(first posted 1/24/2013. My response to today’s earlier post about tire wear) How many people consider their tire’s tread wear warranty when they walk in a tire store to buy a new set of tires, and ask for the adjustment if their tires haven’t reached the full warranty distance (do they ever)? Doing so can really pay off.
I just bought a set of Michelin Defenders for the Forester in size 205/70R 15. The regular price at Costco for these is $491.96. The current set of Michelins only went about 40,000 miles before the tread wear indicator bars made themselves known, as have all the previous sets of tires on this car. The tread wear warranty on the old set was 80,000 miles, so the pro-rata mileage adjustment was $241.04. Costco currently has a $70 discount for buying a set of any new Michelins. That brought the final price to $180.92, or just 37% of the full price. And the new set has a 90,000 mile tread wear warranty. So if this new set lasts the same as all the rest, the adjustment may well be even more next time.
Moral: Know your tread-wear warranty and act on it. Keep your tires rotated as per the warranty requirements. And keep your paper work. It’s well worth it; the savings become considerable, especially, after a few sets of tires. Of course, your savings will depend on how many miles you get from the tires. But 90,000 miles?
Update: I just bought a set of new Michelins for my Scion Xb, to replace the ones that wore out after less than half the warranty period. The first counter person was quite negative, claiming the 5 year warranty had expired (it hadn’t), and again bringing up the issue of not having them rotated at Costco (I do it at home; quicker). He went off to talk to someone, and the guy that came back was super accommodating, and had it taken care of stat. It cost me $180 for a new set of Michelins. But I may start taking them in to be rotated by Costco (for free), just to make sure there’s no basis for them denying my claim the next time.
Good score
Is it my imagination or tires not last as long they used to? I remember the early 70s when Michelin X had a 40,000 mile guarantee and they would usually do it easily. My parents had a 1972 Comet LDO with BF Goodrich radials on it (ER70-14!) and they still had tread at 43,000 when they dumped the car.
I hear you, but unless we know what treadwear/speed ratings the old tires had, it may be Apples vs. Oranges:
FYI: http://www.michelinman.com/tires-101/tire-basics/about-tires/tire-speed-ratings-and-tread-life.page?REDR=1
I assume the rating system hasn’t changed since then. Heat is the issue, for I’ve seen IR imagery of moving vehicles, and the hottest spots from the side are the tires.
I’ve settled on Michelins, or Pirellis as an alternate, for my cars. My trial of Bridgestones on my old Accord was a disaster; it totally ruined its roadholding, so I got a refund. That was a real head-scratcher.
This would never work for me. I’ll explain, I always reach and surpass the manufacturer warranty. It’s actually quite simple…
All my tires have been purchased at BJ’s for at least the last 25+ years.
All have been Michelin
All have at least made it to 87,000 miles with most lasting between 90k and 100k.
Had a set last to 108k…I do a lot of driving
Step1 Check your air pressure once a month. Make sure you do this when the tires are cold… Not been driven on and heated up. That will ensure you get the correct psi. Also don’t trust gas station inline pressure guages..I always bring my own.
Step 2, Rotate your tires at the manufacturer stated interval, do this religiously!
Step 3 Balance your tires regularly, since I buy them at BJs they offer free rotation and tire balancing. I balance them everytime I rotate.
Step3 Get allignments at regular intervals.
Step 4 Have you suspension and “front end” checked at regular intervals. Most people wait until things start to rattle and break before fixing. These things will quickly wear your tires out if they aren’t in tip top shape.
Luckily I’m mechanically inclined so I church this regularly and do some of my own work.
So I actually get more tire than what I pay.
Current vehicle 2002 Toyota 4Runner with 288k miles. Current set of Michelin tires have 87k miles… And I’m getting new ones this month. That’s the lowest milage I’ve ever gotten on Michelins.
Yes, but you’re negating the intent of the article: to be a cheapskate and let someone else pick up the tab for your tires. Spending $200 on alignments, $500-1000 in suspension repairs, and actual time to rotate your tires (almost always for free) at the business of record is far harder and more expensive than simply complaining when the tires wear out and getting a free handout.
Can you tell I work in the tire industry?
I love CC. But I don’t appreciate this how-to guide to skim free tires from someone. Maybe Pauls wore out evenly across, despite impeccable care and attention (on a Forester that old, I’m betting not), but to post a guide encouraging others to “take advantage” (good choice of words) to get new tires without paying for them is pretty nasty.
There’s no question in my mind that some vehicles intrinsically wear their tires faster than others. And without having access to the statistics, I get the general picture that trucks and SUVs with solid rear axles do a lot better than cars with independent rear suspension, like the Forester.
My Jeep Cherokee (which the Forester replaced) was quite easy on tires, and of course it had solid axles front and rear. Frankly, I was a bit shocked to see how fast the original tires were wearing on the Forester, and faster on the rear than the front. I had the rear alignment checked, but it was ok.
