I am starting this chat as a result of the numerous complaints of the Firestone Affinity tires. I had 23,000 miles on my tires when I saw my tires so worn that they needed changing the next day. They were rotated every 5,000 miles with no mechanical lights indicating a low tire pressure situation. Please, comment if you had a similar, or understanding of the same nature.
this is your opportunity to buy new, good, better tires. low air pressure would show up as odd wear. you say they were rotated and each time the mechanic said they look fine, BUT they seem to be wearing fast. nothing wrong with the car. its CHEAP tires.
I bought an '03 Civic new that came with Firestone tires, not the Affinity, but Firestone. The were shot in 22K miles. Next I put Michelin tires on the car and got 60K out of those.
In most instances, OEM tires do not deliver good tread wear, so this is likely not an unusual situation for owners of that model car or that model tire. My friend’s Rav-4 came equipped with Bridgestone tires that had to be replaced at ~25k miles. Many years ago, my father bought a new Ford whose OEM BFG tires were almost bald by 18k miles.
So, as Stoveguyy pointed out, this is an opportunity for the OP to buy tires that are far better quality than the OEM tires. However, I have to point out to the OP that, despite “no mechanical lights indicating a low tire pressure situation”, those tires could have been low on pressure much of the time. The Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) is designed to warn you of sudden catastrophic loss of pressure while you are driving, and was never intended as a substitute for manually checking the tire pressure on a regular basis.
Most TPMS only react to a loss of more than 5 lbs of air pressure, so by relying on that device to tell him/her that his/her tires needed air, the OP could have been driving for…months…or perhaps even years…with chronically under-inflated tires, thus accelerating the rate of tread wear.
Despite the presence of a TPMS on my car, I get “up close & personal” with my tires at least once a month, using a high-quality dial-type tire pressure gauge. Not only does this allow me to keep the tires inflated properly, but it also gives me an opportunity to see how the tread is wearing. Nobody should be in a situation of suddenly seeing that the tires need to be changed the next day, and you could have avoided that situation by simply doing a personal pressure check once each month, coupled with a visual inspection.
Be sure to use the tire pressure listed on the label affixed to the driver’s door jamb as your guide to inflation. Do NOT use the maximum pressure listed on the sidewall of the tire as your guide, and remember that tires lose roughly one lb. of pressure for every 10 degree drop in temperature, so when cold weather hits, what was a properly-inflated tire could wind up being under-inflated by several lbs.
Check your tire pressure regularly (and correct, as necessary), and your tires will last far longer.
Look up the survey results and reviews of that tire on Tire Rack’s web site. If you find that the treadwear is only rated as fair, then you’ll know that this isn’t unusual. You can use this web site to find a better tire for your next tire.
As VDCdriver says, you do need to check the tire pressure regularly.
Civic tires are $400/set? U got 1/2 wear? In your mind anyway. So someone owes you better tires? Or a deal on new tires? I bet the dealer might give you a couple free oil changes?
I was disappointed in the Firestone tires that came with my 2011 Toyota Sienna. I don’t remember whether or not these were the “Affintity” model or not. At any rate, the tread was worn out at 35,000 miles. I kept the tires inflated to the recommended pressure on the door pillar and rotated the tires every 5000 miles. My previous minivan, a 2006 Chevrolet Uplander came with Goodyear tires and I got 50,000 miles from those tires.
I wish I had insisted on a different brand of tire on the Sienna or chosen one with a different brand of tire. Back in 1978, I bought a new Oldsmobile Cutlass that came with the infamous Firestone “721” radial tires. I could not get the dealer that handled Firestone tires to make good on the tire warranty. He wanted to sell me new tires at a “discounted” price. I did buy new tires–down the street at a Quality Farm and Fleet store. The tires had the Duralon label and were made by Dayton tire. Those tires lasted 40,000 miles. The original “721” radials barely went 20,000 miles.
My wife insists on replacing the tires on the vehicles she drives with Michelin tires because her dad always used Michelin tires. Our son, who is so stingy with money that he wears his glasses as little as possible to avoid wearing out the lenses by looking through them, will only buy Michelin tires. I finally bit the bullet on Sienna and replaced the Firestone with Michelin. I hope that they wear a little longer.
The nicest thing I can say about the Goodyears that came with my 95 Dakota pickup was that they wore out so quickly. I replaced them at 18-19k as the truck was a terror to drive in the rain. I maintained the tire pressure using a gauge and rotated them on a regular basis. 23k isn’t great, but not unusual with OEM tires.
Ed B.
Today, while tire shopping, I picked up a brochure issued by the Schrader company, the major manufacturers of tire valves. As a result, I can expand on my previous comments regarding the TPMS.
Among the interesting bits of info in that brochure are the following:
Does Having TPMs Eliminate The Need to Check Tire Pressure?
By law, the TPMS alert activates only when tire pressure is 25% low.
By that time, you may already be affecting safety, performance, and fuel economy. Car & tire mfrs recommend that tire pressure be checked at least every 30 days.
Why Monitor Tire Pressure?
