New to me 2016 RAV4 XLE

I just left my local Toyota dealer where they did an oil change and rotation. They told me my tires are worn badly on the inside due to alignment issues. My local Dealer did the alignment and now I am looking to buy new tires. I purchased my 2016 RAV4 XLE AWD from a different dealer at 24.3K miles, now I have 26K miles.
I really didn't expect to hear I needed tires under 35K and an alignment 2 weeks after purchasing my RAV4. My Camry never needed an alignment and tires lasted over 50k.

Is alignment a common problems with these models and what are good tires to replace?

Thanks

 

I just left my local Toyota dealer where they did an oil change and rotation. They told me my tires are worn badly on the inside due to alignment issues. My local Dealer did the alignment and now I am looking to buy new tires. I purchased my 2016 RAV4 XLE AWD from a different dealer at 24.3K miles, now I have 26K miles.
I really didn't expect to hear I needed tires under 35K and an alignment 2 weeks after purchasing my RAV4. My Camry never needed an alignment and tires lasted over 50k.

Is alignment a common problems with these models and what are good tires to replace?

Thanks

No, not in the least! My 2014 RAV4 XLE has just turned 32,000 miles last night and still has the DUNLOP original Tires and they still look NEW!


In ALL the times I have taken my 2014 at the Dealer during it's "Toyota Care" and beyond, it has NEVER required any Alignment.


It would be interesting to see if Toyota changed any Suspension components and what year, if any?


My 2014 still has lots of Tread left and I can't understand ALL this issue with Alignment problems and accelerated tire wear?:crying:

 

Google it!

I have Googled the "Tire Wear from the inside Edge" and found that the most common is lack of Tire Rotation.

 

AFAIK, this is not a common problem. Personally, I got 58k miles out of the original Yokohama Geolander G015 tires, with the dealer doing rotations every 10k; no alignments were done. I recently replaced them with Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring tires.

 

How do you like the Cooper CS5 tire? My Geolanders (20,000 miles) seem like they are losing grip in wet conditions and I tend to slide at times. I live in Cincinnati metro area so we get all kinds of crazy weather. The Michelins on my wife's Fusion are pretty darn good tires and stick to the road even in the winter weather.

 

I would stick with the michelins, they are tough and get the job done.

 

I feel like the stock tires that come with any new car are hit or miss.

Generally, I think the aftermarket tires you buy (replacing the original set) are almost always better than what originally came with the car. I don't know if manufacturers just buy low end cheap versions to put on their cars but in my experience original tires tend to be crummy.

I think the original tires on my Corolla lasted less than 40k....but I tend to replace them before they get really bad since I live on the west side of the island in Hawaii where we have rain and wet road multiple times per week.

 

I feel like the stock tires that come with any new car are hit or miss.

Generally, I think the aftermarket tires you buy (replacing the original set) are almost always better than what originally came with the car. I don't know if manufacturers just buy low end cheap versions to put on their cars but in my experience original tires tend to be crummy.

I think the original tires on my Corolla lasted less than 40k....but I tend to replace them before they get really bad since I live on the west side of the island in Hawaii where we have rain and wet road multiple times per week.

Well, I got to disagree with your "Generally" statement in the most respectful manner.


My mom's 2014 RAV4 XLE came with Dunlaps and they still have lots of tread and have wore down evenly without any alignment whatsoever.


Check out these pics and you will see the excellent condition of these STOCK tires that came with her RAV4 and now has 32,000+ original miles!:laugh:

 

I purchased the 2017 LXE and have 28,000 Miles on mine. I've rotated them at every 10k miles. They still have at least 90 % treading on them. Mine came with the Dunlop Grandtrack and I'm very happy with them. I DRIVE ALOT!!! I checked the balance ONCE and had them adjusted JUST IN CASE. There are some people in my part of town driving through a VERY rough road in South Florida called the "441". The road was in very bad shape for a year and MANY drivers had to continue to fix their alignmewnt because of it. JUST FYI
I purchased my truck end of November 2017 :nerd:

 

I have a 2017 Rav4 with 25000 mines on it. I had to replace OEM tires because of feathering in all four tires on the inside edge. Got so noisy that I could not stand it. New tires after 5000 miles are doing the same thing.

Rotation done every 5,000 miles and alignment check twice. Alignment is according to toyota specs.

Anyone else having this problem?

I'm curious if your Rav4 is a hybrid. My 2016 is at the dealership now with the same issue. It has 51000 miles and the tires have been rotated on schedule. The center and outer portions of the tire showed what I would perceive to be regular wear while the inside edges of all 4 were worn so that the belts inside the tires were showing. The dealer claims that this happens often with the hybrid models and that my mileage was actual much better than average. They are checking alignment and replacing all 4 tires. This type of wear should not be normal IMO and if your model is not a hybrid, it would seem that this may be a common problem to all Rav4s of these production years.

 

Last week I put a winter tire package on my kid's RAV4 for the first time. The vehicle has 28k miles on it, so the OEM Michelin Lattitude Tour HP have all those miles. We bought the car with 20k even on it.

All 4 tires have decent tread remaining, so no question that they would make 45k plus at this rate. But, the inner line is most definitely worn more than the outer by at least 1/32. No odd feathering of the blocks and no unusual road noise, so I don't see a huge problem at this point.