And yes, I always rotate my tires to even out treadwear, and the wear was quite even when I took them in, otherwise they would have had a legitimate issue. From my years of general experience, some cars eat tires a lot faster than others.
My ultimate point is this: if tire makers are going to offer a treadwear warranty, then it’s stupid to not take advantage of it. This is just good consumer information. Look at it this way: if Michelin offers a treadwear warranty because it’s a good marketing ploy, but nobody takes advantage of it, then they’re benefit ting without any associated costs.
Wouldn’t you demand that your car warranty covers a repair for a legitimate broken/worn component if it happens during the warranty period?
I don’t appreciate you characterizing my article about the value of treadwear warranties as how-to guide to skim free tires from someone That’s BS. Nobody is holding a gun to the tire manufacturers to make them offer tread wear warranties in the first place.
Frankly, they’re the ones “skimming free dollars from someone” (consumers) when the overwhelming majority of them come in to buy new tires that wore out before the advertised tread wear warranty and are not offered an automatic adjustment. Consumer ignorance is bliss, for the corporations.
Well the fact is if you are buying tires with a tread wear warranty the mfg figured in a certain percentage of expected payouts and added that to the price of each tire.
Some other facts, some cars are just harder on tires than others, and some materials they make road surface out of make tires wear faster than others. Again the mfg knows this and it is factored into their expected warranty rate.
I know Paul has posted pics of the Forester’s replacement mid tire rotation so there is no reason to assume that he didn’t rotate the tires on a reasonable schedule. Had he showed up with one pair at the warrantable tread depth and a significantly greater amount on the other end of the car you can bet they would be less likely to honor that warranty.
Alignments don’t need to be done as frequently as some people will lead you to believe. I have a 2003 Mountaineer with just under 150k on the clock. It has never had an alignment other than what was done at the factory and the tires are still wearing nice and evenly as they ever have. On our Fusion we ran it from 40k to almost 140k w/o an alignment and again no unusual wear issues.
That’s not to say that I would never get an alignment but when I rotate the tires at every oil change I inspect them for signs of wear that could be caused by alignment or suspension wear issues and if there aren’t any they get moved to the new position and drive on.
So I see no problem in taking the mfg up on their warranty if your car or driving conditions mean that you didn’t get your money’s worth out of tires you payed a premium for. Of course part of the reason that Paul’s cost was so low is that he timed it to coincide with one of their sales which are very predictable. In fact when it was time for new tires for my Mother in Law’s last car we went to Costco for a quote and the person behind the counter said wait if you can because the $70 off a set promotion was coming around again in the next couple of weeks. Again Michelin and all the other tire mfgs as well as the retailers build those promotional discounts into the list price for the tire. So why pay the regular price when you know they will be on sale?
In South Florida the coarse shell rock aggregate in the road tends to wear out tires faster and makes road noise in the car much more noticeable than other parts of the country. The roads quickly bleach out to light gray as well. Good score on the tires, Paul. I find the Costco Tire Center very easy to deal with and buy all my tires there.
Good tip! 80-90k miles isn’t unheard of. On my 1997 toyota 4Runner I was able to get 85k miles out of the Michelin LTX tires. When shopping for new ones, the reviews on Tire Rack suggested that 80k was typical for the LTX tires with proper treatment.
I have also been happy with the tread life of Michelin LTX tires on my pickup, and on my van before that.
I used to get 50-60k out of them on my Cherokee. The solid axles certainly meant there were no camber issues to wear them unevenly in that regard. I really can’t explain why the Forester eats up tires rather quickly, and it’s the rear ones that wear faster. I’ve had the rear alignment checked, and it made no difference. Something about the intrinsic suspension geometry, I assume.
Most vehicles with Full Time AWD Systems wear tires faster caeteris paribus.
Almost all XJs came with a part time T-case so 99% of the time you have 2WD tire wear.
The % of city and highway driving plays a factor. Best case a semi-trailer with proper alignment , pressure and rotation can last 150k+. Worst case at my current job at my current job a Pete 320s on a commercial route can eat a set of steers in 8-10k mi.
FWIW, Subarus with automatics have a 90/10 power split, until the fronts lose traction.
And also FWIW, our Cherokee has Select-Trac switchable full-time AWD, which I kept in 4WD mode for pretty much for most of its life; I figured why not?
Sorry to confuse the matters…
The Forester eats the outside edge of the rears, so I think the static camber setting must be somewhat positive, odd as that seems….
I’ve never had them on a truck, but I’ve usually had great luck with tread life on Michelins. They’re usually my go-to tire brand.
