I have read various blogs about Highlander tires. Well I’m at 20K miles now and have cupping and worn out OME tires and frustrated by premature wear and lack of selection of replacements. Has anyone gotten Toyota to fess up to a tire issue?
Toyota does NOT make tires. They are made for them.
What Toyota (and every manufacturer does)…is send out the specs of their tires to tire manufacturers for bids. They take the lowest bid. That’s the tire they put on their vehicles. As long as it meets Toyota’s spec for that vehicle.
The most I’ve ever been able to get out of an OEM tire for any of my SUV’s or pickups is 35k miles. Some as low as 25k…Vehicles were made by GMC, Nissan and Toyota. I’ve always replaced them with GOOD tires that last much much longer…usually 50k+…some as high as 70k.
I’ve always replaced them with GOOD tires that last much much
longer…usually 50k+…some as high as 70k.
In the case of the OP’s car, as with the Toyota Venza we just bought, there are very limited other options. The tire size is P245/55R19. Bridgestone and Toyo seem to be the only companies who make a tire that size. Lack of selection is a common complaint.
Lack of selection is a problem…But wait a couple years…it may change. When I bought my 90 Pathfinder…the size were 265/70-15. Michelin and Bridgestone were the ONLY companies making tires in that size…4 years later…almost everyone made that size.
With the five toyota’s I have recently owned the original tires were worn out by 22,000 miles…always replaced them with tirerack’s top rated tires. That’s just the way it is.
That’s just the way it is.
For you, but not the OP. His only option is to either get the original OEM tire again or the Toyo tire.
Thanks for the feedback-
Any recommendation of Bridgestone vs Toyo for the replacement.
A few folk posted on Tirerack that the Bridgestones got noisy at 10K miles and both seemed weak in snow.
“I’m at 20K miles now and have cupping and worn out OME tires”
If your tires are cupping, that indicates worn suspension components and/or bad alignment and/or failure to rotate the tires as specified by the vehicle manufacturer.
Tire rotation will not prevent tire cupping, but it can minimize its effects on each tire by simply placing them in a different position. Since the vehicle is fairly new, we can probably rule out worn suspension components, but the OP has not told us about the vehicle’s history of tire rotations or wheel alignments. A car can need a wheel alignment shortly after leaving the showroom, based on how and where it is driven, and new vehicles have been known to have bad alignment. If no alignment was done in the 2 yrs/20k life of this vehicle, I would strongly suspect that there is an alignment issue lurking here.
As most of us acknowledge, OEM tires are rarely selected by the car’s manufacturer for their long tread life. They are selected on the basis of low price, good ride quality, low price, low rolling resistance in order to maximize gas mileage, and…low price. So, we have to assume that these tires would have had a limited tread life under ideal conditions. If you throw poor alignment into the mix, and if you don’t rotate the tires on a regular (every 5k or every 7.5k basis), it is not too surprising that these tires are ready for replacement at 20k.
My OEM Bridgestones were the absolute worst tires on snow that I ever experienced, and they did become very noisy after about 10k.
There are two bridgestone tires available…
Only one road tire (which is the OEM tire). The other is the Blizzak snow tire.
The tirerack.com reviews for that one OEM road tire rate it as a marginal fair-unacceptable tire.
FYI-Tire rotation and balance by Toyota Dealer q5Kmiles. No alignment done- yet. Frustrated with dealer- they service vehicle q5k miles and it was at my 20K service they stated “need new tires- don’t bother rotating”. Never suggested alignment, but from wear may be needed.
Contact Toyota customer care about this.
Cupping is a problems with the vehicle itself not wear. Contact your tire maker and ask where to have them looked at. Tire problems are a pain on a new vehicle as there is an easy pass the buck routine between tire maker and car maker(warranty).
A sidenote I shed some Bridgestone OEM tires in ultra low profile high performance size that lasted 50k miles and remained quiet through their life. They were poor in the winter conditions and mediorce in rain but in the other 85% of conditions hit great tires.
You cannot attribute a single tire model to an entire brand.
Bridgestone like every other tire maker makes a few dud models, mostly competent models and some real superstars models.
Its best to do research on a specific make/model not make itself.
I have a 2008 Highlander Sport and currently need my tires replaced at 24,000 miles (yes, I’ve rotated/balanced/aligned them), which is admittedly much better mileage than other '08 Highlander owners I’ve read about who have had their tires peeling, shredding, etc. at as low as 11,000 miles (Toyo A20 tires).
The Sport and Limited models have the now infamous 245/55/19 tire size, which are only made by Bridgestone and Toyo, and they can’t seem to keep up with the demand. The 2008 OEM tires were either the Bridgestone Duelers (which I got) or the Toyo A20s, neither of which are very good, especially the A20s, based on the numerous forums I’ve read at ToyotaNation, Consumer Reports, etc. Toyo has supposedly admitted to creating a bad batch of A20 OEM tires for the 2008 model and has since tried to rectify it with the new and supposedly improved A20A (don’t think I wanna chance it). Since the tires aren’t under warranty, neither Toyota nor Toyo can/will do anything about it (at least from my experience).
The only 245/55/19 replacement tire that seems to be successful with other owners on these forums is the Toyo H/T Open Country, which is now on national backorder because Toyo can’t keep up with the demand. My Toyota dealership wanted to charge me $220/tire for the Open Country, so since I couldn’t find the tire cheaper locally, I resorted to treadepot.com for $156/tire. Treadepot says they’ve heard that the tires may start trickling to the various distributors around the end of January (!), but they’re not sure.
I asked a Toyo rep if there was a comparable tire size that was more available and that wouldn’t void the Toyota warranty. The rep said they have spoken directly with Toyota about the problem because of the volume of complaints Toyo has received, and Toyota said the 255/55/19 size is comparable and wouldn’t void the vehicle warranty. However, it’s more expensive than the original. Can’t win.
If you want to read other owner’s complaints, check out toyotanation.com or the forums at Consumer Reports and Edmunds. You’ll get an earful. 
Definitely not going to recommend the Highlander or Venza (which also has the same tire size) to anyone.
I would not have a problem with a Toyo tire. They are a good brand overall. Not sure about this particular tire and it’s performance in snow.
If the Toyo is 2X as expensive as the Bridgestone that would sway me to the Bridgestone and I’d cross my fingers that the replacement tires are better quality than the OEM’s supplied on the car.
Have to replace all 4 tires on my 2008 Highlander. I only have 17,000 miles on this car!
Tire dealer is aware of a recurring tire problem with Highlanders. He wants to replace both the tires and the wheels (replacing Toyota’s 19" wheels with a 17" ones). Says there will not be any difference in car’s performance (height of car. mileage, speedometer, etc.). He will give a 65,000 mile warranty on the new tires. Has anyone else taken this radical approach to the tire problems?