Front Tire Wear

[fishertheband]

Hi,

I posted here about 6 monts ago about my front tires wearing out after 15,000. The dealer then replaced all four and 4,000 later the fronts were worn out again (inside and ouside edges bald.)
The dealer replaced the front tires yet again and I had followed the suggestions here to inflate the fronts to 40psi, which I did...and it helped! I got nearly 4.600 miles this time before the front tires were bald again.

Today I went to Goodyear and bought 4 new tires and had them allign the front end. They said the allignment was 'out' around 27%.

Should this next set show normal (almost no) wear in 5,000 miles I'm going to have a little chat with my dealer. I would probably ask for a refund on my pre-paid service plan. (I also had my 1st 'out of dealer' oil change and after only 3,000 miles I was a quart and a half low....hmmmmm.) Luckily I'm in a position where I can chat with the heads of Toyota corporate should the dealer blow me off.

I'll let you all know what happens in a few months.

BTW - To answer some 'suggestions' in advance I received from some rather angry posters about this subject last time.

NO! I am not driving too fast.

NO! My mountain driving (curves) only involved around 260 miles per every 4,000 the car is driven.

NO! I do not regularly run into curbs, let the PSI get too low, or take the car off road.

And finally NO! I am not unhappy with the car in any way shape or form. This is just one little 'glitch" I've had with my Prius.

[Schmika]

Originally posted by fishertheband@Dec 21 2005, 01:51 AM
NO! I am not driving too fast.

NO! My mountain driving (curves) only involved around 260 miles per every 4,000 the car is driven.

[snapback]176655[/snapback]

"TOO" fast is a relative term. I do driver training for my police dept. I can tell who drives TOO fast (defined as faster than the "avg" driver in the CORNERS)

If you have discounted psi, and alignment and ONE set of bad tires, you are left with cornering TOO fast. If the roadways are particularly rough and you can hear/feel the grinding of the tires as you turn, it makes little difference if your mountain driving is only 260 miles.

Try slowing down the corners OR going into them easier. DO you gradually turn or turn "at the last moment"?

BTW- YOU will not be a good judge of this, ask a passenger......

Oh, and efusco is right, if you only fixed the alignment AFTER the last set stated wearing badly, then you will remain at bad wear...tires do not "regenerate" or "heal".

[efusco]

Did you have the wheels aligned after the first signs of premature wear or just when you had that 3rd set of tires put on?

Of interest, despite having my tires at 42f/40r I too showed what I'd consider premature wear on the outer tire edges (as opposed to the theoretical center bulge one might predict from "over inflating" the tire) of my integrities.

I'm at about 6000 miles on my HydroEdges and they show no significant abnormal wear patterns at all.

[fishertheband]

Originally posted by Schmika@Dec 21 2005, 10:07 AM
"TOO" fast is a relative term.  I do driver training for my police dept.  I can tell who drives TOO fast (defined as faster than the "avg" driver in the CORNERS)

If you have discounted psi, and alignment and ONE set of bad tires, you are left with cornering TOO fast.  If the roadways are particularly rough and you can hear/feel the grinding of the tires as you turn, it makes little difference if your mountain driving is only 260 miles.

Try slowing down the corners OR going into them easier.  DO you gradually turn or turn "at the last moment"?

BTW- YOU will not be a good judge of this, ask a passenger......

Oh, and efusco is right, if you only fixed the alignment AFTER the last set stated wearing badly, then you will remain at bad wear...tires do not "regenerate" or "heal".

[snapback]176795[/snapback]

You are kidding me on the driving too fast thing right? additionally if I did corner too fast or turn at the last moment (as you asked) would it not be reasonable to then assume that any one of my other 3 cars, (two volvos and a GMC) would have the same problem as they are driven on the same roads in the same way? Well they haven't.

I would challenge you to find the roughest road with curves you can find. Drive it for around 260 miles at 30-35 MPH. If you could wear out a set of front tires doing that I would be astounded.

[fishertheband]

Originally posted by efusco@Dec 21 2005, 10:24 AM
Did you have the wheels aligned after the first signs of premature wear or just when you had that 3rd set of tires put on?

Of interest, despite having my tires at 42f/40r I too showed what I'd consider premature wear on the outer tire edges (as opposed to the theoretical center bulge one might predict from "over inflating" the tire) of my integrities.

I'm at about 6000 miles on my HydroEdges and they show no significant abnormal wear patterns at all.

[snapback]176802[/snapback]

My apologies for not being clearer on this.

When the first set of tires wore out, the dealer alligned the front end and put on a new pair.

When the second set wore out, the dealer alligned the front end and put on a new pair.

When the third set wore out, I bypassed the dealer and had Goodyear install new tires and allign the front end.

Hope that clears that up.

[ScottY]

I had my OEM tires for 15k miles and they show no premature wear when I swap them for comfortreds. Actually they are so new that I sold them to the tireshop where I change my tires at.

But the front tires do wear out faster than the rear. I don't have the numbers with me, but the tech measure something like 1/32 deeper thread on the rear tires.

So, it shouldn't just be the tires.

[200Volts]

Did he dealer align the REAR ????
I had one side with excess toe out.
I made it to 40k with mine. My front had the worst wear on the outside:


Tread Depth (mils) Integrity after 40,080 rotated every 10k
FrontLeft FrontRight RearLeft RearRight
Inside 14 15 17 13
Middle 12 15 16 13
Outside 10 11 12 12

[ceric]

fishertheband,

I am glad that the problem seems to be found, the alignment problem, that is.
Over the years, I have found the dealers to be the worst place to perform alignments, I use outside private shops with good alignment equipments (i.e. expensive ones). My BMW has a lot of alignement and steering wheel shimming issues. Most Bimmer owners are sort of involuntary experts on this. Driving fast while cornering wears outside edge of front tires, not the inside edge. When you see both inside and outside edge wear, most likely you have (1) under inflated front tires (you checked already) (2) alignement. For the latter, you should be able to feel some steering wheel shaking if you let go of it momentarily on a flat straight road.

The tires on my Prius, after 8,000 miles, shows no strange wear.

[kkister1492]

I just had my tires replaced yesterday after only 17,300 miles. I keep my tires inflated to 38-36 so I was in the middle of the road as far as what Toyota says vs. max tire inflation on the tire. I also have the tires rotated as recommended. I had serious wear on all four tires on both inside and outside edges. I had the dealer check the alignment when it was in for the recall and they indicated that no adjustment was necessary at this time.

My husband still tends to drive the Prius as if it were his Corvette but he doesn't drive all that often that I can pin it all on him.

[galaxee]

we have strange front and rear tire wear too. the alignment gets checked religiously, DH is a mechanic at the dealer and insists on taking it with him to check it all out every now and then. he even brings home the spec sheets to show me because he wants me to know as much about my car as possible.

(why he brings home non-prius related parts to show me is beyond my explanation )

one rear wheel has been out of spec since day one and until recently toyota offered no solution for this. they are now approving rear shims on a case by case basis. DH has tried one shim (i'll get the name of it tonight) and it helped camber but made toe worse. he is trying another brand as soon as he can get in touch with the sales rep. he wants to get it all straightened out by the time we leave for a big trip in early Jan.

i drive the car very nicely, don't take turns at high speed (evasive action only) and keep tires at 42/40. they get checked every week or 2 with a high-quality tire gauge.

we're planning on replacing at 20K with Michelin Energy MXV4+ tires since it appears this set won't last us as long as it should.