When I had a 4Runner, I somehow milked almost 50k out of the awful OEM Bridgestone Dueller H/Ts, and I probably could have gone another 10k on them. I replaced those with a set of General Grabbers (Continental) based on rave reviews; They initially were excellent, but they wore very fast, which seems to be typical of Continental. I didn’t keep the vehicle long enough to find out, but I bet they didn’t last 30k.
The worst performing tire I’ve ever had was easily the Pirelli P-Zero. Rode and handled great, but completely shot after 20k, mostly highway miles.
We bought the current tires on my pickup and my wife’s CR-V from Costco. Next time I need tires, I may not go back there despite their good prices. The service is awful and they cost me a lot in time.
The tire shop employees at our local Costco are all surly, there’s always a waiting list to get any work done, they always use brake cleaner and remove the anti-seize that I put on the center registers to prevent the wheels from binding on the hubs, and I have to fight with them to NOT readjust the tire pressures and leave them where I set them.
With my wife’s CR-V, I just wanted to drop-off 4 loose wheels and get them to put the new tires on. I figured it was a win-win: I don’t have to make an appointment and hang around waiting, and they can do it whenever they’re not busy. They said they would void the road hazard warranty if they didn’t install the wheels on the vehicle themselves.
I used to be a big on getting tires, until the last time I went and they informed me they no longer did alignments. But they did refer me to some no name shop that would do it for 100 bucks. No sale.
Ended up going to Tire Discounters, which despite the free alignment, was actually cheaper and -gasp- actually had the tire I wanted in stock. They ended up replacing my front brake pads as well (I smelled a ripoff until they offered to take me out back and show me just how completely shot they were) for less than Sears charged me to replace the rears (apparently those morons never even bothered to check fronts when I had the vehicle in there…a whole month earlier).
So I’d go back to Tire Discounters, but not to Sears for anything. I don’t know about Costco, but from what I’ve heard people say about Walmart, I’d pretty much never take my car to a big box store under any circumstances.
Costco and Walmart are like apples and oranges. Costco is famous for paying their workers a living wage and has good benefits. The result is a much more professional staff. Also, Costco only does tires; nothing else, car-wise.
I’ve never lived near a Costco, let alone shopped one, so I can’t really compare. I do remember hearing about the wages and benefits, so I figured it was a definite cut above Walmart.
Of course, it’s kinda hard not to have better service, products and business practices than Wally World, isn’t it?
We have “dual citizenship” and belong to both Costco and Sam’s Club. Costco seems to cater to a higher income demographic in both prices and in product selection. We have found each to be better at certain things than the other.
I just stumbled on this interesting thread . Costco propaganda is all over the place . They start pay $11.00 at Walmart and $11.00 at the new Cosco my son applied . They even had stock options and the walmart .
@jcp, we used to have dual citizenship, technically we still do it is just that they closed the 3 Sam’s Clubs in our area. It was understandable as they just never made much headway in Costco’s back yard and the one club I usually shopped at was always pretty slow including the tire shop. The installers there were very professional and accommodating. So in recent years it has been 3 sets at Sam’s Club and 1 at Costco. Unfortunately when the closed the clubs they sent the tire store workers home immediately, palletized the tires for shipping and wouldn’t sell them let alone discount them heavily like they did everything else in the store.
For other things I prefer Costco.
I have a lot of shop experience. But I’m curious as to why you think you need anti-seize on your lugs.
Anti-seize compounds are also used to improve gasket performance and removal, prevent thread galling during installation, thermal cycling, dissimilar metal corrosion and protect the joint from highly corrosive environments, right?
However in the case for lug nuts the torque specification for the wheels are a DRY torque spec. If you use even the smallest amount of a lubricant on a lug the wheel will be over-torqued on the the vehicle. Which will damage the component, there by reducing the service life. Each lug has an elasticity to it and over torquing will over stretch the lug and reduce it’s strength.
I have found this video that will describe what I’m trying to say.
https://youtu.be/X3ndeXiZUeM
Any ways I hope I helped.
He never said to put antisieze on the lugs, he puts it on the center bore to prevent the wheel getting stuck on the hub. Many mfgs actually put grease in the wheel’s center bore at the factory for the same reason.
Nice! However, it is worth mentioning that Costco will only sell you OEM size tires for your rig. If you have wheels and tires other than factory, you are not buying tires there!
Not true. I have replaced the tires on my cars with non-OEM sized tires. I did have to fight them on it. Also had to fight them on summer only tires but they did it.
I bought a different size for my Xb, and had no issue with them. It was only a small size difference, though.
Years ago I never had a problem with Costco selling non OEM sizes but then it turned to fighting and them refusing, at least at the clubs near me.
My experience also. I walked out and went to a local shop that did what I wanted.
Just recently did this w/ a set of Goodyears on my wife’s car. I didn’t even have to keep any paperwork b/c I went back to the same shop we bought the tires from and were in their system. Got a 35% discount on the tires themselves and 15% discount on the labor. Add in the rebate Goodyear was running (which doubled on the Goodyear credit card w/ 6 months same as cash) and it worked out to a very nice deal.
