2001 Camry handling in rain

[bthumble]

Hello,

I own a 2001 Camry with 97k miles. I am the original owner. I replaced the original tires in July 2004 with Goodyear Assurance Tripletred tires at 41k miles. Currently, when driving my Camry on the highway when it is raining, it feels like I might be losing traction with the road. The tires have a 80k warranty on them. Do you think it is the tires or something else? The tires still have tread on them, but I am sure they will need to be replaced within the next 12 months.

Thanks

Jerry

[DxElite]

It's the tires, a friend of mines has the same tires and his are wearing down quick since he's an aggressive driver. He mentioned that about a third down the tread he noticed it wasn't gripping as well on wet pavement anymore. My guess is that it's gotten into the harder rubber layer so the tread wear is slowed down.

Traction on wet roads also depends on how deep the water channels are on the tread. I looked at the design while waiting at discount tires for my own tires and noticed that about halfway down the tread life, the water channels become shallow and the water wouldn't be dispersed outward as much as it would when they're new.

80K miles warranty is a calculated tread life, there are too many other factors involved that determines the actual real world tread life.
Although it makes it much easier to get warranty replacement tires because they wear out sooner than the warranted miles.

[JohnGD]

If you have T-rated tires then consider Michelin HydroEdge. Should have about 800 tread wear rating (~80K miles).

Originally Posted by bthumble

Hello,

I own a 2001 Camry with 97k miles. I am the original owner. I replaced the original tires in July 2004 with Goodyear Assurance Tripletred tires at 41k miles. Currently, when driving my Camry on the highway when it is raining, it feels like I might be losing traction with the road. The tires have a 80k warranty on them. Do you think it is the tires or something else? The tires still have tread on them, but I am sure they will need to be replaced within the next 12 months.

Thanks

Jerry

[yuriy]

I also think it's the tires..

[Gibson99]

I disagree. I think it's because it's been so long since we had any actual rain, that we (Houstonians) all forgot what it's like to drive on wet roads. And now that we're actually getting some rain the past few weeks, it feels foreign and alien.

seriously tho - i also agree that your tires are probably worn out. just because they have an 80k mile warranty doesn't mean they will actually last that long. i've never had a tire last through its entire treadlife warranty. granted, i'm an aggressive driver, but i still expect more than 10k miles out of a set of properly rotated/maintained 36k mile tires.

[islandboy57]

I don't really pay attention to the mileage warranties. I'd prefer not to deal with "sir, your tires aren't at 2/32 tread depth yet so we can't do anything yet" since while they warranty the tires for 80K miles, that doesn't say anything about how the tires will handle up until that point. The last two sets of tires I replaced were Bridgestone Potenza RE92s and Michelin Energy MXV4+; both had tread left but they were hydroplaning in the rain and skidding on dry pavement..so I tossed them at 27K and 30K miles.

My current Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S tires have a 45K mile warranty and that is fine with me, they're sticky tires and I wouldn't want to drive on my tires past 45K anyway. I absolutely love these tires and I'm praying they're still available when I need a new set. I had them installed on my own Camry as well as my mom's gen 3.5. The ride is so much better and overall my car just feels better.

If you can afford it, try not to skimp on tires. They're the only things that make contact with the road.....

[PhatRoyale]

Originally Posted by islandboy57

I don't really pay attention to the mileage warranties. I'd prefer not to deal with "sir, your tires aren't at 2/32 tread depth yet so we can't do anything yet" since while they warranty the tires for 80K miles, that doesn't say anything about how the tires will handle up until that point. The last two sets of tires I replaced were Bridgestone Potenza RE92s and Michelin Energy MXV4+; both had tread left but they were hydroplaning in the rain and skidding on dry pavement..so I tossed them at 27K and 30K miles.

My current Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S tires have a 45K mile warranty and that is fine with me, they're sticky tires and I wouldn't want to drive on my tires past 45K anyway. I absolutely love these tires and I'm praying they're still available when I need a new set. I had them installed on my own Camry as well as my mom's gen 3.5. The ride is so much better and overall my car just feels better.

If you can afford it, try not to skimp on tires. They're the only things that make contact with the road.....

+1 solid advice there.

Never sweat good tires not being available, they change constantly, by the time you need new ones, something better and cheaper will be out to take the place of your current ones.

