Camry HybridDiscussion area for the Toyota Camry Hybrid. Topics of discussion range from fuel economy, safety, modifications, performance all involving Americas favorite family car, the Toyota Camry.
Just got a shock today, that my 07 TCH tires need to be replaced immediately. I have the Bridgestone Turanza tires, according to my garage guy and Tirerack these are 50k rated tires, I have only gotten barely 30k . I am wondering if other TCH owners have experienced the same thing. I have seen some thin references to that effect but didn't want to go through 19 pages of posts.
Has anyone contacted Toyota to complain? If so, what was the result, because Monday I am determined to pitch a large fit at the dealership and Toyota Corp.
BTW new to the forum and I am glad to have found it, you have a wealth of great info
Thanks
Your beef is with Bridgestone, not necessarily Toyota. The tires on new vehicles are always warrantied by the tire manufacturer, not the car manufacturer.
I too had the Bridgestones on my TCH. They wore out at about 27,000 miles. I complained to my dealer, and they said that Bridgestone covers the tires- who said that the best they could do was to prorate them and offer money off a new set of tires. (I provided full documentation to show proper inflation/rotation)
Due to the fact that the Bridgestones are absolutely horrible tires anyway, I refused and replaced them with Michelin Primacy MXV4s.
Unless you want another set of Bridgestones, if I were use I'd take it as a lesson learned. The next time you buy a new car... make sure you check out which tires are on it. (Online reviews for the Bridgestones are horrible)
Toyota puts Michelin Energy tires on some TCHs. While they are a bit more expensive to replace than the Bridgestones, they generally have more favorable reviews- and last longer.
The Bridgestone tires are known for having a short life. I have a set and with 26,000 miles on them, they appear to be about 60% gone. Not bad considering that others have had to replace them with a little as 20,000 miles. The other factory tire is a Michelin Energy S8 which seems to be a better all around tire with a longer life (35,000 to 40,000).
For a replacement tire, a lot of drivers are going to the Michelin Primacy which has a mileage warranty. Either way, inflate them to somewhere between what is listed on the door jamb (32 psi) and the maximum on the sidewall of the tire. Most of us running the Bridgestone’s tend to settle around 41 psi with the Michelins at 38 to 39 psi.
If you haven’t done it yet, also join up at greenhybrid and record your mpg info in the database they have running. Another good group of people even if a lot of them tend to be closet tree huggers….
Thanks for your replies, I am not so closet a treee hugger!! I will check out the greenhybrid site too. I guess tires just isn't something that I thought I had to research, lesson learned. My guy is recommending a Yokohama Avid Touring or Toyo Spectrum Touring both of which he has had good experiences with. Anyone with particular experiences with these tires? Pros or Cons to either?
He is also recommeding as top of line Goodyear Assurance Comfortreds or Triple Tred, but I am not so keen to come off with the $600 for those.
Thanks for your replies, I am not so closet a treee hugger!! I will check out the greenhybrid site too. I guess tires just isn't something that I thought I had to research, lesson learned. My guy is recommending a Yokohama Avid Touring or Toyo Spectrum Touring both of which he has had good experiences with. Anyone with particular experiences with these tires? Pros or Cons to either?
He is also recommeding as top of line Goodyear Assurance Comfortreds or Triple Tred, but I am not so keen to come off with the $600 for those.
A thing to watch out for is to make sure you get Low Rolling Resistance tires. If you don't, expect to lose 3-7% MPG. That's 2-4, and the full scope of loss will depend on your driving conditions. Neither of the above choices seem to be LRR.