For what it’s worth, they are *supposed* to also offer some sort of prorated discount on other brands as well, but it’s not as much. We priced out some Michelins, but Goodyear would only kick in about 20% off on those
Actually I am just amazed at the regular price for those tires. I just shopped for the same size tire for our CRV and couldn’t touch Michelins from anywhere for anything close to that, including Costco. We ended up paying a little less than $400 for a store-branded set from Sears with a 50k treadwear warranty… pretty much the same price as your Michelins after the rebate! And those tires were almost $200 less than the next cheapest set I found anywhere, which were generic brand, name brand tires were even more.
I suppose tire prices vary by area?? Or this is just a good time to buy tires. I like the tires we got, but I would have much rather had the Michelins with almost double the warranty and typical Michelin quality.
Michelin’s MSRP for these is $140; Costco’s price is $122. But that’s an installed price, which is where Costco is impossible to beat. Also, there’s no sales tax in Oregon.
Ok you got me curious so I checked my receipt… I was mistaken. I paid $66/tire, I forgot that my $400 bill included an alignment too, along with the installation of $15/tire and a road hazard warranty too. So at least I did get off cheap for my cheap tires.
Not sure about Oregon, but I just checked the Costco website and it says the $123 price (and the price on any tire there) does not include installation… install is $15 per tire more. So for me, after rebate I would still have been over $500, since we pay tax, plus whatever alignment and road hazard would cost there. Great that you don’t have to pay sales tax there!
FYI — Sears offers an incredibly cheap road hazard warranty, $8/tire. Was worth it…
Costco includes the road hazard warranty with the $15 mount and balance.
Nitrogen tire inflation.
Mostly a crock in my opinion, especially for passenger car tires that get regular use. For track cars (where the tires are driven harder) or cars that are driven little (so the tires last longer before needing replacement due to tread wear) there may be benefits.
There is a lot of hype about the use of Nitrogen in tires. What I do know from years in the aircraft field is that it has been in use for a long time in aircraft tires.
Our atmosphere is by volume, dry air contains 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases.
It is one of the largest atoms in the atmosphere at covalent radius of 71pm with oxygen at 66 pm. That would mean that N2 will have a harder time leaking out of the microscopic cracks in the tires there by keeping the tire at pressure longer.
There is one other good reason for Nitrogen in the tires. Through the process of gathering the nitrogen out of the atmosphere the air must go through a moisture separator. So the Nitrogen in the tires will be dry. Why do you care? Corrosion on your rims is one of the main problem people face with leaking tires. The bead seal ( that’s the place where your tires meet the rim ) leaks are prevalent on Chrome or Aluminum rims. Yes, those very pretty rims are the achilles heel to your air pressure.
Secondly, the moisture in the air have a large effect on the pressure in your tires. The thermal dynamics of gasses and water are far different and the water in the air will have a good effect on the tire pressure as the tires heat up as you drive and cool down at rest.
So adding all of this up means that your tires with >90% Nitrogen in the tires will stay at a much more stable pressure and also save against corrosion on the rims.
Will you notice any improvement in your average day to day drive?
The chances are, no. But you will have far less trips to the air pump.
Edit: I do know that there are car manufacturers that are now using Nitrogen in the tires straight from factory. I did buy a Hyundai last year and it was filled with Nitrogen.
I read that here in the UK at least Nitrogen has no real benefits and just a way of getting even more money from poor motorist?. Tyre depots make no mention of tyre rotation ever …. Whos right UK or USA ?.
Well the fact is on your standard FWD car with the suspension and alignment in spec the fronts will wear out much quicker than the rears, and the RF will usually wear out before the LF. Personally I prefer the predictability of the handling of having matched tires on all corners, so if you do a proper rotation at reasonable intervals all 4 tires will wear out at the same time.
I always check the treadwear warranty and have my tires rotated and balanced regularly at the America’s Tire store in Salem, OR (Discount Tire in most of the U.S.). I’ve never come close to reaching the warranty on my 01 Seville and usually end up paying half price for a new set of tires. I’ve owned the car for four years; put new tires on shortly after I bought the car, and I’m now on my third set. 35,000-40,000 miles is about all I can get.
We have studded snows on steel wheels for our 2012 Forester from Tire Rack. I noticed that the inflation pressures were fairly low, 29 Rear, a bit higher in front. Could this be a factor in the tread life? The Silverado uses 50 PSI all around, but that’s almost twice the weight of the Subie. The Ranger is 35 PSI at about 4000 pounds.
I rotate every 6 months–except yearly for the Ranger. Siped snow tires don’t work well on our side of the Cascades, so the winter Michelins we bought several years ago stay on the rack and the Ranger is parked all winter. Might have gotten away with them in the city, but we get lots of in the forest lands.