I can't wear my current Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS out fast enough lol, they're in the same ultra high performance all-season segment as your Michelins are, but at a lower cost. Great stuff.

[skewe]

Tires...
If they do not live up to the warranty, bring it back and goodyear will prorate the tires when you buy new ones

[Hajoca]

I have used H rated and V rated tires, both on my camrys and have found that the V's have longer tread life. I think it is due to a better tread system altogether.

The speed rating is tested 'relatively' against how well the tire performs at the rated load at XX Kph/mph.

A tire that has a lower speed rating will be subject to wear out quicker from a combination of ballooning (tread center comes out in diameter) or circumferential? deformation (circumference becomes oval like a drop of water) at it's speed limit.

I know higher load rating tires have reinforced sidewalls as well.

[Dick Tuck]

I find the BF Goodrich TAs sold by Sam's club to be a good all around tire at a good price. BTW, Goodrich is now owned by the "fat guy" and it seems the BF tires are becoming more "fat guy" like. "Long wearing" tires often have a hard tread which lacks the grip of the softer conpound "performance" tires. The trick is to get a grippy tread rubber which will not be so soft as to wear out quickly. Ain't nobody fround the "perfect" stuff to make it out of yet. Higher speed rated tires have more belts and sidewall plies to keep the tire together at high speeds and that usually gives them less slop in turns but a harder ride. They don't last any longer either because there is softer tread compound involved. D Tuck

[Tom 2000]

Like everybody else says, it's the tires.

I actually had 80K mile Michelin tires lasted over 80K miles, but the tires didn't grip all that well even on dry pavement and rode very hard. I got my money's worth, but that's about all I can say.

How much tread do you have left?

A common measurement of when a tire is worn out is 2/32" tread depth. Most people take a U.S. penny and stick it in the tire tread groove. If you can see above Lincoln's head, then it's less that 2/32".

However, that's really really worn. If you stick a U.S. quarter in the tread and see above George Washington's head, it's time to start considering new tires (less than 4/32" depth), especially if you live where it gets a lot of rain.

Take a look at this link for more details. There's photos.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=51

[Dave's]

I'm running General Altimax HP's on both my '01 and '04. Haven't had them long so I don't know how they'll stand up but they seem to do very well in the rain thus far. Next choice would have been the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S's.

[Gibson99]

I used to have Arizonian Silver Edition on my 95, and was pleasantly surprised at how quiet, grippy, and how well they did in the rain, esp considering how cheap they were. I may be getting a set on my 98 before the year's out. they didn't last 60k, but they weren't rated for that either.

[hooRAH]

Originally Posted by Hajoca

I have used H rated and V rated tires, both on my camrys and have found that the V's have longer tread life. I think it is due to a better tread system altogether.

The speed rating is tested 'relatively' against how well the tire performs at the rated load at XX Kph/mph.

A tire that has a lower speed rating will be subject to wear out quicker from a combination of ballooning (tread center comes out in diameter) or circumferential? deformation (circumference becomes oval like a drop of water) at it's speed limit.

I know higher load rating tires have reinforced sidewalls as well.

Im not sure I'm totally understanding your post correctly, but higher speed rated tires definitely do not have longer lives, but that have more to do with tire application rather than construction.

For example, I guarantee that my 100 Treadwear rating Toyo R888s which are Z or ZW or something like that last a small fraction of the treadlife on the michelins H rateds that are on the camry. Then again, they're completely separate tires.

Maybe you meant something else, but to me it sounded like "a tire with a lower speed rating will wear quicker", which isnt the case.

[hooRAH]

Originally Posted by Tom 2000

Like everybody else says, it's the tires.

I actually had 80K mile Michelin tires lasted over 80K miles, but the tires didn't grip all that well even on dry pavement and rode very hard. I got my money's worth, but that's about all I can say.

How much tread do you have left?

A common measurement of when a tire is worn out is 2/32" tread depth. Most people take a U.S. penny and stick it in the tire tread groove. If you can see above Lincoln's head, then it's less that 2/32".

However, that's really really worn. If you stick a U.S. quarter in the tread and see above George Washington's head, it's time to start considering new tires (less than 4/32" depth), especially if you live where it gets a lot of rain.

Take a look at this link for more details. There's photos.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=51

I tried to do your test but I couldn't find a groove to stick the penny in. What does that mean?