My Tracking Is Out - Is It A Toyota Only Job?

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Have noticed that the inner edge of my front tyres are getting scuffed off much more than the outer edge so I guess my tracking is out. Probably caused by one of the many huge potholes and/or very rough surfaces on the roads these days.

I will now need some new tyres which at only 12k miles is a little premature, but does the tracking need/have to be done at Toyota or can any reputable (note the word reputable) tyre place sort this for me? What I'm trying to say is, is the Prius normal that I can take it where I want or is the wheel set up some strange and weird Prius arrangement only to be attempted by Toyota?

Look forward to your responses and hope they also cheer me up - I really hate getting rid of tyres that would have been ok but have been damaged in this way when you can see good tread on the outer edge :( If the tracking wasn't out I could have got many more miles out of them.

[Fujisan]

I think (and it's a guess) that any good garage should be able to do it, the suspension is fairly conventional from what I can see.

Just don't take it anywhere near those untrained, unskilled spotty kids at a fast fit centre. :censor: :ffs:

[stompe]

Have noticed that the inner edge of my front tyres are getting scuffed off much more than the outer edge so I guess my tracking is out. Probably caused by one of the many huge potholes and/or very rough surfaces on the roads these days.

I will now need some new tyres which at only 12k miles is a little premature, but does the tracking need/have to be done at Toyota or can any reputable (note the word reputable) tyre place sort this for me? What I'm trying to say is, is the Prius normal that I can take it where I want or is the wheel set up some strange and weird Prius arrangement only to be attempted by Toyota?

Look forward to your responses and hope they also cheer me up - I really hate getting rid of tyres that would have been ok but have been damaged in this way when you can see good tread on the outer edge :( If the tracking wasn't out I could have got many more miles out of them.

I would recommend 4 wheel tracking, its more costly but worth it in tyre wear, do you have a costco in your neck of the woods? they were the cheapest for my gen2 prius,plus they fill the tyres with nitrogen much better ride then air and much less pressure checking,

BTW costco only do michelin but thats what is on the gen3 anyway stompe

[johalareewi]

...plus they fill the tyres with nitrogen much better ride then air and much less pressure checking,

But air is about 80% nitrogen anyway.

BTW costco only do michelin but thats what is on the gen3 anyway stompe

My gen3 came with Bridgestone tyres fitted.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Mine came with Bridgestones too. I believe the top models get Michelins though.

The use of Nitrogen is heavily debated and I personally arn't too sure. Maybe I will if it comes as standard.

Rang my main Toyota dealer this morning and they have booked me in for this afternoon for tracking at £35 and two Bridgestones at £65 each. Sounds good to me :)

[Sagitar]

Mine came with Bridgestones too. I believe the top models get Michelins though.

The use of Nitrogen is heavily debated and I personally arn't too sure. Maybe I will if it comes as standard.

Rang my main Toyota dealer this morning and they have booked me in for this afternoon for tracking at £35 and two Bridgestones at £65 each. Sounds good to me :)

Ask for a before-and-after print-out. If they have the right kit and know what they are doing, you should get something like this:

The only thing they found wrong with mine was the toe error that I have ringed.

[ormi]

Have noticed that the inner edge of my front tyres are getting scuffed off much more than the outer edge so I guess my tracking is out. Probably caused by one of the many huge potholes and/or very rough surfaces on the roads these days.

I will now need some new tyres which at only 12k miles is a little premature, but does the tracking need/have to be done at Toyota or can any reputable (note the word reputable) tyre place sort this for me? What I'm trying to say is, is the Prius normal that I can take it where I want or is the wheel set up some strange and weird Prius arrangement only to be attempted by Toyota?

Look forward to your responses and hope they also cheer me up - I really hate getting rid of tyres that would have been ok but have been damaged in this way when you can see good tread on the outer edge :( If the tracking wasn't out I could have got many more miles out of them.

I would recommend 4 wheel tracking, its more costly but worth it in tyre wear, do you have a costco in your neck of the woods? they were the cheapest for my gen2 prius,plus they fill the tyres with nitrogen much better ride then air and much less pressure checking,

BTW costco only do michelin but thats what is on the gen3 anyway stompe

no point in getting the 4 wheel tracking as the rear is fixed and non adjustable so you are paying for nothing....

[Sagitar]

no point in getting the 4 wheel tracking as the rear is fixed and non adjustable so you are paying for nothing....