The only problems for us at Costco are 1) distance to the store–it’s 100 miles away, so we have to plan the rest of the shopping carefully, 2) the stock is limited and they won’t reserve tires and 3) if the tire isn’t mainstream, you are SOL. The first attempt, I missed out on tires with the Chevy (they had 3 in my size), but the next trip I made sure they had what we needed the day before. Got there as the shop opened and it was OK. They put the wheels on the right corners (I mark the wheels for my rotation scheme) and got the inflation right. They only had sporty car tires for the 14″ Ranger wheels, so we went local.
I’m not sure Westsiders understand studded tires, so I’ll skip Costco for those. (The Oregon DOT folks discourage studs, but that’s easy to do when you get a tiny bit of snow most winters. Arggh.)
Wow – there are 3 Costco’s within 15 miles of my house. I’ve always lived in a suburb within ~25M miles of a major city (LA, NYC or SF), and often wonder what its like to live a rural environment. It has some idealistic appeal to me, but driving 100 miles to get tires doesnt sound fun
Do they do the rotations etc for free? (I’d be surprised if they take your word you have done them)
I’m not sure I would actually want tyres that last 90k miles, given how much worse the grip would be due to the harder rubber compound etc, particularly in the wet. Then you have the degradation from a few years UV exposure and it gets worse.
Yes; free. But I usually do my own; just quicker than driving to Costco for that. In the past, they never mentioned it, but this time they gave me a bit of grief, and warned me that they would only honor the treadwear warranty if had them done there.
Well, that takes Costco off our list for good.
That’s not so bad then, the schemes I’ve seen have had excessively onerous requirements for rotation, balancing and possibly alignments that would eat into any savings from a refund for tyres not reaching the mileage, which was certainly nowhere near 90k miles.
America’s Tire includes lifetime rotation and balancing. You can also make an appointment to save time, but unless they’re really busy on a Saturday, I can be in and out in an hour, even if I don’t have an appointment.
I’ve been a Big O Tires customer for 15 years. Free road hazard, rotation, balancing, etc. Their store brand tires are less expensive than name brands, they treat me right, and they are fast once you get into a bay.
Over the years, I’ve noticed that most tire shops tend to overinflate my new tires. I’ll buy a new set of tires, get home, and check the pressures, which are typically in the 40s before I park overnight and adjust them down to 30 psi the next morning.
Paul, this post jogged me to look at costco.com, where I found that $70 Michelin discount about to expire in a few days. After comparing around the web a bit, I picked out the best Michelin tires for my 2010 Prius (40k miles on the OEM Goodyears), bought them from Costco online and nailed down the discount.
Just got back from having them installed, and yes, it was a very good experience. I’ll certainly hang onto the paperwork and see if I can cash in on the mileage guarantee down the road. Thanks!
I buy almost-new wheels and tires for 25% of retail. How? MINI Cooper wheels fit my Scion xB just swell. People buy Coopers and take off the wheels/tires for an upgrade. Then they sell the OEM stuff on CL for cheap.
My last set of Pirellis on OEM Cooper wheels cost $160. That’s WITH wheels, so no mounting/balancing fee.
I used the tire wear warranty once. I had a set of BF Goodrich Traction T/A’s on my Ford Windstar. They were rotated by the shop I bought them from. These wore out fast at the outside edge while on the front even thought he alignment was good. The shop noticed that only this size of tires failed early. I received a 21% adjustment, no fuss.
I had the opposite situation on my Honda Fit recently. I had replaced the OEM tires with a set of Michelins at Discount Tire. The thing that keeps me going back there is reasonable prices, free balance and rotation, plus a free replacement road hazard warranty for maybe $15/tire. I got the free replacement on the blown tire, and learned that I had gotten about 53K miles out of a set with a 45K tread wear warranty. So, no tread wear adjustment for me.
I have used my DT road hazard warranty in areas where there is no Costco, so there is an added convenience factor.
The car uses a really strange tire size which Michelin no longer seems to offer. Trying a set of Continentals now with a 90K warranty. They are, however, a touch bigger in the sidewall and a touch narrower at the tread. Another benefit of DT is that if I don’t like how the car drives with them, I can replace them with something else and pay only the difference.
I generally use Belle Tire, rather than Discount, partly because Discount doesn’t do alignments.
At Belle Tire, the price includes Lifetime Alignment Checks, Lifetime Spin Balancing, Lifetime Tire Rotation, Lifetime Flat Repairs, and Pro-Rated Road Hazard Warranty.
Never had occasion to attempt a wear warranty claim as I drive so little (Fritz will be 1 year old on Jan 30th, and I have put barely 7,000 miles on him) the tires usually dry rot in about 8 years, with half the tread still remaining.
