2011 5,000 mile Prius Tire wear Issue????

Take with a grain of salt. It is possible that they are trying to soften you up to buy tires earlier than you need. The correct response should have been, "Well sir, this is far too much wear for just 5,000 miles, so please schedule me for an alignment that will be free under warranty."

So you need to be an informed owner. Do a visual inspection of all your tires. Look for unusual wear patterns, such as the inside shoulder being more worn than the outside. Buy your own tire depth gauge.

 

That's very fast wear. We've had our OEM's on for maybe 9,000 km's (snows were on for another 6,000 kms), and there's basically no appreciable wear (on either set). Both front and rear are at 9/32", more-or-less what they were at the outset. The OEM's are Michelin Pilots HX MXM4 215/45R17, fwiw. But I think any of the OEM 15" should have similar wear.

Maybe the alignment is out? Is the wear even?

 

What are the tires? Not that it should make much difference.

Also, per Seilerts, pick up a tire gauge and verify. In a pinch you could check it with some cardboard and a felt marker. Check 2 or 3 places, and watch you're not up on the wear bars. Maybe that's what the dealer did, LOL.

 

My 2011 came from the factory with incorrect wheel alignment. During a hard right-hand turn, the stability control would activate.

It was discovered that there was a ton of toe out on the RF wheel. An alignment with the correct 0.10 deg of toe-in on the front, combined with about 2,000 miles of driving for a new wear pattern to develop on the tires, has made a word of difference in traction and straight-line stability.

The dealer can perform an alignment for you under the 1/20k alignment warranty, but you will need to prove to them that it is necessary. For me, I had Sears do an alignment check and I used that printout to convince them that it was needed.

 

I don't have a tire gage but I do have a ruler graduated in 32nds of an inch. I would try and measure them yourself if possible.

What tire pressures are you running? Did the dealer say what type of wear they observed?

 

I would say that is abnormally high wear for the amount of miles you have on your vehicle.

Now you can go through the process of checking the wear yourself and/or checking alignment.

The dealer themselves IMO should realize this is abnormally high wear, and THEY should be suggesting alignment checks- not just letting you know.

5000 miles in automotive terms is right out of the box. You basically have a brand new vehicle. My best advice is seek out the answer now, while everything is covered by warranty.

 

I took my car in today for its third free service at 15,009 miles and the paperwork indicated the tread remaining on all four tires was 9/32nds of an inch. This was thier third rotation and I currently keep my tire pressures at 42psi front and 40psi rear.