Monitoring and maintaining proper tire pressure improves vehicle performance and supports safety in the following ways:
Fuel efficiency
Vehicle handling
Reduced risk of roll-over
Lowered risk of hydroplaning
Decreased tire wear
That “25%” figure means that if–as I suspect–the OP was relying on the TPMS to tell her when to correct her tire pressure, she may have been driving around for a very long time with tires that were so soft that they compromised the tread wear, in addition to screwing up her gas mileage, her handling, and her overall safety.
So, I repeat, DO NOT rely on the TPMS–except to alert you to sudden catastrophic loss of tire pressure while on the highway. Buy yourself a high-quality, dial-type tire pressure gauge, and get into the habit of using it at least once a month. You will save a lot of money in the long run, and you will be far safer, by taking the 5 minutes that this task requires every few weeks.
First, tires supplied to vehicle manufacturers have to meet that vehicle manufacturer’s specs - and those always include an emphasis on rolling resistance. To get low levels of rolling resistance, the tire manufacturers have to sacrifice either traction or treadwear (or both!) But the vehicle manufacturer doesn’t care because he doesn’t provide a warranty on tires - which seems absurd given that he provides a warranty on everything else.
You’ll find many complaints about OE tires.
But you should also be aware that the type of driving you do affects the wear rate. City driving with its frequent turns is harder on tires than country driving. Straight line driving is practically free.
too funny. i HATE these tires. no traction in rain. i gotta drive slow to stay safe. and YOU continue to drive on them? well, they are paid for. gotta get my monies worth. whew. i hope they wear out fast so i can get different tires.
Back in the 60’s I would buy Firestone recaps. They would go on sale for 4 for $100 mounted or two snow tires for $50. Never had a problem with them but I’ve never bought a Firestone tire since, especially after the Explorer problems. I suppose they are a good brand. Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone had a contract for many years and back in the 50’s, Fords all came with Firestone tires. Lost track after that.
^
Firestone has been owned by Bridgestone for…quite a few years.
That brand is undoubtedly better now than it was during the days of the flawed 500, the 321, and other Firestone models that were subject to massive recalls, but it is clearly Bridgestone’s “budget” brand for those who are buying tires on the basis of low price rather than looking for the best-quality tires.
I’ve always liked Firestone tires, but I had a set of Affinity tires on my LHS, and 3 out of 4 were replaced under warranty with only about 10K on them due to them having shifted treads or not being able to be balanced. So I think I’m done with Firestone/Bridgestone for a while. I’m pretty happy with my current Michelins and would say they’re worth the extra expense. If you’re going for a cheaper tire, I’d look at Coopers–they seem to make a pretty good budget tire.
@Bing: A big part of the problem with Explorers was the car, not the tire, though the tire certainly contributed to the problem.
Re. TPMS: Mine jibes pretty well with what a standard tire gauge tells me. It’s a simple matter to push two buttons on my steering wheel and get a readout of all 4 tire pressures on the dashboard display at any time, so I do rely on it, having checked its accuracy already.
“If you’re going for a cheaper tire, I’d look at Coopers–they seem to make a pretty good budget tire.”
However, that situation could well change for the worse, now that Cooper is owned by Apollo Tire, the largest mfr of tires in India…
“…that situation could well change for the worse…”
That is not necessarily true. Why do you believe that Apollo will change a well run company into a wreck? Maybe they bought Cooper to help Apollo learn how to provide tires for the world market.
@CapriRacer has a nice writeup on original tires here.
The original tires (won’t say the brand) on my 2006 Matrix were badly worn on the extreme inside edges and noisy by 15k miles, yet 2/3 tread left everywhere else.
This was not the gradual taper one would expect from negative camber, and wheel alignment checked fine at two different shops.
There are many other complaints on the web about these tires.
So I had the tires flipped on the rims and from that point on the tread wore down evenly until I replaced them at 25k miles.
They were much quieter too.
The replacement tires, Yokohama Avid Envigor, show no sign of uneven wear so far in 11k miles.
"That is not necessarily true. Why do you believe that Apollo will change a well run company into a wreck? "
That is why I used the qualifier, “could”.
The outcome of that buy-out is an unknown, but since so many people don’t seem to stay current regarding changes in ownership of companies, I thought that it was a good idea to make forum members aware of this change in ownership that COULD portend a decline in quality. Forewarned is forearmed, as the old saying goes…
Incidentally, if Cooper was a really well-run company, they never would have gotten their corporate face in trouble a few years back, as a result of issuing ice picks to their production workers, and directing them to pierce bubbles that appeared in the inner liner of the tires, prior to shipping.
While that shameful incident is not well-known outside of the tire industry, I was aware of it (and also aware of the change in ownership of the company) as a result of reading Business Week cover-to-cover each week. The info that I find in there is sometimes not easy to learn about otherwise.
;-))
I had Affinity tires on my 2009 corolla. They had a funny vibration at about 65 MPH from day one. It wasn’t really bad, so I assumed it was normal for the car. (Let’s face it, the Corolla is not a luxury cruiser.) When I bought new Cooper tires, the vibration went away.
+1 for Yokohama Avid ENVigors. I have then on my Accord, and they still have a lot of life after about 40,000 miles of mostly highway driving.