In Arizona, Discount Tire is the only way to go.
I have used Michelins for a long time now also.
I’m still trying to imagine a 90K warranty. That’s incredible — with one exception, all my tires dry rot before they ever wear out. Interesting info in this thread.
It helps when you don’t spread your mileage over 20+ cars. 🙂
I walked right into that one 😀
You know there is a downside with these long tire wear warranties. If you live in a rainy and or snowy climate you wish for the last 2 mm of tread to wear a whole lot faster. If you use the tires up you are riding on marginal tires for a looooong time.
Yup that is a reason that I would never use a tread wear warranty since I replace tires on our daily drivers when they get to 4/32″ of tread instead of the 2/32″ of tread left when they will honor the tread wear warranty. It is not like I would have qualified anyway. On my wife’s car that will get new summer tires in the spring the factory Michelins would have made an easy 100K since it took about 75K for them to get to 4/32″. My winter tires get replaced at 6/32″.
On many of my cars they get replaced well before that because of their advanced age.
I’ve done it, too. And at Costco. It wasn’t for Michelins, but for B. F. Goodrich, which is Michelin-owned, anyway. Costco was helpful and cooperative.
Beware time limits on treadwear warranties. Often there is a five-year or similar limit, reflecting what the manufacturer says is the useful life of the tire. Of course this would vary depending on where you live; in a temperate, clean-air region, tires would be expected to show less environmental deterioration than in areas of greater cold in winter, heat and humidity in summer, dirty air, dirty water and salt on roads in the wintertime. Owners in Eugene are thus getting a raw deal compared to those in Philadelphia.
But although I free-read the magazine courtesy of a subscriber relative, I won’t help out Consumer Reports because of the onerous bias in many of their articles and Ratings.
Costco doesn’t get a perfect rating, either. If you want to go off the manufacturer’s standard tire size, they can get anal. I wanted to replace 205/70R15 tires with 215/65R15. The car even had 225/60R16 as a factory option, so there was plenty of room; and I made sure the 215/65R15 had a weight-carrying rating higher than 205/70R15. Two counterpersons wouldn’t do it; I had to get a manager and explain to him all the above-mentioned technicalia before he would. It seems that Costco, like Consumer Reports but to a much lesser degree, feels that the individual needs Big Brother supervision.
I did this once on a set of Good Years that were absolute garbage. The second set was a bit better, but I sold the car before those needed replacement. It was a lot of hassle, but well worth it.
Most of my tires I get are used. I know a person who does vehicle recycling. So, think of it like a “free exchange” if you will. I do try for the Michelins whenever I can, though. 😉
But, it can be worth it.
What channel will you be on? When will this air?
I have no idea. CR produces these short segments, and makes them widely available to various outlets, to use in their consumer segments on their news shows or such. It probably depends on what local stations chose to run them, and when. You know what I look like 🙂
Well, don’t go all Lindsay Lohan on us now that you’ll be famous!
I’ve been in front of the camera a few times before; let’s just say I’d much rather be behind it. No worries on that account 🙂
Only 40,000 miles on 80,000 mile tires? That’s exactly why I won’t buy Michelin tires. Personally I’ve never got more than 30,000 out of a set of Michelins before they separated.
I buy Cooper and have never had any trouble from them.
I’ve had my bad share of Good Years.
I run Coopers on all the vehicles that I buy new tires for. No complaints!
I’ve honestly never been aware of a tread wear warranty, but I know well that tires have tread wear numbers.
My experience has been all over the board. I’ve had a few sets of tires run outstandingly well on their numbers. Since my annual mileage on any vehicle I have tends to be low, I usually run into problems like rim corrosion causing leakage, tire damage, or old age stress cracking, and sometimes feel the need to just get it done and get new tires instead of jacking with 8 year old tires with a lot of miles.
The new tires almost always give the vehicle a boost in ride and handling characteristics. You don’t realize what you lose when lots of miles and aging happens over several years. Sometimes I just want new tires!
For the tires that have run short of their potential, I’ve usually found that the vehicle itself tends to be a tire eater, and can’t find any maintenance to improve the performance.
I’m surprised at the love for Discount Tire. They just came to my market, and were easily beaten by the local tire chain as well as Costco. I joked that they didn’t understand the first word in their name.
Used Costco for the first time this year for new tires for my boat trailer. I did find some anal rules, but my circumstances worked and didn’t have any problems. (They won’t install tires on trailers unless you can bring in factory torque specs. I already had the tires off and in my pick-up bed, so I didn’t need their installation.)