I have a 08 Camry Hybrid. Took it in for an alignment and tire rotation at 11,800 miles. The tire shop, which is a Bridgestone dealer, informed there was no need to rotate as the rear tires were almost wore out(down to 4/32). At 5k miles I purchased a lifetime alignment and road hazard package for the OEM Bridgestone Turanza 400LE tires. Wear patterns at that time were not a issue. The tires were wearing even just that the rears were almost wore out. The fronts still have 8/32 of tread. The alignment was with in specifications. I went directly to the Toyota dealer who I bought the car from new. They blamed the tire wear on lack of maintenance which isn't the case. The Bridgestone dealer clearly stated it was premature tire wear but would not warrant the tires because they have no mileage warranty and stated all hybrids appear to wear tires sooner. The Toyota dealer stated a typical tire mileage is about 20k and they get several complaints but its not their problem. I purchased a new set of tires due to the OEM's were unsafe for Colorado winter driving. Considered just buying two snow tires but the Bridgestone dealer didn't have any in stock and would have to order. The next snow storm would be here before the tires.
Bridgestone's suck. I had them as OEM's on my 350Z
__________________ Mspeasl 'Growing old may be mandatory, but growing up is optional' 2009 Barcelona Red Toyota 'Hybrid' - Delivered 19 August 2008 2008 Radiant Red Toyota 'X-Runner' - Delivered 15 November 2007 2003 Redline Touring 6sp '350Z' - Delivered 29 August 02
Just got a shock today, that my 07 TCH tires need to be replaced immediately. I have the Bridgestone Turanza tires, according to my garage guy and Tirerack these are 50k rated tires, I have only gotten barely 30k . I am wondering if other TCH owners have experienced the same thing. I have seen some thin references to that effect but didn't want to go through 19 pages of posts.
Has anyone contacted Toyota to complain? If so, what was the result, because Monday I am determined to pitch a large fit at the dealership and Toyota Corp.
BTW new to the forum and I am glad to have found it, you have a wealth of great info
Thanks
Consider yourself lucky. I have Turanza EL400's on my My 09 LE V6. They have a UTOG tread wear rating of only 260 so I knew I'd be replacing the tires around 25,000. I have 8000 miles on the car and planned on rotating them in a couple weeks and noticed the front tires are almost worn out! And I drive moderately - no hard acceleration. They are near the tread wear indicators. Back tires are OK. I figure after rotiation, I will be replacing the tires at 12,000. My dealer said this is common - most camry's barely get 20,000 miles out of a set.
Factory specs call for a V rated tire and I plan to replace with Michelin Primacy (UTOG rating 550) with a 60,000 tread wear warranty. Goodyear Assurance tires are only T rated and don't meet Camry OEM specs. Although the Goodyear says the Assurance tire is good for 80,000 miles, my wife's car has them and they are two thirds worn at 40,000 miles - even wear with regular tire rotations.
I put Michelin Primacy tires on when I went to Avalon wheels and am quite happy with them.
Bridgestone is not the same ever since they joined with Firestone whenever that was. We had them on our '94 Suburban from SEARS when the recall started and then ours started separating. Sears would not give us a 100% credit we had to go with the proration. Bridge stone wouldn't help at all because we bought them from Sears. We then tried Dunlops, got around the corner and the car was doing all kinds of crazy things as far as steering, so we went right back and got Michelin's installed and have never looked back. I went with the MICHELIN HydroEdge on my Mark VIII,(not V rated, but hell I never drive over a 100MPH anyway) and they have worn very even and are now guaranteed for 90,000 miles. Always look for the higest heat rating and tread wear you can get. The 09 TCH came with some kind of Michelin which made me happy and a week later we hit some kind of shrapnel, cut the right rear in the sidewall. Lucky for us we had the extra pkg., sold by dealer, to cover this and rim damage. No rim damage, but $219 for a new tire installed and paid for by policy. We have now gotten half the price of the policy, and we still have 4 years left on it.
I noticed one thing about Michelin tires, many, many years ago, they hardly ever take much weight to balance them.
Last edited by LCromwell; 03-19-2009 at 07:06 PM.
