Uneven tire wear?

[firemachine69]

So I bothered to measure my tread depth today on the Yaris. Driver-front is 5/32, driver-rear is 7/32, passenger-front was 4/32, passenger-rear is 5/32.

I have 10k kilometers (about 6k miles) on the stock Bridgstone Potenza RE-92.

Man, if I didn't know better I'd say I was running a Nascar-course...

 

[Drew99GT]

DUDE, what are you doing??? I'd say it's time to get new tires. I won't even go lower than 5/32 (for wet and snow performance). Is you're alignment completely hosed? Tire pressures?

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT

DUDE, what are you doing??? I'd say it's time to get new tires. I won't even go lower than 5/32 (for wet and snow performance). Is you're alignment completely hosed? Tire pressures?


+1, WOW! Is this a defect you could take up with Toyota? You didn't mention if these are the tires that came on the Yaris or ones you bought for the Sunfire.

 

[firemachine69]

Ride them at max sidewall pressure (40psi).


Very gentle on the car. I might need an alignment, there is a slight pull to the right (negligeable, but still there). Should I get a two-wheel or four-wheel alignment?

And these are stock on the Yaris.

 

[Drew99GT]

Are they more worn in the center compared to the shoulder? Does the tire placard recommend 30 psi? Might want to lower the air pressure a tad on the next set of tires. There's definitely a balance amongst different air pressure settings. Too much pressure, especially on a light car could wear the tires significantly faster.

 

[firemachine69]

40PSI is the sidewall maximum. And in theory, a lighter car, on high air pressure, should result in decreased wear.

Tire placard on the door rates them at 36PSI, but it's a well-known Yaris "secret" that 36PSI is solely for ride comfort.

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Originally Posted By: firemachine69
40PSI is the sidewall maximum. And in theory, a lighter car, on high air pressure, should result in decreased wear.

Tire placard on the door rates them at 36PSI, but it's a well-known Yaris "secret" that 36PSI is solely for ride comfort.


I'm running 35 psi on my lightweight Saturn and Corolla and have none of these problems the OP has. I think running 40 is too much. I honestly think you are going to put a lot of stress on front end components and struts going to a high psi like that long term.

 

[Drew99GT]

I'd think a light car with too much air pressure would murder the tread in the center of the tire. More weight would flatten/even out the contact patch of the tire on the road.

I wore out a set of tires on my Grand Am in about 10,000 miles by running 44 psi (sidewall max). The center was bald.

Regardless, take it back to Toyota. The tires are under warranty.

 

[firemachine69]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
I'd think a light car with too much air pressure would murder the tread in the center of the tire. More weight would flatten/even out the contact patch of the tire on the road.

I wore out a set of tires on my Grand Am in about 10,000 miles by running 44 psi (sidewall max). The center was bald.

Regardless, take it back to Toyota. The tires are under warranty.


I will, but I've been given the shaft on warranty work. They'll do anything to get out of warranty work. How many quarts does someone on BITOG wanna gamble they'll tell me tires are "consumables" and not covered under warranty?

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
I'd think a light car with too much air pressure would murder the tread in the center of the tire. More weight would flatten/even out the contact patch of the tire on the road.

I wore out a set of tires on my Grand Am in about 10,000 miles by running 44 psi (sidewall max). The center was bald.

Regardless, take it back to Toyota. The tires are under warranty.


+1 Drew, I was thinking the same thing. I won't go much above 35psi for that very reason.

Don't tell Toy that you are running 40 psi when you go back to them on these tires or they'll probably tell you to pound sand. The door jamb indicates the manufacturer's ideal balance between ride comfort, tire longevity, and fuel economy. Upping the pressure isn't a free ride and rid comfort and tire longevity is going to suffer IMHO, BUT NOT AT 6K MILES! Toyota should step up to the plate on this one, but they probably will not as OP states.

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Originally Posted By: firemachine69
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
I'd think a light car with too much air pressure would murder the tread in the center of the tire. More weight would flatten/even out the contact patch of the tire on the road.

I wore out a set of tires on my Grand Am in about 10,000 miles by running 44 psi (sidewall max). The center was bald.

Regardless, take it back to Toyota. The tires are under warranty.



I will, but I've been given the shaft on warranty work. They'll do anything to get out of warranty work. How many quarts does someone on BITOG wanna gamble they'll tell me tires are "consumables" and not covered under warranty?



What kind of warranty work have you already had on a Yaris with 6k? I thought the Yaris were a pretty reliable vehicle???

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: firemachine69
I might need an alignment, there is a slight pull to the right (negligeable, but still there). Should I get a two-wheel or four-wheel alignment?


There's no such thing as a negligible pull. If it pulls at all, you need to fix it. Did you hit something or has it always been like that? Check your warranty book to see how long alignment is covered.

 

[firemachine69]

Originally Posted By: Saturn_Fan
Originally Posted By: firemachine69
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
I'd think a light car with too much air pressure would murder the tread in the center of the tire. More weight would flatten/even out the contact patch of the tire on the road.

I wore out a set of tires on my Grand Am in about 10,000 miles by running 44 psi (sidewall max). The center was bald.

Regardless, take it back to Toyota. The tires are under warranty.



I will, but I've been given the shaft on warranty work. They'll do anything to get out of warranty work. How many quarts does someone on BITOG wanna gamble they'll tell me tires are "consumables" and not covered under warranty?



What kind of warranty work have you already had on a Yaris with 6k? I thought the Yaris were a pretty reliable vehicle???

