Advice on tyre problem please

johnb25

Hi,

In April I got three new Firestone TZ300 on the car, two on front and one on the rear. One of the old fronts was still ok to go on the rear.
Today I went to replace the old rear tyre. When the fitter looked at the newer rear (Firestone) he said it also needed replaced. It has worn right down to the legal limit mark. The two front tyres that went on with it in April are prefect.
The car is 04 Avensis 2.0 diesel 5 door, and I have done about 18,000 km since April. I got the tracking checked in April, and the tyre place have the record of the mileage from that.
Is there any legitimate reason that a rear tyre should wear so badly so quickly?
I argued that the tyre must be faulty to have worn that quickly, but they looked at and said no; the wear is even across the tyre, and there is no obvious sign of damage. I don't carry heavy loads or pull a trailer or anything like that. I have always found tyres to last well on the rear.

What should I expect the tyre centre to do for me on this? The owner was not there this morning so I will be calling back later today.

Thanks

vandriver

I'd expect 4 to 5 times that mileage before replacing rears.

Kimbot

Maybe a sticky caliper or something like that?

aristotle25

If your wheel alignment was off then that could wear a tyre down quickly.

YbFocus

Are your rear axle bushes gone?
Alignment may be right but if they're gone the tyre would be going out of track while driving, wearing it in no time!
Have you a son driving the car?

bazz26

I'd doubt misalignment would cause even wear across the whole tyre.

wildefalcon

Front wheel drive car? 18 k klicks? That's mad!

Someone has stolen your new tyre.

Or they didn't fit a genuine new tyre.

Or you were doing doughnuts for days.

johnb25

Thanks for all the replies.
I'll drop over to the mechanic and ask him to take a look.
No sons and too old for doughnuts..

YbFocus

johnb25 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies.
I'll drop over to the mechanic and ask him to take a look.
No sons and too old for doughnuts..

Sticky brake or a worn axle bushing here I'd reckon

martinr5232

There is absolutely no reason why a brand new tyre would wear evenly on the rear of a front wheel drive car in that milage doesnt matter what bushings are worn or anything else.

Rear tyre should last at least 70 or 80 k km on a front wheel drive car.

fmcg_scribe

johnb25 wrote: »

Hi,

In April I got three new Firestone TZ300 on the car, two on front and one on the rear. One of the old fronts was still ok to go on the rear.
Today I went to replace the old rear tyre. When the fitter looked at the newer rear (Firestone) he said it also needed replaced. It has worn right down to the legal limit mark. The two front tyres that went on with it in April are prefect.
The car is 04 Avensis 2.0 diesel 5 door, and I have done about 18,000 km since April. I got the tracking checked in April, and the tyre place have the record of the mileage from that.
Is there any legitimate reason that a rear tyre should wear so badly so quickly?
I argued that the tyre must be faulty to have worn that quickly, but they looked at and said no; the wear is even across the tyre, and there is no obvious sign of damage. I don't carry heavy loads or pull a trailer or anything like that. I have always found tyres to last well on the rear.

What should I expect the tyre centre to do for me on this? The owner was not there this morning so I will be calling back later today.

Thanks

Can understand your concern and agree that you need to investigate the root cause - your starting point should be the wheel alignment and from there investigate the condition of ball joints and so on.

However, I have to question what you decided to do last April. When it comes to replacing tyres, replacing 2 at a time (on the same axle) or replacing all 4 at the same time is the only way to go.

The only exception might be replacing a punctured tyre that can't be repaired *soon* after replacing 2 or all 4 tyres.

Was the front tyre that you rotated to the back really as good (back then) as you say it was?

Even if it was "good" at the time, did you not question why it was in better shape than the other front tyre?

Did you get the wheel alignment checked after the 3 new tyres were fitted last April?

If not, has the wheel alignment of the car ever been checked?

Have there been any recent repairs to the car?

Has the car even been in an accident?

