5/32 left with only 26k miles on OEM Michelin Energy Saver A/S tires

The hub of an offending corner (wheel bearing or dragging brake) would be much hotter to the touch than the rest.

 

I drive a lot of gravel/dirt/mud.

I feel lucky if I get 30K out of any tire. Usually, it is more like 24K.

Of course, my roads aren't so bad that there are chunks out of the tires. What's the treadwear/mileage warranty on it? Around 60K?

If so, I would say it is just about where it should be, more or less.

As for the uneven wearing. I would guess that in those conditions, one or more tires has been replaced.

look at the date codes on the sidewalls. I bet they don't all match.

 

Tire manufacture date is usually four numbers, the first two are week of the year), and the second two the year:

What is a tire date code and where do I find it? | TireBuyer.com

 

The car only has 26K miles....so I'd replace the OEM tires after you take off the snows whenever it thaws out.

I'd also check the brake hardware for corrosion since you live where people use snow tires, and you already said that you're going to have the alignment checked.
You bought the car used, so I'd look for previous body damage from an accident, incident, student driver, Youtube stunt video, etc...

Yeah....I know.
Everybody uses Carfax these days, and it's pretty good.........until it isn't.
The thing is there are instances where insurance companies are not involved in the post-collision cleanup such as dealer demo units (gasp! ), commercial use vehicles, body shop owners flipping mildly damaged cars, and people who have minor accidents that cash flow the repair to avoid getting doinked over by the insurance company,

Other people have ramp strikes, curb love, and ditch clean-outs that will also affect a car's geometry without generating much in the way of carfax buzz.
Yes.
It's shocking that thousands of dollars of resale value would lure nice people into doing not nice things, but there you have it.

Mainly?
I wouldn't worry much about it after verifying that there's nothing hinky with the alignment.
If you live somewhere where they use snow tires, then you're going to be replacing the car when it rusts out from underneath you anyway looooooong before the Prius exhibits symptoms from a misspent youth.


Good Luck!!

 

All the articles I read says the auto company specifies a softer rubber compound be made for the OEM tires, to give the feeling of a better ride. And a softer rubber does not last as long. I think your mileage is pretty normal for OEM tires. I never got better than 25K or so.

But of course, some guy is going to reply to this thread and tell us how he got 65,000 out of his OEM's.

 

My Michelins on my '12 v are very healthy after 33k miles. They have been rotated frequently, run at plus 3 PSI but 99% normal paved road driving with the very occasional excursion into a long gravel driveway in the mountains. I will replace them for age before they wear out.

 

That's true for most cars, but cars that are sold as fuel sippers (Volt, Prius, Leaf, etc....) usually use harder rubber since they're more efficient.

 

Have no idea where they got the figure, since there is no direct attribution to a reference source, but Wikipedia says that:

Tire wear increases by 40–50% on gravel roads

Just anecdotally though, my experience seems to support that.

 

I was only able to get 32K miles out of my OEM Yokohama Avid's. The OEM tires very seldom get the mileage that you get when you buy from tire dealers. I rotated and balanced every 5K miles and had even tread wear.

My current set of Michelin EnergySaver A/S are well on the way to at least the 60,000 mile warranty, if not more.

 

Do you know where that tire was, what corner of the car? If no, and just to verify, pick up a tread depth gauge (they're readily available, around $2~5) and see for yourself. Then raise that corner, even just with the scissor jack. If it's a rear, check that's near free-spinning with parking brake off. And either front or rear, just turn and listen. And grab at 3 and 9 oclock, push-pull, see if you can sense any play.

 

Well IMO, at least with race tires, a chunk missing is usually a tire pressure issue.
Chunks could also be a tire defect.

Is the 3/32 the power tire...that would make sense to me.

High speed (90 mph) would also wear the tires.

As you bought used, there is no traceable record as to tire usage or conditions.

Then as for tire life remaining, you 10K guess seems good to me.
Just monitor, check hubs for heat as suggested above and have fun.

All those comments FWIW.

 

Hmm yeah, maybe the extra worn tire ran at lowish pressure with a slow leak for protracted time?

 

Its an open question whether the OEM ES-AS is the same tire as the retail version. There's certainly some anectotal evidence that it is not. Neither is expected to get as good of tread life as a premium touring tire. 50K might be the outside of the expectation on the retail tire. Looks like yours have been subjected to abuse.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the ES-AS tire to anyone who wants max MPG, but they will not offer max traction or tread life. Those things are mutually exclusive. That said, the retail ES-AS is a better tire in almost all respects than any of the OEM tires.

FWIW I put about 20K on a set on my v and they still had about 50% tread. Ran at 40psi

 

I case you missed my edit:
FWIW I put about 20K on a set on my v and they still had about 50% tread. Ran at 40psi

I wouldn't worry much about your car. All the tires are showing advanced wear so just deal with that and move on.

 

Agreed.

Let's move on, and discuss more important things, like:

"What items do we keep in our glove box???"

and

"In which cup holder do you place your water bottle? Forward, rear, or door???"