I just bought a used 2016 Chrysler 300 , RWD, with 18000 miles on it. The rear tires are Michelins while the front tires are some other brand. The salesman could not explain the difference. A friend who is a former Chrysler service manager told me that the RWD 300’s are notorious for wear on the rear wheel tires. Any comments, guys?
That certainly could be the case, so keep a watch on tire pressures and wear, and rotate to even out the wear. You might get the alignment checked, both front and rear, at a reliable shop, doesn’t have to be the dealer.
That’s not my experience. My 300C came with Firestone tires and they are doing well. A previous 300C also came with Firestone and they lasted into the 70K miles before I replaced them. Make sure you rotate your tires at the proper intervals.
Does your 300 have a V-6 or a V-8? If it’s an 8, it’s possible that the first owner drove it very hard and wore out the rear tires accelerating the heck out of it. Which is a nice way of saying they were doing burn outs. Any signs of other abuse, or hot rodding?
It’s a V6, formerly was a rental car. So I suppose many people over accelerated it. The V6 really accelerates.
I am surprised to see a rental car company sell a 2016 300 with only 18K miles, unless there are some serious issues. They usually run those things into the 40Ks.
There’s your answer, I think.
Well, I think it is also fairly obvious that the car never had its tires rotated, so for those who claim that rental cars “are well-maintained”, perhaps this is evidence to the contrary.
how do you know the tires were never rotated? A pair of tires could have been replaced for various reasons.
That is true, I suppose, but in 50+ years of driving, I have never replaced tires 2 at a time.
Then again, I rotate my tires on a consistent basis, I align them at the first sign of a problem, I keep them properly inflated, and I don’t abuse them.
I wouldn’t even be worried about the different tires as long as they are in good condition. I would be more concerned about the low mileage. They hardly recovered the cost of the car with only 18k miles. I don’t think they even did make any money on it and that would raise warning flags in my mind. But, maybe OP has lucked out.
I don’t see much of a problem. As long as each axle has the same branded pair of tires left and right, that’s all you usually need. On a RWD car like the 300 you’d expect a little more wear on the rear tires than you would with a FWD. Tire wear wise that’s probably a good thing, as FWD cars tend to wear out the front tires a little faster than the rears.
My experience is that RWD cars wear the front and rear tires at about the same rate - but the wear pattern is different front to rear. The fronts wear the shoulders and the rears wear the centers. Of course, some folks have different driving patterns and their wear rate might be different front to rear.
FWD cars wear the front tires about 2 1/2 times faster than the rears - and the wear patterns have more to do with the alignment than the wheel position. And, again, there are folks who have unusual driving situations where their FWD will produce different tire wear
Another possibility is that e was a flat tire and the rental company decided to replace both tires on the same end at the same time. At 18,000 miles, it is likely that the OEM tires were at least half way through their lifetime.
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I always thought the rental car companies just rented new cars and sold them after one year. I once rented a car that only had 8 miles on it. The 18000 miles does seem high for a one year old car whether private owner or fleet owner. The carfax showed no problems with the car, though it showed three owners. I suspected it eas owned by a rental company like Hertz or Avis and they moved it from one place to another. But carfax only gets reports from insurance companies. Anyways the car runs fine (for now, anyways!) I went to the Chrysler 300 because it is the only sedan I can fit into. I am 6’5" tall and all the other cars were a struggle to get into, what with the new aerodynamic rooflines.
Carfax won’t show anything about maintenance because chain rental cars perform their own maintenance and do not report it.
Like I said, maybe you lucked out. I purchased an AVIS rental car after I came back from the service and couldn’t afford a new one. The car never gave me any problems. That was back in the early 70s
I’ve bought several former rental cars and never had a problem with any of them. I’ll do it again, too.
CSA