I would figure that as many have said, that with all the rules about rotation, etc., that most stores would give you a MAJOR hassle on claims – blaming you. My wife lost one tire shortly after purchase a few years ago, and even with an obvious nail in the tire, less than 4,000 miles on the tire, the local chain (with good prices) was just plain nasty about the replacement, and charged me about $30.00 for a mandatory new warranty on the replacement tire. My wife was going 40 miles an hour when the tire blew out, and they were mad that she drove on the tire after it deflated! All of 100 feet as she slowed the vehicle and pulled off the road. I can’t imagine trying to make claims to them on tires that are several years old and have a lot of mileage.
I’m not surprised that Paul had a good experience with Costco, they have really come through for me on several purchases, big and small, probably the best place to try this if your circumstances warrant.
I can’t speak for other areas, but my Discount Tire experience has been good enough for me to buy several sets there over the last 15-20 years. Their prices may not be rock bottom, but their service has been good. Their road hazard replacement certificate is in the range of $15/tire or so. Over the years, I think I have gotten 4 tires out of them from blowouts/flats. Never any hassles or questions, but I have to pay for the new certificate on the replacement. Even when my tires were about 13K beyond the tread wear warranty, I got one new tire free. Nobody has ever even asked me about rotations or raised any other questions on replacement.
The “free trial” is nice too. Back when I had my 89 Cadillac, I decided to try and save some money on the tires. As soon as I left, I decided that I had made a mistake, as the ride was just not what I was expecting. They upgraded me to the Michelins I had first passed over for only the price difference, no questions asked and no charge for “restocking” or anything else. This is the kind of stuff that has kept me out of the Costco tire department.
No denying that a few extra bucks for great service can be helpful. I just tend to be low on tire service needs due to typical low annual mileage, so price is my biggest priority. I also don’t trust most warranties on any product except manufacturer warranties on new cars. I generally won’t pay any extra for one. Tire stores are tending now to bundle warranties as mandatory features with installation, hence, my one experience with using a tire damage warranty – and getting a dressing down for doing so.
I does sound like you are getting your money’s worth at Discount Tire.
Costco will take almost anything back; they have the most generous return policy on the planet. I see people bringing back stuff they obviously just got tired of or…?
So I suspect that ultimately they wouldn’t likely have denied my treadwear warranty claim despite not having a record of rotations on that basis alone.
Discount Tire may not always be the cheapest, but they really shine regarding customer service. I’ve never had to argue with them about one of their road hazard certificates. Have never encountered any “anal rules” (and no, I’m not affiliated with them)
Not the same topic, but regarding warranty, what about batteries?
I’ve owned my 2000 Golf since new, and almost like clockwork it needs a new battery (every 4 years…once even to the exact day)…I seem to always run into problems with warranty….they put the battery on their tester, and it almost always shows up as good…but won’t work in my car. Every time the battery fails, you can hear the relays clicking and the LCD displays on the dash go crazy when you try to crank it…put battery on the charger all day and it won’t take a charge…the guy at the parts place swears I have a charging problem or something “you’ll be back for something else in the charging system after you leave here”…and I never am…the battery has always solved my problem for another 4 years….but I always gird myself for the parts shop guys trying to make me doubt the battery I have is bad…they really don’t seem to want to honor their own warranty…so why do they offer one? Not looking forward to my next encounter which should be in early June, 2019 if the pattern holds out.
I had similar problems with Costco being anal. I wanted to replace the rear tires on my 2003 Silverado after one of them blew. They didn’t have in stock the SUV tires that the truck had on it, and wouldn’t replace them with light truck tires unless I bought all four.
They are. No doubt it’s the work of the lawyers, especially after the Explorer/Firestone fiasco. Tire stores and manufacturers have become much more concerned about liability.
My dad is about to attempt this with his 2010 Camry – he bought four fancy $600+ Michelins when the factory tires wore out. The new tires had an 80k warranty or something ridiculous like that, but they are already more than half worn out after only 30k of driving on them. He’s saved all the paperwork, and we’ll see how that warranty claim goes, hopefully it’s smooth….
If I do buy my Jetta when the lease runs out, I sure am glad it has 15” steel wheels because off-brand replacement tires will be dirt cheap compared to most modern cars. (no expensive Michelins for me)
My 1995 Chrysler Concorde came new with Michelins and they impressed me, a longtime Goodyear guy. They had an 80,000 tread wear number, and I got to about 65,000 and replaced them. Even the tire store said they had good tread, but I had a timing issue. I knew the car would be out of my life in a few years at 100,000 miles, and didn’t want to wait and buy tires at the last minute for the new buyer. I did not buy Michelins as I didn’t need another 80,000, and I got to enjoy new tires with full tread for my last few years – I live in snow country, and just because a tire still has legal usable tread does not mean it has enough to allow the car handle well in snow.
If your dad still has good tread, don’t you think that they will tell him to come back when, and if, the tread wear indicators surface before the 80,000 mile mark?
