Tires Worn Out in Less than 1 Year.

a2jack · 03-22-2009, 02:04 PM

At 18k we began to notice road noise was getting louder. Took our Smartie in to the dealer and found the tires badly worn, but no warranty coverage.

Discount Tire had to replace both fronts due to severe cupping.

Rears had high ridges on inside edges, these they removed and flipped to squeeze another summer out of them.

Techs at Discount say the Continental tires we have on our cars are designed with low rolling resistance to give good gas mileage, but tend to wear out quickly. But less than 20k on a set of tires is indeed QUICK!

After new tires were mounted we took the car right in for an alignment and all was in, or close to spec. (Smart Service Manager ran it through the Toyota dealer for us and gave them the alignment numbers).

So that's the story...The moral??? Watch the tires after 10 k and have them flipped often. Than switch to a better wearing tire brand.

A2Jack

Turbo42 · 03-22-2009, 02:22 PM

I know someone that has over 30k and no problems I have 15k on mine and mine are no where near needing to be replaced

a2jack · 03-22-2009, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babybenz

I know someone that has over 30k and no problems I have 15k on mine and mine are no where near needing to be replaced

Yes, I too have heard others on this list with no problems, but there are also some with the problem. We are not talking tread wear here, but tire damage.

We do drive fast, and mostly on highway and freeways. We parked the car for most of the winter until we resolved this problem, or we would have run over 30k on the car. This post is an attempt to get to the bottom of this mystery.
A2Jack

**Wdhitch** · 03-22-2009, 03:06 PM

I think road condition might have some effect on it.

I'm over 31,000 and while there is some wear and I'll replace them at 40,000 I'm on the original front tires(rear tires were replaced at different times due to flats and a chunk out of the tire) and I've never flipped them.

jefferios · 03-22-2009, 03:43 PM

Hey thanks for the update, I have been wondering what happened to this. Sorry to hear the problems of course. What is your next choice for a tire then?

prm1177 · 03-22-2009, 03:44 PM

Don't know about your dealer, but I found that the sealers for both my cars have a tendency to underinflate the tires at service. Typically this improves the ride a little, but it seriously whacks the wear and fuel mileage. My Smart has 21k on it and the tires are still good. I'm expecting 40k from the set.

eqwalker · 03-22-2009, 04:01 PM

A2jack, I'm one of those that is there with you on the tire wear. I currently have 27k on mine right now and the tire roar is substantial and I have seen where the inside of the front tires are worn considerably. I, too, have traveled much on freeways and highways. I'm beginning to think that the tires wear quicker when driven at fast speeds versus slow 45 or slower speeds around town. My rear tires also show wear on the inside edges (rounding off I believe due to negative camber). I'm going to push mine to at least 30k before thinking of replacement. I'll just put up with the tire roar for now. I cannot imagine having to change tires at such a low mileage. I would expect, at least, 40k to 50k out of a set of tires on such a light vehicle. As I have stated before in a previous post, I have achieved 80k on a set of Uniroyals on a S10 that I had. I have heard someone else speak that it may be due to the brand/type of tire. Maybe a different brand/type will wear better.

Gortok · 03-22-2009, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eqwalker

I have achieved 80k on a set of Uniroyals on a S10 that I had.

Actually, that's not that uncommon...for an S10...regardless of tire manufacturer. Tires will often dry-rot on an S10 faster than wear away.

This is my professional experience. I've seen it many times.

For the OP:
There are OPTIMUM alignment settings, Good alignment settings, marginal settings, and OUT OF SPEC...

If your car is OUT, it is most definitely BAD for tire wear.

fpage77 · 03-22-2009, 04:44 PM

Funny the manufacturer of that tire warrants it for 80k miles, I would think they wouldn't warrant it that long if it's going to need to be replaced in 20k miles.

mdfortwoguy · 03-22-2009, 04:59 PM

At any rate, a full set of replacement tires for these are $300 on TireRack.

Considering I dropped $155/tire on my VUE when I replaced them a while back, $300/4 isn't terrible.