Anyone have problems with excessive tire wear? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

ccarol61 · 08-24-2006, 09:12 PM

We had to buy new tires today. It was an unexpected expense, because our 2005 Camry LE is exactly one year old and we only have 16,000 miles on it. We have taken good care of it--just normal driving around town, regular oil changes and tire rotations at our dealership, etc. Recently, we noticed that the tire tread was wearing really quickly, so I asked the dealership to take a look at it when I brought it in for an oil change/tire rotation today. They called me from the dealership and told me that, yes, the tires were wearing down pretty quickly even though the car wasn't out of alignment. The service guy told me that Toyota and other car dealers now put tires with "soft rubber" on their new cars so the test drives will be smooth, realizing that the buyer will likely only get 21-25,000 miles on the softer tires. I couldn't believe it! You pay $20,000+ and have to replace your tires in 1-2 years? That's crazy! He agreed with me, going as far as telling me that the alignment guy looked at my car and determined that I wasn't even going to get the expected 21,000 miles out of my tires. So, they made me an offer to put 4 new tires on - they paid 40% of the cost and I had to pay the other 60%, and I had to get an alignment at their suggestion. At the end of the day, I paid just under $400 to be sure that the tires on my relatively new Camry would be safe.

Has anyone else had this experience? If not, you might want to take a good look at your factory-installed tires and make sure they're safe!

ghettosled · 08-24-2006, 10:04 PM

never heard of this before - then again my wifes jeep liberty is the first new car ive purchased. but that car still has its original goodyear tires and its at 45k miles, and i think i can easily get another 20k out of them.

JMSinMD · 08-24-2006, 11:45 PM

It happened on my mothers car as well as many other people's car. Car manufacturer's, especially Toyota make an excellent product but try to hold costs down to make as much money as possible. In exchange they put a tire with a low treadwear rating (usually in the 200's) vs. my most recent tires that have a 500 treadwear rating. It's not about a softer ride, etc. It's about putting on the cheapest tire they can get away with. I personally would never buy any tire but Yokohama or Pirelli. I've had Goodyear, Dunlop, Bridgestone, etc, etc on my/family cars and they are all garbage. I wouldn't put on a Goodyear tire if it was free. I would call Toyota customer service and tell them you want them to pay your 60%. Hopefully you got a decent replacement tire. Jon.

ghettosled · 08-27-2006, 08:26 PM

^ just curious, whats wrong with goodyear? im asking because i dont know much about tires and ive never had any problems with them.

camree99 · 08-31-2006, 04:19 PM

im planning to buy a set of tires too and haven't decided what brand and model of tire i should get. currently, im using dunlop which was on when i bought the car 2 years ago. approximately i had put on 29k mi on it. there are sign of wearing out at the edge of the tire that's why im thinking of getting new ones, although i have to measure the remaing tread if it's less than 2/32 of an inch.

JMSinMD · 08-31-2006, 05:31 PM

We had goodyears which wore out REAL quick and didn't handle whatsoever. My favorite tire of all time has to be my current setup which are the Yoko Avid H4s. I have them in 18" and will be purchasing them in 16" for my winter setup. Jon.

Digger1 · 11-21-2006, 08:46 PM

My Toyota pickup truck (see signature) came with Goodyear tires that were trash and totally worn out at 37,500 miles.

FWIW.

triggerhappy007 · 11-21-2006, 10:28 PM

All tire brands have bad apples, that's why I look at reviews at tirerack and discounttires to see which ones are good for the money. If you buy you tires locally, get a tire with a really high mileage warranty so when it wears out, you can get a prorated price off the new tires.

islandboy57 · 11-22-2006, 03:45 AM

What tires came as OEM on your Camry? I'm at 19.5K miles with a good amount of tread left and I expect to get another 15-20K miles out of my OEM Bridgestone RE92s. Cheap tires but they're fine for me. The only thing Hawaii gets is heavy rain and I have not had a problem *knock on wood*

I would definitely contact corporate and have your dealership fax them your invoices for tire rotations and what not -- obviously proving that you maintained your tires to a reasonable degree and they should not have worn out so fast.

triggerhappy007 · 11-22-2006, 07:00 AM

Warranty does not cover tire wear.

islandboy57 · 11-22-2006, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by triggerhappy007

Warranty does not cover tire wear.

We're talking about very premature tire wear; not normal wear and tear. Obviously the dealer felt it was premature wear as they covered almost half of the replacement cost.

kamrhee · 11-22-2006, 02:28 PM

JMS,
Never had any problems with the OE tires. Goodyear Integrity. Lasted a good 60K. Changed to Goodyear Affinity. Another 70K went by. Actually, I'm shopping for new tires and thinking to go with 17 or 18 rims since the cost for 4 tires is alreay at the $300 mark.

Ccarol61,
Check with tirerack.com and see what the rubber rating is. If its soft then you know its not going to last long. If its a harder rubber compound, then its premature since the dealership said nothing is wrong with the alignment. Another thing to check is the tire pressure. Even if you follow the recommended PSI, if you're hauling stuff now and then, the added weight will have an effect on tires.

kamrhee

touringcamry · 11-22-2006, 05:10 PM

The OE tires on my 2000 lasted only about 18000 miles possibly because I never rotated them. They had 300 treadwear rating but they were complete garbage. It's a crappy crappy tire if my I4 automatic Camry can do a peel out.

The OE tires on my 02 lasted about 12000 miles with rotation. They were Bridgestone with 140 treadwear rating.

ghettosled · 11-26-2006, 09:51 PM

^ dude, how quick are you taking turns, accelerating and braking?? youre going through tires very quickly. if you switch to a softer rubber to prevent peel outs with your i4 auto, the tires wont last as long.

touringcamry · 11-26-2006, 10:05 PM

The OEM tires on the 00 Camry were junk which is what enabled me to do peel outs. I did not rotate them very often so they did not last very long. I don't take off very fast, the 1-2 shift happens around 3000 RPMs if that tells you anything. But if from a stop, I just floored it, my Camry would sit there for a couple seconds burning rubber - remember that my Camry has 130 HP and weighs about 3100 lbs.

I have made W rated tires that lasted 35000 miles even with aggressive driving. Though I actually rotated these on a regular basis.

The tires on my 02 Camry were just short wearing. I rotated them and kept them inflated, but I doubt they were designed to last very long if they had 140 treadwear rating.