Purchased April 4th. At 36,000+ miles, DiscounTire says the tires are showing wear and will soon need replacing.
Are these tires not to go many more miles? Mostly Interstate and highway travel.
Rotated every 5,000 miles (or as close to it as possible).
Even tread wear from center to sides.
Tire suggestions?
Thank you.
Michelin makes many different models of tires.
Which specific model Michelin tires do you have?
What is their speed rating?
What is their treadwear rating?
Without knowing what specific tire and the UTOG rating which is on the sidewall it’s impossible to say if there’s an issue with the tires. Odds are there is not.
Given the miles you’re rolling up my suggestion on tires is to find some with the highest UTOG rating you can get due to miles accrued, sustained highway speed, and so on.
Go to Tirerack.com and you can find an explanation for the UTOG rating.
The best tires I’ve ever personally owned in the past and currently on my Lincoln are Bridgestones although I can’t remember the model as they’re been on their so long. Turanzas possibly but I’m not going out to look.
They have about 70k miles on them and still have excellent tread with no dry rot at all.
“showing wear” What does that mean? I have tires that are “showing wear” after 20k miles, the tread depth i down to 9/32", they were 10/32" new.
Original tires on the Camry.
Michelin X Green
P205 65R16
Treadwear 480
Traction A
Temperature B
94S = 1,477 lb load, 112mph max speed
DOT B3EV 005X 4914
51 psi max
Camry’speed is governed at ~110 mph (speedometer reading)
I do not know what 480 means.
What is the remaining tread depth? It is usually measured in 32nds of an inch.
“showing wear” is too vague.
The law usually is 2/32 inch or less is worn and must be replaced. Me, I would replace at 4/32. New tires are about 10/32
this link shows you how to use a US coins to make that determination. Or you can use a ruler or depth gage.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=51&affiliate=HM5&s_kwcid=AL!3756!3!72457434853!b!!g!!_cat:tires&ef_id=VTw9FgAABCgfW@Cs:20150730103259:s
PS, tire wear is VERY dependant on your driving habits. Do you accelerate and brake hard? do you corner hard? If you ever hear any noise from your tires during maneuvers, that “squeel” is rubber wearing off.
OP, Robert, waiting for your reply…
I would say you are doing OK on the tires. It should not be expected that OE tires do more than 40K - and as has been pointed out, tire wear is highly dependent on driving habits.
Am I reading this correctly? You are putting 10K miles on a month? And based on past history, are you using this car on your high speed runs through the mountains? (That might have something to do with it!)
That 480 treadwear number is not something that is etched in stone as to tire wear. That’s a wear number assigned by comparing it to similar tires and how they wear.
That 480 number is not low but could also be higher. Some tires may be rated at under 200 and others as high as 6-700.
I’ve generally gotten around 30,000 miles on the Michelin tires on my current and previous cars, although I don’t take them down to the legal limit before replacing them. I don’t know the treadwear ratings of those tires offhand.
“I do not know what 480 means.”
IMO it means if you drove at a steady moderate speed with no turning you could get 48,000 miles of wear.
Obviously not a realistic situation, but the number is INTENDED to be useful for comparing different tires.
Looking at TireRack.com the Michelin ENERGY SAVER A/S, similar to your OEM’s, has a treadwear rating of 480.
For $8 more per tire there’s the PREMIER A/S, with a treadwear rating of 640.
You might reasonably expect that tire to last 33% longer than your current tire, 48,000 miles.
The UTOG tire rating is SUPPOSE to be uniform across manufacturers. The higher the number the longer the tread lasts.
But I’ve seen tires from one manufacturer with a UTOG rating of 400 last a lot longer then a tire from another manufacturer with a UTOG rating of 700. Go figure.
My recommendation is to go to tirerack.com and look up the consumer rating/feedback section for the various tires for your car. It’s a great source of information.
You can’t go wrong with Michelin.
"PS, tire wear is VERY dependant on your driving habits. Do you accelerate and brake hard? do you corner hard? If you ever hear any noise from your tires during maneuvers, that "squeel" is rubber wearing off."
Except for emergent transports, gentle, fuel-saving, pollution-minimizing “GREEN” accelerations.
(I am a diagnosed tree-hugger.)
Never squealed.
Even on emergent transports I do not aggressively accelerate.
High speeds on vacant, flat, dry Interstate highways does not increase tire wear, correct?
I look ahead and start coasting early to stops, so gentle braking and sometimes no stop because the signal cycled to green and I can continue forward momentum.
Th.is why I am surprised at the tire wear.
I am so cheap that I even avoid sharp turns to minimize tire wear.
Never turn the steering wheel unless the car is moving.
DiscounTire predicts replacement at 47,000 miles.
They suggest Michelin Defender tires.
Does siping tires at the store INCREASE rolling resistance?
DiscounTire stopped siping a month ago.
We still don’t know which Michelin tires you have. I had Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus tires on my Acura. They lasted 42,000 miles which was 2k over their warranty. They emphasized ride quality and handling over longevity.
You can get rocks that will last longer, but the ride will suck and the handling will suffer. 40k is actually pretty high by my standards - the performance tires I stick on my summer fun cars, I’m lucky to get 20k out of.
Siping will increase rolling resistance and tire wear. Having a tire shop sipe your tires is unnecessary in most cases. The tire’s tread is already optimized from the factory.
Michelin X GREEN tires at 45 psi. Maximum on the sidewall is 51psi
My comfort is unimportant.
We want to get the best fuel mileage and tire mileage.
From responses here, it appears that 45+ K is good on OEM tires.
I thought it way too little.
High speed does increase wear.
“From responses here, it appears that 45+ K is good on OEM tires.
I thought it way too little.”
I wonder what you would have thought about the OEM BF Goodrich Silvertown tires on my father’s '66 Ford Galaxie that wore out the tread (evenly) at ~17k miles! While that was unusually fast tread wear, the bottom line is that OEM tires are selected on the basis of good fuel economy, a cushy ride, and relatively low cost. Car mfrs are not concerned with providing tires with a long tread life.
So…yes, 45k miles is good for an OEM tire.
“They suggest Michelin Defender tires.”
I have Defenders on my Outback, and I consider them to be the best tires that I ever drove on.
In addition to giving me better handling than the OEM Continentals, they also have a far superior ride quality, and a lower noise level. And, after ~18k miles of use, the amount of treadwear is barely measurable.
Today, 480 is a pretty crappy tread-wear number, and we know you like to drive fast Robert…When I’m shopping for tires, I like that tread-wear number to be 550 or higher, especially on a premium priced tire like Michelin…