Anyone hear of hybrid needing new tires at 18.000 miles? Bad tires or flaw in car?
Not sure what car you are referring to. However the OEM tires(not usually known to last long) are likely optimized for low rolling resistance for optimal mileage. I would visit a site like Prius chat and see what owners find. I did notice that Prius uses Bridgestone RE92’s which I had on my Subaru Legacy. Interestingly enough I got nearly 50k out of the tires which is incredible for the Z rated(149 mph) low profile (45 series) tire on my car. They had really poor winter traction throughout their life and average at everything else but 50k is a long time on a high performance size tire.
Thanks for the reply Andrew. The car is a 2006 400h lexus and I noticed significant wear at about 14,000. The brand was “Eagle” I am not familiar with it. The car is driven in town mostly and gets about 26 mpg. I am not very tire savvy but thought that was early wear for a tire in general. I have always owned big ford suvs and this is a completely new experience for me. Thanks again.
I assume your OEM tire is probably a Goodyear Eagle tire.
Really the only thing you can do is to make sure that you rotate and keep the tire pressure up. Make sure to check your tire pressure monthly, and possibly sooner if there are drastic temperature changes. OEM tires generally don’t come with a mileage warranty to enforce.
I have one vehicle that gets about half the warranted mileage of any tire I have put on it. However, no alignment tech or mechanic can tell me what I can do to get the tires to last longer. Consequently I prepare myself to have a “warranty battle” at times with the tire dealer. I check the tire pressure and make sure tire rotations are done on time.
Take some time and choose your replacement tires carefully. Check out tirerack.com reviews and Consumer Reports before you make a decision. Look for good reviews on longevity and mileage if that is what you need. Make sure you get a mileage warranty, so that the warranty at least partially covers the expense of tires wearing out prematurely. I also usually get the tires and alignment from the same shop, so that there can be no finger-pointing about alignment/suspension issues vs tire wear.
I’ll guess it is a Prius, and that you have been at (or below) Toyota’s recommended tire inflation (35 psi front 33 rear). You will do much better at 42/40, although I do not know how much tread depth remains.
Sometimes they are also delivered with very poor suspension alignment, but much much more common is following Toyota’s spec. Sorry about that.
DAS
If there are no abnormal wear patterns on the tread then I would suspect the tires are of a lower grade.
My daughter had some Goodyear Eagles on her Mitsubishi at one time and they also had a short life span.
I have not heard anything, but since they usually are choosing tyres (type- low rolling resistance) and like all new car tyres they are usually the lowest bidder. I would not be surprised.
My experience with Toyota’s OEM tires is that they seem to last between 15,000 and 25,000 miles. RAV4 city/hwy
Goodyear Eagles commonly only last around 20,000 miles according to consumers, so yours lasted about normal for that tire. I can’t understand, though, why they’d use expensive tires that last a year when you can get other Goodyears from Canadian Tire for $80 per tire that are guaranteed for 80,000 miles or more.
A high-end car like a Lexus probably comes with high performance (high speed rating) tires. These tend to be soft (to stick better to the road) and thus wear quickly. As others have mentioned, they might have been the cheapest tires the carmaker could get away with. Watch how you drive, keep the pressure correct (see owners manual/door sticker), and when it comes time for the next set, consider a lower speed rating (if you don’t go fast) and higher quality.
The car’s being a hybrid should not have any effect on tire wear.