Not strictly true - not as easily adjustable as the front and may require a shim kit. But just because it's a fixed axle does not mean that it cannot be distressed and if the measurements are not done, you will never know whether there is a problem. What do you align the front wheels to if you don't know where the back ones are pointing?

[ormi]

no point in getting the 4 wheel tracking as the rear is fixed and non adjustable so you are paying for nothing....

Not strictly true - not as easily adjustable as the front and may require a shim kit. But just because it's a fixed axle does not mean that it cannot be distressed and if the measurements are not done, you will never know whether there is a problem. What do you align the front wheels to if you don't know where the back ones are pointing?

ok i get your point so next time you go to get your tracking done i'll put your car off the road for a few days coz we've no shims and shimming doesn't always work.

off center toe out/in can all be adjusted without touching the rear.....4 wheel alighnment has not been around that long compaired to 2 wheel alighnment and we did just fine then.

in my dealer we dont have a 2 wheel option its always 4 wheel but depending on the car the rear mesurment comes up grey with no mesurments..

[stompe]

It sounds to me, like you get Michelins only on the T-Spirit, I had Bridgestones on gen 2 Prius T-Spirit and I did not rate them. When I changed to the Michelins on gen 2 it was a whole different car. Better ride, less road noise and lasted a lot longer. As regards to Nitrogen, yes grumpy cabbie is right but the other 20% is water. Speaking for myself the Nitrogen held its pressure for months on end, unlike air, so to me it was a big bonus. BTW 4-wheel tracking has been in my neck of the woods for at least 15 years and you can, as previously said, have the rear wheels tracked by Shims (as I recall the American Spec gen 2 had to have these Shims fitted).

Stompe

[Sagitar]

As regards to Nitrogen, yes grumpy cabbie is right but the other 20% is water.

I think you might mean Oxygen? There may well be some water vapour present, depending upon how well the air is dried, but if a fifth of the internal volume of a tyre was filled with water, you would certainly hear it sloshing around . . . . .

[johalareewi]

As regards to Nitrogen, yes grumpy cabbie is right but the other 20% is water.

Think there might be some oxygen in there somewhere and a bit of CO2.

So if you pump up with nitrogen, do you still need to check the tyre pressures or can you just leave it?

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Thanks for the advice guys. Got it done yesterday. All OK and car drives much nicer. Apparantly the tracking was quite a way off.

[Sagitar]

So if you pump up with nitrogen, do you still need to check the tyre pressures or can you just leave it?

My apologies, because I am going to ramble on a bit with this answer.

I have heard the proponents of nitrogen say that it leaks through the tyre carcass less quickly than does air, that it causes a smaller change in tyre pressure for a given change of ambient temperature and that it is more inert than air.

Carcass leakage is extremely slow anyway and a tiny difference in its rate will not help if you get a slow puncture or a faulty inflation valve, so I intend to continue the habit of a long motoring lifetime and check my tyre pressures weekly.

If tyres are inflated with dry air, the change of pressure resulting from changes in ambient temperature is no different from that of nitrogen. The same gas laws apply. However, if tyres are inflated from a compressor that does not have good water separation and dessication facilities, then significant amounts of water vapour can be introduced into the tyre. Water vapour does not behave as a perfect gas at lower temperatures and so larger changes of tyre pressure can result from changes in ambient temperature.

These effects are important in performance vehicles, where the tyre carcass is worked hard and quite small changes in tyre pressure will make differences to extreme chassis performance.

For normal domestic motoring however, the choice of tyre pressure is not an exact science. The recommended inflation pressures are the best compromise that the manufacturer can suggest for the wide range of differing service conditions that are found. Small changes from day-to-day are not going to make much difference.

What is important is to make sure that tyres do not become under-inflated from neglect. The vast majority of catastrophic carcass failures result from persistent under-inflation.

Personally I always start with the manufacturer's recommended pressure and check it weekly when the tyre is cold. Given the annual variation in ambient temperature, this means that sometimes I add air and sometimes I let air escape.

I check regularly for tyre wear patterns. If the patterns are not "regular" then I think about checking geometry. If they are regular but uneven across the tyre width then I raise or lower the inflation target pressure. If the edges wear more than the centre then I raise the pressure a bit. If the centre wears more than the edges then I lower the pressure a bit, always having mind to sensible overall pressures.

Nitrogen is obviously a good idea in performance vehicles and anywhere that it is important to reduce fire risk (in an aircraft undercarriage for example). I have to conclude however that for normal domestic motoring it falls into the "go-faster-stripes" category and in no way supplants the need for regular tyre pressure maintenance.

[Sagitar]

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