Is this the first time that that 2 or more tyres fitted to the car have worn prematurely?

Have you always bought that particular tyre for the car before this year?

I'm not trying to upset you but there are lots of questions that can and should be asked.

CiniO

martinr5232 wrote: »

There is absolutely no reason why a brand new tyre would wear evenly on the rear of a front wheel drive car in that milage doesnt matter what bushings are worn or anything else.

Rear tyre should last at least 70 or 80 k km on a front wheel drive car.

Well this depends greatly on type of roads you drive and driving style.
In my car set of tyres last about 15k km. (that would be 10k front and 20k rear, but as I swap them around they all last about 15k).

I drive fairly quickly though on very rough surface roads, with plenty of tight bends and turns.

martinr5232

CiniO wrote: »

Well this depends greatly on type of roads you drive and driving style.
In my car set of tyres last about 15k km. (that would be 10k front and 20k rear, but as I swap them around they all last about 15k).

I drive fairly quickly though on very rough surface roads, with plenty of tight bends and turns.

You need to look at the way you drive or the brand of tyres your buying if all your getting is 10k out a set of front tyres.

That certainly wouldnt be average wear on a set of tyres even on soft compound tyres i would expect a lot more than that.

wildefalcon

It can depend on the car - the "normal" life of a front tyre on my car is about 10k miles, it's a heavy, fast car. Also, I'd prefer a tyre that wears fast to one that wears slow - part of the price you pay for grip and stopping power on the driven wheels.

10k on the back wheels is still mad.

CiniO

martinr5232 wrote: »

You need to look at the way you drive or the brand of tyres your buying if all your getting is 10k out a set of front tyres.

That certainly wouldnt be average wear on a set of tyres even on soft compound tyres i would expect a lot more than that.

Indeed recently I had a tyres that wore quicker (Riken Maystorm) but they lasted even shorter. (about 10k km on set of 4 with swapping).
Normally it's about 15k as I said - 10k front, 20k rear.

While driving style may have some influence, but as I said - it's surface type in my area that makes them wear so quickly.

martinr5232

CiniO wrote: »

Indeed recently I had a tyres that wore quicker (Riken Maystorm) but they lasted even shorter. (about 10k km on set of 4 with swapping).
Normally it's about 15k as I said - 10k front, 20k rear.

While driving style may have some influence, but as I said - it's surface type in my area that makes them wear so quickly.

Be cheaper to move house :-D

johnb25

fmcg_scribe wrote: »

Can understand your concern and agree that you need to investigate the root cause - your starting point should be the wheel alignment and from there investigate the condition of ball joints and so on.

However, I have to question what you decided to do last April. When it comes to replacing tyres, replacing 2 at a time (on the same axle) or replacing all 4 at the same time is the only way to go.

The only exception might be replacing a punctured tyre that can't be repaired *soon* after replacing 2 or all 4 tyres.

Was the front tyre that you rotated to the back really as good (back then) as you say it was?

It was in reasonable condition, I would say no worse than I have rotated in the past.

Even if it was "good" at the time, did you not question why it was in better shape than the other front tyre?

Did you get the wheel alignment checked after the 3 new tyres were fitted last April?

I got the tracking done when I got the last tyres.

If not, has the wheel alignment of the car ever been checked?

Not that I can recall.

Have there been any recent repairs to the car?

No

Has the car even been in an accident?

Not in the 41/2 years I have had it, and nothing to indicate it ever was.

Is this the first time that that 2 or more tyres fitted to the car have worn prematurely?

Only one tyre prematurely worn, and I have never seen anything like this in 25 years driving.

Have you always bought that particular tyre for the car before this year?

Not always, but I had them the set before last, and went back to them as preference. But the strange thing is that one on the rear should wear so fast, and the ones on the front still be so good.

I'm not trying to upset you but there are lots of questions that can and should be asked.

No problem, just trying to understand what's going on....