Long thread and I don’t have time to read all of it right now, but if you’re buying a new 2015 vehicle in 2016, depending on the Build Date, those tires could already be 1.5 years old! And that shouldn’t matter, but depending on the local climate, with the vehicle sitting still for long periods of time, who knows how that might affect how they’ll ultimately wear.
I’ve always gotten at least 50,000 miles out of the OEM tires on my new vehicles. In fact, I squeezed over 80,000 out of a set of 18" Michelin Latitudes on my 2011 Equinox (but probably shouldn’t have gone over 70k). 2017/2018/2019 new GMC Acadia buyers are currently complaining about their Michelin Premier LTX OEM tires. They’re wearing out around 30,000 miles (or less)! So there are bad OEM tires out there - even from “reliable” tire manufacturers like Michelin.
There are 3 reasons why people wear tires out quickly:
They drive in the city. Most tire wear occurs in the cornering mode. Drive in a straight line and the tires hardly wear at all.
The tires aren’t designed for long wear. OE tires are designed for good fuel economy. Some tires are designed for good grip. Both of those don’t get good wear.
The alignment is bad. My experience says that most published alignment specs are too wide by half and that camber over a degree tends to cause irregular wear. Toe is the most important alignment spec, and causes more wear issues than any other setting.
Agreed. I go to Tirerack for reviews, articles, etc… then buy local. My dealer can usually beat TR’s price, but I want to make sure. One time Local was $40 higher and dropped their price to match. Add in Local’s extended warranty and prices are about the same as TR. Then I have free tire rotation, etc.
My Sidekick used tires sized for minivans and luxury coupes (way oversized). I put some high-perf tires on… 30K mileage expected. At 45K, still had 1/3 tread.
Oh… and 5, steering design. My current car has 1.5 toe. Tires simply don’t last… but it handles like a go cart.
When the vehicle was designed, among the specs was a tire spec - unique to the individual vehicle. This means that even though the name on the sidewall is the same, the tire is different (and not just size.!)
In this case, it is a Toyota Sienna. If your car is not a Toyota Sienna, then the tires that originally came on it are different - and that also means the wear, grip, ride, handling could be different as well.
OEM tires are there to sell the car. The car maker really doesn’t care how long they last, and they’re certainly not interested in paying extra to get another 20,000 miles out of them. Unless it’s a specialty car, the emphasis is going to be on ride comfort.
Everything else will take a back seat, including grip. Not many people hotrod cars on test drives, and not many people go car shopping when it’s storming out, so grip and handling are irrelevant, as is wear. The main thing the salesgoober cares about is that the car ride as comfortably as possible because that’s what most purchasers are going to notice on the test drive.
… and, this is not a new phenomenon. My father’s '66 Ford Galaxie 500 came from the factory with some sort of BF Goodrich Silvertown tires, and they were worn-out by 16k miles. They were worn evenly across the tread, so it wasn’t an alignment or inflation issue, but rather poor-quality OEM tires.
When we took a test drive in a different '66 Ford, I was old enough to drive, so I got some time behind the wheel before we took it back to the dealership. The first thing that I noticed was that it handled really poorly, and that the tires were squealing on turns. I checked the inflation pressure, and found that all 4 were underinflated by several psi. I bumped-up the pressure to a couple of psi over the mfr’s specifications, and this showed me that it actually did handle fairly well (by '60s standards…), even though the ride quality deteriorated to a very small extent.
That’s true, but I think the Op may have been running aftermarket tires. Those vans simply eat tires, though usually go 25 to 30K. If they were factory, there would have been no tire warranty.
When I bought the 2005 Neon (new) I swapped tires at 238 miles. The replacements were a huge improvement and would have lasted over 70K if I hadn’t picked up some debris in one and it self destructed. (Factory were not much more than a balloon with tread, expected to last 20K or so.)
+1
The glove compartment of a new car should contain the tire warranty (from the tire manufacturer), along with the vehicle mfr’s warranty and maintenance booklets, and at least one Owner’s Manual.
All the new cars I have purchased have no warranty on wear items, in the dealer coverage. There are specific tires put on most new cars and they have no tire warranty.
At least that’s true of the cars I’ve owned. Even on the '94 truck… spelled out no tire warranty.
That is true, normally there is no tire wear warranty. I have seen cases where the vehicle owner complains to the tire manufacture and receives a small credit or discount on a new set of tires.
How long is the tire wear warranty shown in your tire warranty booklet?
Allow me to clear up some misunderstandings about OE tire warranties: (OE tires = tires that come from the vehicle assembly plant on new vehicles.)
As far back as I can remember, ALL OE tires had a “Materials and Workmanship Warranty”. That covered such things as molding imperfections and structural integrity (except for road hazards).
I know of no road hazard warranties offered by either the vehicle manufacturer or the tire manufacturer for OE tires.
Vibrations? Generally done at the vehicle dealer, but on occasion, a tire dealer. Ya’ see, tires aren’t the only things that cause vibrations. Brake discs, wheels, u joints, and a few other things are sometimes confused with a tire vibration. But a tire manufacturer will only warrant a tire for the first year of ownership, because it is possible to wear a vibration into a tire due to misalignment…
Wear (Mileage) Warranty? With a couple of exceptions, OE tires do not have a wear warranty. Exceptions: Some vehicle manufacturers provide a warranty that covers EVERYTHING - sort of - for a period of time. General Motors and Mercedes come to mind. Some tire manufacturers provide a wear warranty on some of their tires. Michelin comes to mind.
More exceptions: It is not uncommon for a vehicle manufacturer or a tire manufacturer (or even a tire dealer) to do some “Goodwill” in some circumstances - and it is also common for people to misinterpret that as a “warranty adjustment”
Please note: Not all tires that come on new cars came that way from the vehicle assembly plant. For example, Toyota has a program where tires are applied (exchanged?) at a pre-delivery prep location - and THOSE tires have a different warranty - and may be even a mileage warranty .