The car is going in for an oil change next week, and I've asked that they use the receiving bay quick alignment checker to give me a printout of the current numbers. I suspect that I'll see a slight negative camber to have worn all 4 so evenly. The question is whether it's considered to be within spec or not, and whether I should take any action at this point.

Oh, and to join in the above discussion, I don't expect a whole lot from original equipment rubber. I'm glad that Toyota selected Michelin as an OE supplier, but the Lattitude is not one of their tires that I would buy were it my money. And if you do your research, you might find that the OE-Spec 'Lattitude' purchased in volume isn't exactly the same 'Lattitude' you'd buy from a Michelin dealer! It might be missing a ply, or there might be a materials change. Nothing at all against Michelin implied here, and I haven't investigated the Lattitude tire specifically. But mods to meet a cost & performance objective is an industry norm. The word 'tuning' is sometimes used, although cost savings might be closer to the truth. Same goes for batteries....

 

Assuming we are not zipping across railroad tracks, or driving over Chicago downtown potholes filled streets or alike, how often are those tire pressure adjusted (when cold) according to your (in general, not specific to anyone) local ambient temperature (with an accurate pressure gauge)?
The lack of properly maintained tire pressure will cause more wear to the outer ribs especially while taking turns, higher heat and more prone to internal tire damages...

 

An Accutire digital gauge in each car and an upright air compressor in the garage with a retractor reel on the ceiling (50 ft hose), and I also ping for a readout with my Autel TS508 - all on a regular basis. I taught my kids to check their vehicles, and aim for approximately 2 psi over the B pillar placard. And it's the INNER that's worn more in our case.

Now what I can't speak to is how the vehicle was cared for in its first 20k. And why I plan to push the service writer to run the quickie laser alignment check early tomorrow morning. Let's see what the numbers say....

 

I got the printout from the quick alignment check system. All green, but the devil is in the details.

You can have a dozen critical specifications, and each spec naturally has an acceptable range. How you 'stack' the sum of each result can have a big outcome in the final answer. They could be additive and move off to one side, or the variance on each could cancel each other out and remain centered. There is a comment on the print "excessive cross Camber could cause a pull to the left". Digesting the numbers is going to take some thought....

 

I got the printout from the quick alignment check system. All green, but the devil is in the details.

You can have a dozen critical specifications, and each spec naturally has an acceptable range. How you 'stack' the sum of each result can have a big outcome in the final answer. They could be additive and move off to one side, or the variance on each could cancel each other out and remain centered. There is a comment on the print "excessive cross Camber could cause a pull to the left". Digesting the numbers is going to take some thought....

Have they also checked the vehicle's thrust angle?
Were the front Cambers checked at left and right ~20 degrees?
Any measurement on the Caster angles?
Last but not least, does the car pulls or drifts to one side while rolling (shifted in Nutural) down a leveled street?

EDIT: Has the car ever been in an accident or drove over/against a curb?

 

Used vehicle, so past is unknown. But there is no tendency to pull or misbehave in any manner noted so far.

This was not a full alignment rack evaluation. This was one of those Hunter Quickcheck systems that only evaluates Camber and Toe, with wheels straight ahead. You get that for free. A full eval costs $75. At this moment, I don't see the need based on an observed 1/32" variance at 28k miles on these tires.

 

Sorry, for the delay. It took me a while to finally found a place not too far away that has and allows me to learn about the Hunter Quickcheck System and get a couple of demo runs... It is to my believe that your RAV4 needs a deeper alignment check to see what setting (or combination of settings - if it is indeed adjustment related) is off or at the boarder line (i.e. Toe and Camber combination that 20 degree check that I mentioned, plus being independent suspension system any one corner is slightly off can cause the thrust off centered. It is my opinion, a thorough alignment check can also identify if any ball joint related issue... Perhaps we have an alignment pro here in the forum can also read your OP then comment.

 

2016 RAV4 hybrid owner here was shocked last week when the service manager stated the passenger side rear wheel is a non-adjustable for alignment! I asked if the parts on the vehicle were Toyota and was told yes! I asked why in the hell would Toyota make an unadjustable rear wheel and was told there was numerous recalls and they decided to make it "fixed". I was also told to purchase third party hardware to make it adjustable. I then left after hearing this news. What a shocking discovery and something that is unacceptable. Where and what parts do I need to make this wheel adjustment and back into 4 wheel alignment?

 

If any 3rd party hardware to purchase in order for rear wheel adjustment, I would think its the Toe and/or Camber bolts... See picture below and its page heading as FYI.

 

My wife has a 2014 Limited with 68,270 miles and we are on our 3rd set of tires. Factory tires were replaced at 22,900 miles with a set of Pirelli Scorpion Verde Plus. They were replaced at 50,300 miles with the current set of Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring and an alignment was performed at the same time. The current tires are almost to the wear indicators already. All three sets wore almost even with a little more wear in the middle, maybe a couple 16th or so. Pressure was never too high and I even dropped it a few pounds to try even the wear. Rotations were done every 5K miles. I tried to get the 2nd set of tire (Pirellis) pro-rated but the shop wouldn't do it. Said tires were not worn evenly and I did not have documentation of rotation. I rotated them myself and my written record was not good enough. Bought the current tires (Coopers) from another shop, obviously, and paid for an alignment. I've taken the vehicle to them for rotation every 5K. I'll run a set of tires right up to the wear indicators but that's it. Just too dangerous to drive on tires that worn in curvy, snowy WV. I've attached the alignment sheet.