The tires that are on my new Subaru are Bridgestone Turanza EL-400-2. These were on just about every new car we test drove before buying.
At tirerack.com, these are the lowest rated tires in their class and I can attest to their terrible ride, road noise and poor traction (they are easy to drift if you like that sort of thing). I wish they would wear out in 25k miles, but at the rate they are going, its going to be a miserable 100k miles before they wear down enough to justify replacement for economic reasons.
And to make matters worse, these tires cost MORE than the Michelin Premier AS tires that are top rated in testing and 2nd in reviews.
My suggestion is this, keep the OEM tires for at least 20k miles to see if any unusual wear patterns show up that would indicate an alignment issue. Right now, my dealer insists on rotating the tires every 7500 miles so it is hard to see a pattern, but I use a depth gauge on each tire before taking it in.
Once you have determined that there are no alignment or other suspension issues, then consider new tires. Right now I am trying to decide between the Michelin Premier or the Pirelli P7.
OK, I canāt let this series of posts pass without mentioning that the OEMās buying ācheap tiresā is a bit of a myth - in that the real cost savings takes place because they order hundreds of thousands of tires in a year to be delivered to the same place on a regular schedule. Tire dealers not only donāt have that sort of volume, but they want their orders delivered here and yon and order when they want the tires - not on a schedule.
The proof is the cost of the same tire delivered to a tire dealer vs the cost to an OEM!
Mike in NH said: āā¦weāve always been able to replace the OE tires with off the shelf tires from the same tire manufacturer or a different tire manufacturer that was BETTER then the OE tire in every single category.ā
Except rolling resistance! That is what drives the OEMās specs on tires.
" Right now, my dealer insists on rotating the tires every 7500 miles"
@keithāIf you take a look at the Subaru Maintenance Schedule that came with your car, you will see that the dealer is actually doing you a favor by āinsistingā on rotating the tires every 7,500 miles, as that is a required part of the mfrās maintenance schedule.
However, if you donāt mind voiding the warranty on your AWD system (and possibly on the transmission), you can tell the folks at the dealership to skip the 7,500 mile rotations.
OK, I can't let this series of posts pass without mentioning that the OEM's buying "cheap tires" is a bit of a myth - in that the real cost savings takes place because they order hundreds of thousands of tires in a year to be delivered to the same place on a regular schedule
Based on my observation and many othersā¦that argument doesnāt hold water. If it were true then my OEM tires would be as good as my aftermarket tires I buyā¦and they arenāt even close.
However, if you don't mind voiding the warranty on your AWD system (and possibly on the transmission), you can tell the folks at the dealership to skip the 7,500 mile rotations.
Skipping the rotations by itself does not void the warrantee on the AWD system. Driving the vehicle for extended miles (more than 50) with a difference between the largest and smallest circumference of over a 1/4" voids the warrantee.
At the present rate of wear for the tires on it right now, I could do rotations about every 20k or more and not void the warrantee.
Why would you want to skip the 7500 mile rotations?
The only reasons I can think of . . .
Less work . . . if youāre doing the work yourself
Save money . . . if youāre paying a shop to do the work
I do tire rotations at every oil change for all of my cars. Works just fine for me, and Iāve got decent tire life
Since I put the cars on jack stands anyways, itās only a little more work to do the rotations. If I have to pull the left front and left rear tires to check the brakes, might as well pull all 4 and rotate them
I use a tire tread depth gauge to determine when to rotate my tires. Excessive rotations increase tire wear and shorten tire life. Frequent rotations can also mask alignment and suspension system problems.
If you are persistent in doing tire rotations on a fixed schedule, I would suggest that as the tires approach their wear limit, skip the last couple of rotations just to check for any unusual wear patterns due to alignment before buying the next set of tires.
Right now the dealer is doing free oil changes and tire rotations as part of the purchase agreement (2 years/24k miles) so I let them, but after that is up, I will rotate the tires based on the tread depth and not the miles, and I will do it myself.
How do you know it didnāt shorten your tires life or mask alignment issues?
5000 mile rotations date back to bias ply tires that only lasted 20k typically. Now many tires last 80k or more so a 20k rotation schedule would accomplish the same thing that a 5k schedule did back in the 60ās.
āSkipping the rotations by itself does not void the warrantee on the AWD system. Driving the vehicle for extended miles (more than 50) with a difference between the largest and smallest circumference of over a 1/4ā voids the warrantee."
Lack of documentation proving that you rotated the tires as per the maintenance schedule most definitely would void the warrantyāif and when your center viscous coupler needed to be replaced and you tried to have it done under warranty.
On the other handā¦How would anyone be able to prove that you drove for more than 50 miles with unmatched tires?
Rotation by the dealer, or by an indy mechanic, can be verified via maintenance invoices.
How would anyone be able to verify whether you drove on mis-matched tires for 50 miles or 500 miles, or 5,000 miles?
Lack of documentation proving that you rotated the tires as per the maintenance schedule most definitely would void the warranty--if and when your center viscous coupler needed to be replaced and you tried to have it done under warranty.
If the center differential ever goes out under the warrantee period, the dealer will have to prove that the car was driven more than 50 miles with tires that have a circumference or more than a 1/4" difference. If I show up with all four tires within this tolerance, no wear on the spacesaver spare and no tire repairs, I do not need to have documentation for rotations.
"If I show up with all four tires within this tolerance, no wear on the spacesaver spare and no tire repairs, I do not need to have documentation for rotations."
For your sake, I certainly hope so, but you might want to verify your āknowledgeā with the folks at Subaru corporate in Cherry Hill, NJ.
Speaking of replacing OEM tires, I just got an estimate for tire replacement at a local shop for the unusual size of 245-55/19 yesterday. The price of $166 per tire for Tire Racks second highest rated all season suv tire seems reasonable. But, the total installed price of 4 was $1006. These guys are wizards at adding costs like, alignments and new TPMS kits on units that already work. It is this experience alone that makes me want to stretch out the mileage on the crappy OEM tires already on. Negotiating a new set of tires will be as time consuming as that for a new car. I looked for the nitrogen gas cost but couldnāt find that one.
The price of $166 per tire for Tire Racks second highest rated all season suv tire seems reasonable. But, the total installed price of 4 was $1006.
Every place I buy tires atā¦the price they quote me is finalā¦itās all inclusive. If the tell me itās $150/tireā¦then when I buy all four I have a bill of $600ā¦not one dime more.
I always ask up front for the āmounted and balancedā cost. I also āpassā on the āroadhazard coverageā too, since in all my decades of driving Iāve only used it once. I used to be able to save the ādisposal feeā too by taking the tires to the dump myself, but now our dump charges us more to dispose of a tire than the disposal fee that the tire store charges.
And, get this. A sale price on selected tires that are not as goodā¦buy three, get one free. The catch. The tires on sale are $252 each. So, you essentially pay over $190 for tires on sale. I only mention this becasue itās hard to respond to these guys with a straight face.
And, get this. A sale price on selected tires that are not as good.....buy three, get one free
A couple of years ago Pep Boys was running one of those sales. The week before I had just bought new tires for my truck. Their buy three - get one free was still more then what I paid for the exact same tire. Thatās just one reason I donāt deal with the national chains.
The TPMS kits are just new seals for the valves for $10. Just like we used to just put new valve stems on when getting tires. If the sensors are getting up there in age though, then the batteries will die out and might as well just add the $200 for new into the out the door tire price and be done with it. I suspect the days of being able to penny pinch most anything on cars is quickly fading.
