FR Tyre change/wheel alignment headache

[Pb123]

Hi guys. I have a 2018 Ibiza FR 1.0 with 18in wheels (factory fitted), and am based in Mallorca, Spain. Car purchased new from Valencia and only 35,000km on the clock. Last week I finally got round to changing my 7.5yr old tyres. I ordered an exact replacement of the tyres fitted from new in the factory - 4x Continental ContiSportContact 5. Size 215/40 R18 89 W XL, from the Spanish equivalent of KwikFit (Norauto). I turned up for the appointment, new tyres fitted, quick alignment completed (an extra 52€) and I drove home during a storm. Back in the garage I noted they had fitted the wrong tyres! They fitted 4x Continental Sport Contact 7 - and also wider, sizing: 225/40 ZR18 92 Y XL (rather than 215). After some research online I established the SC7 is the newer, better tyre (the softer sidewalls significantly improve the ride over bumps compared to the CSC5) and that whilst not factory spec width, the 10mm diameter increase is less than 3% so considered “equivalent” by the Spanish MOT authority (ie. acceptable and not considered a modification). There were also some search results pointing to Ibiza and Polo owners consciously making this change to improve grip etc. The 225 size being more common, it is quite a bit cheaper than the 215 I had paid for and so the garage agreed to refund me the difference (166€). Over the weekend however I noted the car was pulling to the left with a centred steering wheel - I had to maintain a constant slight (perhaps 7 degree) right input to track straight ahead. The garage booked me in for a free repeat alignment and after 4 alignments today, several test drives and swapping the front and back wheels (independently) from left to right side, the mechanic has been unable to cure the problem. On one particular alignment he was turning and turning the bolt with no changes in the readings, before realising the LED headlights were now blinding the machine… Later he plugged in a BOSCH laptop and tried to tell the car it had wider tyres and set the full left and right travel positions, hitting enter each time, but this was unsuccessful. They have now ordered in the 215 size of the SportContact 7, rather than fit the originally ordered 215 CSC5’s that they now have in stock, as I preferred the ride of the CS7 and the mechanic suggested sticking with them. We hope going back to the 215 width will get rid of this issue of needing to make a slight (but noticeable) right input to drive straight. The alignment software has the car listed as “SEAT: 2018, IBIZA (6F0).(G01)”. I wonder if it needs more information specifically on the FR model (suspension difference etc.)? If anyone has any thoughts, suggestions or insight it would be very much appreciated before I return next week to have the 215’s fitted and a new alignment. It goes without saying I never had any similar issues over the last 7.5 years. Thanks!

 

[serdar_18fr]

The alignment software has the car listed as “SEAT: 2018, IBIZA (6F0).(G01)”. I wonder if it needs more information specifically on the FR model (suspension difference etc.)?

VAG uses PR codes like G0x for different suspension setups. Your FR most probably has a different setup (lowered & harder springs and accordingly rated shocks) than non-FR models with standard suspension and it is possible that yours is not G01 but some other G0x code that you need to find in the alignment software before starting aligning. Not sure if this would make such a difference that could cause the problems you've been having but you would want to use correct values for the alignment anyway. Let me help you identify your suspension PR code: Send me your VIN via a private message and I'll get back to you with the code.

Cheers,
Serdar

 

[serdar_18fr]

... and it is possible that yours is not G01 but some other G0x code that you need to find in the alignment software before starting aligning.

We already had a correspondence with @Pb123 over private messages but I wanted to write here too. It may help other people too in the future.

As I guessed, his car's suspension is not G01, it is G03.

I don't know how it goes in other countries but here in my country most of the garages that offer aligning services don't know about the suspension differences or they simply don't care even if they know. They must be thinking that the difference is not important anyway.

Anyway, in my 30+ years of car ownership, I never trusted garage employees about the correct car model & suspension variant selection on the aligning machine and most of the times I instructed them to select the correct one.