Tires after 25,000 miles, really?

Maintenance/Repairs
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21

OE tires DO NOT come a “Mileage Warranty”. The car manufacturer sets the specs and buys the tires at a very good price. They do not buy a warranty for how many miles the tire will get, so the mileage warranty can not get passed on.

OE tires also DO NOT come with a “Road Hazard Warranty”.

However, OE tires do come with a “Materials and Workmanship” warranty - and that covers the tire falling apart due to defects. Lack of maintenance, punctures, and not getting good wear are not defects.

When you buy tires from a tire shop you pay a very small, built in, amount for the mileage warranty (and if offered, you pay for the road hazard warranty, too! That’s sometimes built into the price as well!)

22

ok4450 and Capriracer summed it up very well.

Even a cursory reading of the car’s warranties from Mitsubishi would reveal to vicki that tires are NOT covered by any of the car manufacturer’s warranties. The tires that are installed on a new car have their own separate warranty from the tire manufacturer, and that tire warranty brochure should be in the glove compartment, along with the Owner’s Manual (possibly still in its plastic wrapper), the Maintenance Schedule, and the booklet detailing the various Mitsubishi warranties on the vehicle.

And, as was said, that tire warranty provides coverage for defects in materials and workmanship, and does NOT state that the tires are guaranteed to provide any specific number of miles of tread wear.

So, once again, we have a case of a car owner who has not read the materials that are sitting in the glove compartment, since these warranty documents are quite clear about all of the points that I detailed above.

And, as others have already stated, the tires that are installed on new cars are selected primarily for their low price, and also for qualities that help to sell cars such as a good ride and low rolling resistance, which aids gas mileage. As a result, it is very typical for the OE tires to wear out in less than 30,000 miles, sometimes MUCH sooner than that. I can recall that the original tires on my father’s '66 Ford wore out–very evenly across the tread–by 18,000 miles.

There is no mystery here, nor is there any kind of conspiracy going on. This is simply a typical case of OE tires that are not of the highest quality, and this is also a typical case of a car owner who has not read the booklets sitting in the glove compartment.

The OP needs to open up her glove compartment, take out all of the warranty materials and read what she finds there. After reading these documents, there should be no question regarding warranty issues on these tires. And, if she also chooses to read the maintenance schedule, she can get much longer service out of both her car and her tires.

23

Maybe the poster is out of gas at 25k miles and 2nd owner.

I complained very loudly about a set of Bridgestone RE92’s(OEM) at 7k miles on my new Subaru. They were causing vibration issues finally pinned a bad tire. Bridgestone customer care kindly replaced all of them with any of my of their product of my choice(apparently RE92 most expensive). Good job for them as I have purchased their products(Blizzack, RE960, summer tires) happily since besides that terrible model.

24

VDC this owner is the 2nd owner. I give it a 90% chance that the manuals or at least ancillary stuff was chucked out by the detailing folks or taken by previous owner.

Honestly I got 6 booklets with my Subaru on purchase. It was unclear reading warranty what exactly was covered as it mostly was legalize in the Bridgestone warranty. A simple cover page stating we cover this and that with a few bullets would cover the issue.

25

Some people actually believe the advertising from tire companies.

26

What’s still fuzzy here is the mileage and story behind the car. At 1400 or 14000 miles, whichever it is, the car is not a new one; it’s a used car.

My feeling is that since it would be very, very rare to see a demo car hit 1400 miles the mileage is actually 14,000 because an '06 was quite likely sold (roughly) around the end of '05 or beginning of '06. This would mean since the OP purchased it in March of '08 the car had probably seen about 2 years of service.

With the comma in the 14,00 figure given I assume this is a typo and the OP meant 14,000 instead.
It’s also fairly possible that in 2 years and 14k miles this car has been whacked and maybe was a dealer purchase at auction. It’s also possible the dealer may not even know it’s been hit. If this is the case then tire wear could also be speeded up if suspension damage or tweaks are present due to a wreck, curb hits, etc.; ergo, no warranty at all.

The fiance is also dishing out erroneous advice to the OP when he apparently has no knowledge of factors that could contribute to tire wear. This is winding the OP tighter than necessary on this issue.
Of course, I guess if he even hinted that hard driving or faiure to read the owners manual may have something to do with it then he might not be a fiance much longer…

27

That’s true. She probably doesn’t need snow tires. However, IMHO, she could benefit from winter tires.

