Almost Too Late at 20k !

[a2jack]

Pete. Quote: "If my tires were exhibiting these issues, I would be checking for alignment, balancing, and strut/shock problems."

Exactly where we want to go with this. If this is a common problem we want to know before our warranties run out.

So far there is only a couple a cars with this problem. But also there are few Smarts that have racked up 20k as yet.

Remember 24k is the deadline, and I now have 22k and change. I plan to call my Service Manager Monday. I don't expect much action, as I haven't gathered enough support as yet.

I will continue to pursue this issue until it is resolved. Meanwhile the car is parked. A2Jack.

[Macaw]

What tire pressure were you running F/R? Have 15K on the Pure and just did a hand check and didn't feel anything. Will do a better check this weekend.

[NuBiker]

Interesting thread. I have NEVER gotten more than 24k out of my tires - a Saturn, a few Toyotas, VW beetles, BMW 325i, my current Scion xB, etc.
However, I blame myself, I drive like a bat out of "L".

[a2jack]

Wdhitch mentions outside temps... Possible.

Macaw, Pressure is by the book and the car is just out of 20k check where the tires were rotated and serviced. At that time I was still writing off road noise as just the road surface, so did not alert the dealer to the problem.

NuBiker. Yes, we do drive fast. 75+ @ 70% of our driving. And that's an interesting point as owners must be driving fast to have achieved this high mileage in such a short time. A2Jack.

[Macaw]

I've been running 36psi front and 38psi rear although due to weather conditions I've dropped back to stock levels this month.

[Jim R]

I got thinking about all this tire wear talk and realized our Mazda6 has 55,000 miles on the rear tires.They're Michellins and they still look like they may be good for another year. Maybe the independent suspension is more forgiving on tires.

[eqwalker]

I agree with what is being said that the front tires (on RWD) will eventually cup if you cannot rotate them, but this seems very quick to see tire wear at 24k miles. Heck, I have a Corvette that has different size tires on the front versus the back, and they are unidirectional tires so I cannot rotate them, but I still get good mileage out of them. Also, when the front tires do start to eventually cup, it is usually on the outside edges. I have never seen tire wear like this on the insides of the front tires. It is almost like the fronts are squatting a little, wearing more on the inside of the tires, much like the rear tires that seem to have negative camber.

[Boeschbuilt]

The rear tires wearing on the inside sounds like more of a negative camber issue to me. a lot of times this happens because your alignment is out of wack. But, more likely, I suspect is that this is just a minor hiccup in the suspension design and geometry on the Smart. My Porsche 944 would do the same thing, I just had to keep an eye on it.

A cupped tire is almost always attributed to a bad shock or strut. The tire just sort of bounces down the road and starts to wear little flat spots all over. I don't think you have a bad shock or strut, but maybe it's because you drive on bumpy Michigan roads and your car doesn't have enough weight in the front to keep the tires properly planted on ground.
Just my opinion
Matt

[JThw8]

Just to throw data onto the pile from one of the high mileage smarts. Mine hits 30k this week (probably thursday, just when she is scheduled to go into the dealer)
No tire noise and no unusual wear patterns noticed so far.

[PassionforPassionCT]

Roads aren't the best in Michigan, I would make sure that there isn't something wrong with the suspension.