# RS Front Tyres Grabbing



## Pugliese (Aug 4, 2010)

When turning at low speed on anything more than half lock there is a gabbing sound/feel from the front tyres.

When new this happened when on full lock only and Audi said it was a normal feature LOL! I didn't pursue it as it happened so rarely and in truth wasn't up for the fight.

Now the car has done 14k miles and tyres have 4.4mm of tread, the noise has returned and more often but still only at very low speeds

Its going back to Audi for them to investigate but wondered if anyone has experience of this. Could it be to do with torque vectoring, suspension/steering geometry or just down to the Yokohama tyres???


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## chelspeed (May 6, 2017)

Pugliese said:


> When turning at low speed on anything more than half lock there is a gabbing sound/feel from the front tyres.


Mine does it too on Pirelli P Zeros. I didn't notice it from new. Now I'm on 3mm tread it's very noticeable and just as you describe. I put it down to big fat tyres with no tread depth to deform and relieve the different circumference between inner and outer edges. A recent service didn't find anything wrong. I'm getting new tyres Saturday so will let you know if it doesn't go away.


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## M1ke H (Jan 9, 2018)

No personal experience, but a neighbour of mine with an RS had exactly the same issue before Christmas, to the extent she was so concerned she called Audi Assist out to 'rescue' the car and get it to the Dealer.

As with chelspeed above, Dealer reported back that "they all do that" when the tread depth on the wide section low profile tyres gets so low that there is no tread block movement. ie the front tyres basically scrub on any low speed turns.


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## phazer (Apr 2, 2018)

My TTS does the same on the 20" tyres on a (almost) full lock low speed manoeuvre. I have much more tread than 3/4mm, though as others have said, it's basically because there's virtually naff all tyre making contact on the edge so it scrubs.


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## Pugliese (Aug 4, 2010)

chelspeed said:


> Pugliese said:
> 
> 
> > When turning at low speed on anything more than half lock there is a gabbing sound/feel from the front tyres.
> ...


Thanks all for the replies.

Chelspeed, which replacement tyres are you getting, as my wife is convinced that the worn tyres are making the car more uncomfortable, so I will be replacing soon as well.


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## no name (Feb 16, 2014)

wide wheels combined with sharp turning circle.

There is going to be a lot of resistance


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## chelspeed (May 6, 2017)

Pugliese said:


> Chelspeed, which replacement tyres are you getting, as my wife is convinced that the worn tyres are making the car more uncomfortable, so I will be replacing soon as well.


Michelin pilot sport 4s. Had them on a previous car and was well impressed.

Hoping to wait for the better weather as they seem to be summer orientated but an unrepairable puncture last weekend has forced my hand. Still I suppose the new michelins aren't going to be much worse than pzeros on 2 or 3mm.


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## chelspeed (May 6, 2017)

chelspeed said:


> I'm getting new tyres Saturday so will let you know if it doesn't go away.


New tyres and it's gone completely.


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## ajayp (Nov 30, 2006)

Yep, had the same issue since I picked her up!


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## jhoneyman (Aug 8, 2012)

My TTS does this on 20's

Can even feel it going round those mini roundabouts at like 20Mph.


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## Number86 (Oct 20, 2017)

It's not scrubbing. It's called crabbing. Not a lot you can do about it, and cold weather makes it more pronounced.

Mercs do it best:


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## JPatterson (Feb 18, 2009)

It's normal and present on many cars with sports tuned suspensions. It's because the turning radii of each front wheel are not congruent. One tire has to "shuffle" when turning sharply. It's done to aid high speed high load handling when tire slip angles are a factor. My S5 does it when it is cold and tires are stiffer. More noticeable as tread wears and compliance decreases. My Porsche Cayman did it far worse. Read up on "Ackerman steering geometry".


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## powerplay (Feb 8, 2008)

My RS doesn't do this; at least I have never noticed this in the slightest and do a lot of slow turning in the workplace car park. Front tyres are just 1.5mm away from wear markers too.


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