Reason: spelling
I replaced my OEM Bridgestones with Michelin Primacy's today. My '09 TCH has 33K and the Bridgestones were wearing poorly, feathering, noisy and felt like one of them had a belt separating. I've rotated them about every 6K miles and the alignment was well within specs. I don't have high expectations for OEM tires, so while 33K was disappointing, it simply assured Bridgestones would not be the replacements. I could not find a Michelin in a 215 width with V rating in NoVA. Not only were they out of stock, but the "system" was telling the techs the 215 width was no longer made in a V. I could have gotten a 215 in an H rated tire, but I wanted the stiffer sidewall the V rated tire provides and the H rated is not a recommend tire for the TCH. I was in and out of Merchants in 60 minutes. The tires were not cheap, but I did use a $40 internet coupon. I could tell I was going to be happy as soon as I drove away - no noise and a much smoother ride. It's going to rain tonight, so I'll see how they do in weather tomorrow - no doubts they will perform well since I've always had good experiences with Michelins. The tires are at 32psi now. I'll give them a tank to see how they perform then consider raising the pressure 2psi at a time to see if there's a difference in performance/feel.
I replaced my OEM Bridgestones with Michelin Primacy's today. My '09 TCH has 33K and the Bridgestones were wearing poorly, feathering, noisy and felt like one of them had a belt separating. I've rotated them about every 6K miles and the alignment was well within specs. I don't have high expectations for OEM tires, so while 33K was disappointing, it simply assured Bridgestones would not be the replacements. I could not find a Michelin in a 215 width with V rating in NoVA. Not only were they out of stock, but the "system" was telling the techs the 215 width was no longer made in a V. I could have gotten a 215 in an H rated tire, but I wanted the stiffer sidewall the V rated tire provides and the H rated is not a recommend tire for the TCH. I was in and out of Merchants in 60 minutes. The tires were not cheap, but I did use a $40 internet coupon. I could tell I was going to be happy as soon as I drove away - no noise and a much smoother ride. It's going to rain tonight, so I'll see how they do in weather tomorrow - no doubts they will perform well since I've always had good experiences with Michelins. The tires are at 32psi now. I'll give them a tank to see how they perform then consider raising the pressure 2psi at a time to see if there's a difference in performance/feel.
I have an 09 and it has Michelin 215x60x16 tires V rated on it. Discount tire has them or can order them for you. The main this is to get rid of the Bridgestones! Which it sounds like you did.
__________________ The Bitterness of Poor Quality,Lingers Long After the Cheapness of Price is Forgotten!
I have an 09 and it has Michelin 215x60x16 tires V rated on it. Discount tire has them or can order them for you. The main this is to get rid of the Bridgestones! Which it sounds like you did.
Did your '09 TCH come with the Michelins as OEM? Mine was an early '09 build and came with the Bridgestones.
After putting them on both my 09 Camry and wife's 02 Lexus ES300 and getting TOP performance, Consumer Reports (consumerreports.org) finally came out and said the Primacy MXVR4 is the best tire based on extensive road tests of 29 H and V rated tires on 9-28-09.
I am a member of both the Internet version and the hard copy mail version of Consumer Reports - but you have to pay for for the Internet Version so I cannot send you the link. The study of 29 H and V rated tires show that Michelin is tops. The Primacy was not only rated best overall; it was rated best in fuel economy (rolling resistence). The hard copy of the review will be contained in the November 2009 hardcopy of Consumer Reports.
Bridgestone Turanza EL400-2 are the absolute worst trash tires sold on the Camry. The service manager at my dealership says they get complaints about the V rated Turanza EL400-2 wearing out in 15 to 20K are the norm when you buy ANY camry. This means when buying the car, search the lot for one with Michelins as standard equipment. You are most likely to find them on the SE and XLE I4 and V6.
Looks like 90% of the CE/LE series has the Bridgestones. I searched the lot of olate toyota when my oil was being changed last week and all but one of the 2010 hybrids had the el cheapo Bridestones.
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. I am wondering if other TCH owners have experienced the same thing. I have seen some thin references to that effect but didn't want to go through 19 pages of posts. 
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