Check engine light came on. Excess emissions.

Fuel dilution (resulting in por gas mileage, although dealer refuses to acknowledge a problem exists).

Body trim broke off.

I'm already clunking in the front of the suspension. Appointment scheduled.

Rattles a bit everywhere. Dealer refuses to fix or says problem doesn't exist.

Expensive bodywork due to mis-aligned fender/door sliding into each other over time (about six months), rubbing paint and denting each other.

Tires that are ridiculuosly worn prematurely (alignment and tires aren't covered, so I've learned).


As I've noted elsewhere, I get burnt once, but not twice. Never will I purchase a new Toyota again.


rpn453:

As all Yaris owners know, the electric servo motor powering the steering is a bit "primitive", and makes steering rather sloppy. It's hard to tell at highway speeds if it's sloppiness or a true "pull".

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: firemachine69
........

How many quarts does someone on BITOG wanna gamble they'll tell me tires are "consumables" and not covered under warranty?


No gamble! Tires are not covered by the vehicle manufacturer's warranty (one exception)

Also OE tires do not carry a mileage warranty.

Here's the deal: Car manufacturers specify what they want the tire to do long before the first tire shows up at their door. These tires are specifically manufactured for that vehicle (per the vehicle manufacturer's specifications). Most of the time these specifications lean towards better fuel economy - which mean treadwear and / or traction are sacrificed Because of that:

1) The tire manufacturer does not provide a tread wear warranty on OE tires. This is mostly a replacement market gimmick anyway.

2) The vehicle manufacturer does not handle any aspect of tire warranty. As stated, these are considered consumables. There ae a lot of things that can affect treadwear - alignment being one of them - but a simple thing such as driving in the city (lots of turns per mile) can result in extreme high wear rates.

The exception: While I hate to admit this, General Motors has, since 1996, offered a 3 year 36,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty that covers everything including tires. A lot of GM dealers still don't believe this, but any dealer that sends in a tire through the warranty system will get credit. GM covers everything except road hazards.

Why Do I hate to admit this? Because GM is probably the worst when it comes to pushing the envelope on rolling resistance. The good news is that they (the consumers) get good MPG's. The bad news is that the tires wear out quickly (GM has a pretty stringent traction requirement). The good news is that if the tires are worn out in 36K, the GM dealer will handle the warranty claim. The bad news is that alignment issues aren't usually fixed - the tires get replaced and that's all!

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
.......

I wore out a set of tires on my Grand Am in about 10,000 miles by running 44 psi (sidewall max). The center was bald.

.......


Drew,

You need to talk to some of these hypermiler folks! They are convinced that pressures higher than the placard don't do anything bad. They think that tires wearing out in the center is a myth. Not to mention they also using 50, 60 psi, and higher.

 

[crosseyedwx]

I am one of those hypermiler folks, and I agree. I have the tires on my Saturn at 45psi and my Kia at 50 psi (both have sidewall max of 44psi). I replaced the tires on my Kia with only 23,000 miles on them because they were worn on the edges. The pressures were kept near or slightly above door jamb. They were BF Goodrich Traction T/A's. They were replaced with Toyo Spectrums and with almost 8,000 miles, they still look brand new with unnoticeable treadwear. The ones on the Saturn, with 6,000 miles on them still look brand new, with the tiny, tiny grooves still present in the center of the tire.

This is a Toyota Prius tire with good alignment and pressure at 32psi (as per door jamb specs) it's whole life (about 40,000mi if I recall correctly). Tell me that's not underinflated.

Here are the original OEM Michelin MXV4 Plus tires on a 2005 Honda Accord. There are 101,000 miles on these with pressure at 50-65psi their whole life. The fronts have 3-4/32 and the rears have 4-5/32 tread depth left. The owner has never rotated these tires due to the loss of fuel economy until the tires re-wear into their new position on the car. The owner also routinely gets in the ball park of 48mpg average on this Accord with the 5-speed automatic transmission.

Here are the fronts:

Here are the rears:

Tires are far more likely to wear on the outsides with lower psi than they are to wear in the center with higher psi. I have seen better wet handling and a decreased likelihood of hydroplaning because tires with higher psi deform less with contact at the surface. They corner better, run cooler, and only ride slightly harder.

Pump 'em up!

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: crosseyedwx
Here are the original OEM Michelin MXV4 Plus tires on a 2005 Honda Accord. There are 101,000 miles on these with pressure at 50-65psi their whole life.

Pump 'em up!

Let's see... you recommend that people take a tire with max allowable PSI of 44 and tell them that it's OK to run 50-65 PSI?

I believe that the effect of this on wear is highly vehicle-dependent. In some cars it may not negatively affect wear (like the case you described), but in other it may. For example, When I ran my tires about 7-8 PSI above what the car placard indicated, I ended up wearing out the centers too fast. And that wasn't even anywhere near the max PSI listed on the sidewall. So, you just have to experiment with your own car and don't necessarily follow other people's advice.

 

[crosseyedwx]

Okay, I'll rephrase.

Don't be afraid to pump up your tires.

I don't officially recommend you do it. I don't put my tires that high. However, tests have shown it takes much more than 50psi to blow a tire.

In curiosity, what type of vehicle and tires did you have where this occurred Pete? Was it your BMW?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Yeah, it was the 530i running Dunlop SP Maxx 235/45/17.

 

[moribundman]

Does it sound like your are running studded tires? You need to floss your tires more often.

The dark shard of rock at 6 o'clock is not stuck in a groove, but is embedded in the rubber.