed the the front tyres they would change the tracking,2tyres £560.Idont know how they knew because when I asked how far out the settings were they did not know because they only check tracking after new tyres are fitted. Lipscombe also told me that they think the settings are wrong at time of manufacture.
My last two cars both alfa's 156 Veloce V6 and GT 2.0 JTS. Had similar problems with the GT but put that down to playing.Did not of the problems plus GT's tyres cost far less than 159's.
I would like to know what settings would suit my car the best. Also how to go about tackling alfa.
Hopefully with all your collective knowledge someone can help.
Cheers Dave

[Firebar]

16,800 miles, on the fronts I have 2.3mm on the inside and 4mm on the outer. Can certainly feel that handling is starting to suffer so I'll be going for 2 new tyres soon and moving the rears to the front. This is with the P-Zero Nero's. Looks like I'll have to get the toe adjusted when I have the tyres changed.

However, place local to me can get the Conti Sport Contact 3's for £10 more than the Pirelli's. Is it worth it? Considering I've had almost 17k miles out of the Pirelli's I'm inclined to stick with them. I also understand the Conti's are a softer compound so should wear quicker. Does anyone have any real experience between the two tyres?

[AL159]

I contributed to this thread back in march 09 when my then 6500 mile 159ti wore out its fronts unevenly. Had to fork out £523 ( tyres plus 4 wheel alignment) . Over the next NINE months I called and corresponded with he so called service centre - getting money out of them was painfully slow even after writing to the MD at Slough ( Andrew Humberstone) in July to complain and offer some views on the shortcomings of the contact centre, Eventually was offered vouchers equivalent to one tyre ( £218) but persevered and this was upped to £300, so at least covered the alignment . Vouchers arrived December 09 justr in time to cushion the blow of set number 2 at 15000 miles fitted on Christmas eve ( £420). The sheer buraucracy and inefficiency of the whole episode almost put me off Alfas after nearly 30 years, because i had to do all the chasing , was processed like a nuisance or patronised, not treated like a customer who has has spent £50 k at a dealership over 6 years ( private not business supported) . I am very happy to share copies of correspondence or talk to anyone who is going throuigh the unedifying experience or lend support. I think it will take quite a few hands to pull Alfa's head out of its collective backside and recognise just how much business it could lose.

[gregalfagtv6]

I am a Lawyer (Barrister). I think the answer is a YES but with the correct technical input. If I understand the position it is not simply tyre wear on one wheel but on one or both "axles". I am no technical expert on wheel alignment but if it was, say, one wheel the argument would be that the car had been kerbed or had hit a pothole. Such is the incidence that it seems to be either manufacturing or a design issue. A court case would mean that an application could be made to recover ARUK's records. Tyre wear, all 4 replaced inside 12k miles, and horrendous fuel consumption have made a cheap to contract hire 2.2 LE an expensive car to run.

[Mike54]

Greg, surely it would be possible to launch some kind of collective action (can't remember the UK term but the US equivalent would be class action) ?

In light of the current issues with Toyota, I bet the press would absolutely LOVE a story like this.

The question is would you be prepared to act for the group?

[jeffo]

My 2.2 Brera runs on 18 inch Pzero neros original factory fit and fronts replaces at 13000 and rears 18000 car has covered 20,000 from new we pay £160 each fitted

[Steve Hoddinott]

Hi,

I have a 159 Ti on a 59 plate. It is fitted with 19" wheels. On 4th November 2008 Lipscomb in Maidstone carried out the first service of my car and noted on my invoice that my tyres all round were very badly worn on the inside edges. It was agreed that a "full 4 wheel alignment" would solve the issue and this was carried out on 13th November 2008 costing me £129.99. I replaced all 4 tyres at this time at in excess of £250 per tyre. The recorded mileage was 10,059.



In October 2009 at 18,952 miles, Lipscomb noted that the front tyres were worn smooth on the inside but had 5ml and 6ml of tread respectively on the outside. The front wheel tracking was adjusted and new front tyres fitted at another £500+. I agreed with Lipscomb that I would return my car for investigation of tyre wear in 2,000 more miles. So far I have only added another 1,000 so some time to go.

It seems to me that the dealers do not know what to set the cars too. It is completely random.

[Steve Hoddinott]

As regards group action, the legal route will take a long time. How about an online petition (no idea how this would be set up), why don't we all contact Alfa customer services on the same day with the same issue, each of us 15 minutes apart and take notes of their response, share the response with each other and then share all of our responses with Alfa and if this does not work why don't we contact the press.

[saggitare]

The only way any of us will get anywhere is collective action. Greg hit the nail on the head with his earlier comment about how the tyres wear badly in pairs and not in isolation. We all know of the multitude of excuses put forward by Alfa and the dealers about how we must have driven over potholes etc .......its rubbish. All i can say is that suddenly in the last 18months which co-incides with Brera ownershio I have suddenly been seeking out deep potholes to drive over for the hell of it., I had to threaten Alfa before with legal action and bad publicity to get them to take problems with my car seriously. Now that we have got the ball rolling we should collectively put the ball in alfa's court, give them a chance to take a responsible and sensible stance and then decide whether there may have to be some legal action. Car ownership should not be this difficult!

[Mike54]

Steve, a petition will do absolutely nothing. Media attention on a collective action would make things happen very quickly, and whilst the action itself would take time, the negative press along would, I think, get the issue dealt with. I say again about Toyota, it's a prime time to do this when the media is interested. Someone should coordinate and the group instruct a lawyer and get on with it.

[147 girl]

It would be nice to think we could make Alfa Romeo sit up and listen to us as customers. Has anyone been successful in writing to the various car magazines, maybe complaining to the regulating body for car manufacturers or even started a small claims action against them?

Just to satisfy my own curiosity does anyone heard if similar tyre wear problems effect Audi (TT), BMW (1 or 3 series), Mazda (RX8), Nissan (350Z or 370Z) and VW (Scirocco). You know those other manufacturuers than produce sports coupes.

[andypj]

Lexus has the same problem with its IS200 phase 1 -

[bam1234-2007]

hi guys hes my info hope you find it useful ..my car is a 159 1.9jtdm lusso and i have all the records from the leasing company the car used to belong to-- 21/03/06--30580 miles 4 new pirellis pzr -24/08/07 -44501 miles 2 new pirellis front-13/06/08-4 new tyres -09/02/09 -tracking-13/02/09--83655 miles -3 new tyres dunlops --16/02/10- 4 wheel tracking the cars on 92000 and the tyres will need changing soon and all the work was carried out by kwick fit fleet and im not gonna mention my steering rack problem

[Dominic 159]

Just joined wish i seen all this before i fell in love with the car have just put my 3rd set on the front in about 10,000 miles since i have had it and a set on the back. Plus 2 4 wheel alinments at alfa £125 a piece. Have now gone for the cheapest tyre pos. The bloke in alfa said it was the road conditions i dont think so!!. Have phoned alfa costumer service line waiting for a come back. 2 independant tyre firms have said its the camber. If any one finds an answer please call.

[Macie]

Lots for you to read on this forum then. Alfa are probably still wrongly setting your wheel alignment as they have for most of us. The front needs to be set to parallel, so don't go to Alfa as most have not been notified of correct settings (strange but true). I am sure someone else on here will advise you whether to have the rear alignment changed, I haven't as yet.

Customer service will tell you they are not aware of a problem and have had no other complaints about poor tyre wear.

My 159 ti 2.4 was set to parallel and tyre wear is a lot better. I am now also trying out 2 x Accelera tyres which are half the price of P neros or Contis. My car has covered 22,000 miles and has had 6 x new tyres (2 last month).