Are winter tires better??? YES…Are they needed here??? NO. If you think so…GREAT. I’ve NEVER seen the need for them on a FWD vehicle since living in NH. And Milwaukee sees even less snow then NH…Again I’ll say NOT NEEDED…WASTE OF MONEY.

28

In order to prove negligence on the dealer’s part, you must know the condition of the tires when you bought the car and how they deteriorated over time. You would have to be able to prove this in court to have an airtight case. How much tread was on the tires when you bought the car?

29

My OE tires from several cars came with a warranty from the tire manufacturer but for the original purchaser of the vehicle

30

IMHO, even lousy OEM tires should last longer than 25k. Given that yours didn’t, I would worry about the car’s alignment. You didn’t say just what the wear pattern on your tires was, just that they were shot. A good tire dealer would have noticed the wear pattern, and advised you to get an alignment if it was warranted. An out of alignment car will chew through even the best quality tires. And may indicate a car that had been in an accident…

31

Dont be so quick to blame vickioz5 people…Car Dealers are VERY Unscrupulous in my opinion, you can’t trust them. They’ll do / say anything to make a buck. Car Salesmen have one of the lowest approval ratings by the American public. Also, tire companies aren’t always looking out for the consumer - Remember the Ford Explorer tire scandal ? Dont trust the car dealer or mfr to do the right thing unless you force them to. Most people dont complain & they get away with it.

Vicki, I’d Check your warranty info on the tires, if the dealer didn’t give you the info, check o
nline at the mfr website. Then complain to the dealer, manufacturer and possibly your state consumer protection agency. Complaining helps, email/ write the manufacturer’s president. Squeaky wheel gets the grease as they say.

BTW, I have a 98 bmw 528i, bought 4 new Falken tires recommened by Consmr rpts, 50K tread life warranty, at 154K miles. And I’m not a speed demon, check tire pressure frequently, and rotated them. Yet at 165K miles, they’re almost worn out. That’s only about 11K miles. Bought them at NTB, they said they would give me a 50% credit, but they conveniently didnt have the same tire, they only had goodyears, which would have cost me about $700. I’ve had michelins and other tires last much much longer.

32

Maybe they were not the original tires on the car. Why might that happen?
Maybe the car you bought HAD had nicer wheels than another used car on the lot. So the buyer wanted a 40k miles car but the cooler wheels from the car you bought. I could not fault a dealer for swapping wheels to close the deal. The 14k car ended up with 40k tires. There is no guarantee when you buy a used car that only the original equipment is still on it and it is your responsibility as a buyer to check the car out.

33

OMG ! Best to get yourself to the library & ask for Consumers Reports, they did a great story a short while ago on Tires, and how to judge the quality of same. It also included a bit on the dating system for tires and the warnings you should observe before buying OLD tires that may have aged too much.

34

uhhhh hmmmmmm ANY car should NOT have 3 year old tires on it REGARDLESS of how many miles are on them. They heat cycle and dry out due to daily use causing them to lose their ability to SAFELY grip the surface they are being driven on. Ever notice how much BETTER a FRESH new set of tires is when driving on them??? There is a reason.

35

I am Service Manager at a Toyota Scion Dealership. I can speak from experience that this is not really unusual. I am not sure if it is peculiar to Japanese manufacturers, but the OEM tires are just not the same as Aftermarket ones (even if they look identical) - the rubber compounds are specified by the car maker to suit their exact specifications for OEM use (I.E.:quietness, ride, etc) where as aftermarket tires are "generalized by the tire manufactuirer rather than “custom made” for a particular make or model (as are the OEM tires) Most Toyotas need tires at about 25k miles. (At 18k if they are not religiously rotatted every 5k miles…)

36

Now . . . You Just Don’t Suppose They’re Shooting For A Higher EPA MPG Rating, Do You?

I think we figured this out with the Prius. Use gummy worms for tires. To hell with how long they last.

By the way, I’m not a trained professional. I’m just some bloke with a cheap home PC and lots of coffee. Too much coffee.

