niray99

For my 2017 Quattro:

1. I got my tires rotated at Costco. When I got the car back, they had added a note that the tires need to be aligned because they seem to be wearing unevenly.
2. I have myself not experienced any other symptoms such as steering wheel crooked or vehicle pulling on one side.
3. I did replace one tire @8500 miles, but the tread depth difference was 1/32 between the new tire and the other tires(Audi recommends max tread difference of 3/32).
4. Also Costco does not align tires(AFAIK), so I don't see any other motivation on their part to recommend me align the wheels.

Given all the above, do I need to align my tires?

Daaavid

What's the current mileage? What's your commute like - potholes, bumps, etc.? What tires and what condition did they say that it was uneven - inside or outer tire wear?

Indicators like crooked steering wheel or vehicle pulling to one side call for an alignment, but everything can be in the "green" so to speak, and you'd still have uneven tire wear due to camber, toe, etc.

My assumption is one of the tires is out of spec in "toe" and causing uneven wear. Lots of places will do an alignment check for you before proceeding, but the other concern is how the cameras will react without a dealer scan/cal tool.

PghRich

Did they give you any more information on the type and amount of wear that indicated an alignment need? Tires will rarely wear perfectly evenly, and alignments are never exactly in the middle of the spec range, so it's all a matter of degree. I've had recommendations for alignment when the sidewall is significantly worn when the tread is down to 1/32". Do I really need to prevent shoulder wear when the tires are at 1/32"? No - the tires are going to be replaced anyway. Now, if I see significant shoulder wear early in the tire life, then yes, it's going to need to be replaced with plenty of usable tread left, so an alignment is worth the investment.

The other indicator is handling issues. Does it pull to one side/not track relatively straight? Is something just "off" in how the car reacts. Then it's a safety/driving satisfaction issue that's also worth the investment. Or, like me, does a non-centered steering wheel just annoy you every time you drive? I had that fixed even though the toe/caster/camber were probably fine with the wheel turned a few degrees.

(I'm not clear how a dealer scan tool affects measure tire alignment. It's a external measurement of physical geometry)

niray99

Thanks for the detailed answers.

The only words used specific to my case were "Tires are showing irregular wear, possibly consistent with an out-of-alignment condition".

I don't feel any handling irregularities driving the car. A4 drives like my 2nd car(which is just 3 months old), so it's steering, handling can be considered baseline/new/at_spec & can be used to compare to the A4's characteristics.

Current mileage @18K. I'm in the SFO Bay Area, so there are some potholes which I try to drive around(on my commute).

chych

How many miles do you have? Probably a good idea to get an alignment every time you get new tires, or at least every 30k miles. Uneven wear is one way they can deny you your tire warranty (had this happen to a family member; her car was quite out of alignment and the tires lasted 1/2 as long as the warranty).

niray99

@18K.