37

My grandfather had a habit of shooting them down. He was in the VMF-121 and flew Wildcats early on and then transitioned to Corsairs eventually. . He flew with Joe Foss on several occasions. Papa ended up being credited with 4 kills, before being rotated back home. He says he thinks he had closer to 8 kills but a couple of them were Japanese bombers that would bomb them at night and it was more difficult to get conformation of a kill at night. He also contracted a tropical disease or two. But that was about par for the course.

38

Sounds like you are trying to JUSTIFY why dealerships sell tires at 2-3 times the cost of the same tire sold at a tire shop.

Sorry but what you’re saying is NOT true. Sorry, but tires are NOT custom made for a particular vehicle. The tire manufacturers are given specs from the manufacturer and then they either have a tire already with that spec or they will make a new one. They are NOT going to just sell that tire to Toyota/GM/Ford. That tire will then be sold to anyone. It would be far far too costly for tire manufactures to make tires as you say.

Second…I’ve yet to see the vehicle that ALL of them sold come with the same tire manufacturer. My 4runner came with Dunlaps…There were others on the lot with Michelins and GoodYears. It’s been this way since I’ve been buying cars (35+ years).

Most Toyotas need tires at about 25k miles.

Again NOT true.

39

Mike,

Sorry, but please take a good look at that crow on the branch outside your window. You are about to become very familiar with it.

Long before the first vehicle comes off the assembly line, vehicle manufacturers put out tire specifications for every vehicle they produce. ONLY if a tire passes all those specs (which can take as long as 2 years to go over all the hurdles) is it allowed to be supplied to that assembly plant. If more than one tire manufacturer passes all the specs, then there might be a single tire supplied, or multiple manufacturers.

If there are different sizes on a given vehicle, then the specifications may be a little different or a lot different, but there will be specifications that have to be met.

Some specifications are very difficult to get the compromise right, and some specifications are easy.

Almost without exception, the tires supplied to vehicle manufacturers are different than what a tire manufacturer would make for the replacement market - and typically the issue is the compromise between rolling resistance (which relates to fuel consumption), and how it affects traction and wear - which is why you’ll hear a lot of complaints about the wear and tractions qualities of tires on new cars. It isn’t that the tire “quality” is less - it’s that the compromise dictated by the vehicle manufacturer’s specs is biased towards fuel economy.

So in some respects tires ARE custom made for the vehicle manufacturers. They are supplied in HUGE quanities - as high as a million a year! - which is why tire manufacturers agree to make such oddball tires. Who wouldn’t want to supply that many tires, shipped to the same location on a steady basis, for 3 years straight? Sure makes setting up an assembly line easy!

One of the ways tire manufacturers handle this is by creating lines of tires that are specifically designated as OE - since those tires might have some performance issues that would “taint” the whole line. For example: Goodyear produces a line of tires called “Integrity” that are commonly used as OE. EACH tire size is designed to different specs - according to which vehicle that tire is being supplied to.

But vehicle manufacturers are a pretty smart group and they know that if there is a supply problem with one tire manufacturer, then they’d better have a back up in place - which is why you may see different tires (of the same size) supplied. Nevertheless, all those tires had to meet the same specs. Sure, there will be differences between brands, but the differences will be minor compared to the specs.

BTW, run down to your local Chevrolet dealer and look at all the tires. They all have a TPC number branded on the sidewall, indicating they a Tire Performance Criteria with the specification number that follows those three letters. You will find a TPC number on ALL GM tires - and if you know what to look for, you will find such designations on Fords, BMW’s, Mercedes, Jaguar, Porsche’s, etc.

40

You’ll have to PROVE that to me. What you’re saying doesn’t make sense.

So you’ve done chemical analysis of OEM tires and aftermarket tires made by the EXACT SAME TIRE MANUFACTURER??? Could you please post the results.

Please RE-READ my post. I NEVER said tire manufactures DIDN’T make tires for a specific car. What I said was they don’t make one for a specific car and NOT also offer that as a OEM replacement tire. I will admit there are some very special cars that will work with a tire manufacturer designing a tire for ONE SPECIFIC VEHICLE. But you’re usually talking about a Bently, or Ferarri…Something that usually costs well over $100k.