I’m pretty sure that’s what he’s going to do – bring the car in when the wear indicators surface, but it won’t be too far in the future because it’s already very clear the tires won’t last the life of the warranty. It’s odd how quickly they’re wearing out – he drives like an 85-year-old grandma. They’re better than the terrible factory rubber though, which was bald by the time the car hit 30,000 miles and never drove well, especially in snow.
I have heard that the premium on nice tires is worth it – my dad is the ultimate cheapskate, so I was a little shocked when I heard he got $600 tires. But he said it drove like a different car. For me a nice mid-range tire would be a good compromise – the absolute cheapest ones are pretty terrible.
Michelin are worth EVERY PENNY. There is a huge difference between them and cheap tires, and the premium is like $150 a set. The safety of my family makes that worth it.
I bought a set of tires for my Acura at Discount tires in 2011, shortly after I bought it. They were Pirelli P4 rated at 40,000 miles. They are, by far, the worst tires I have ever had. I paid $500 all in for them and they were so bad that in only 10,000 km, steering feel went to crap. By 20,000 miles they were down to the wear bars. I went back to Discount Tire and they credited me 50% on a new set of tires! I got $220 towards a set of Michelin MXV4 V rated tires, so the total bill was only $440. With a four wheel alignment, the car never drove better. They are an excellent all-around tire, great in rain.
Ive just replaced the tyres on my Citroen I was cruising about pricing new ones when I drove past a wrecking yard with a 306 Pug in the yard, I stopped and upon investigation saw it had near new Bridgestone directionals fitted enquiries produced a price of $250 for all 5 including the factory mag wheels it was wearing. They now reside on my Citroen the centre caps read Peugeot but who cares.
When I bought the car I have now it had newer Bridgestones on it. Since the dealership has a 25 buck special for oil changes that includes tire rotation, what the heck. I want these to last.
I bought some Walmart cheapies for my last car and they weren’t so bad. We don’t have Costco and most of our dealers are independents.
What do you suggest for northeast drivers with 2 sets of tires-snows for winter and summer/all seasons. I rotate my own tires- 2 separate sets of wheels. likely renders any odometer reading useless. who is going to honor a warranty based on my penned notations of odo. when I switch to the other seasons rubber? BTW, my old 96 buick regal is running on Mich X-ice. amazing good snows. so much quieter than the cruddy cooper all-seasons that were on the stock wheels when i got the car.
I run summer and winter tires on my cars and when I bought the winter tires and brought in the wheels for them to mount them they told me to “stop by” when I switched them and they would note the mileage. That was at Costco. I’m sure that some other tire dealers would do the same.
My LS 430 sport package ate her Michelin Pilots like a Sumo at an all you can eat sushi palace, and they had scary hydroplaning issues from new. Not good in Florida. Had warranty though much less miles allowed, thank God- and drove the alignment shop crazy with their lifetime warranty. I thought it was the car. The much cheaper Potenza Pole Positions that replaced them are much better. I was formally a Michelin only man. Had to word that right, I’m thin! I’ve heard of issues from them from others, they must be spending money on commercials instead of their formal quality.
Just did this with a set of Michelins on our 05 CR-V AWD. Attained 64k miles on 80k warranty Michelins and rec’d pro-rated discount on next set of replacement Michelins. Original Bridgestone tires on CR-V only made it to 31k.
Have had good experience with Michelins. Original Michelins on 00 Accord were replaced at 83k only because one of them was damaged and not repairable so the whole set was replaced. Shame, I wanted to see how far I could go on that set
My 2007 AWD SRX came with GoodYear’s, which had a 260 (or so) treadwear rating. Goodyear does not appear to give a mileage rating for these. I got the 20 inch sport package which allowed the tires to be rotated. Standard tires on the RWD/AWD SRX’s were different sized tires in front vs the back. I got 40,000 miles from the Goodyears and replaced them with Michelins, which had a treadwear rating over 400. I expected to get to 100,000 miles and the tires were still fairly good when I traded the SRX in at 91,000. I do know that with the base tires on the RWD/AWD SRX’s the front tires typically wear out at 25-30,000 miles.
My understanding of the treadwear index is that it is a guess, but if the manufacturer actually puts down a mileage warranty (as they do for some tires) it should be at the low end of their expectations, although they may have to compete.
The treadwear index is based on testing per govt specifications.
“UTQG Treadwear Grades are based on actual road use in which the test tire is run in a vehicle convoy along with standardized Course Monitoring Tires. The vehicle repeatedly runs a prescribed 400-mile test loop in West Texas for a total of 7,200 miles. The vehicle can have its alignment set, air pressure checked and tires rotated every 800 miles. The test tire’s and the Monitoring Tire’s wear are measured during and at the conclusion of the test. The tire manufacturers then assign a Treadwear Grade based on the observed wear rates. The Course Monitoring Tire is assigned a grade and the test tire receives a grade indicating its relative treadwear. A grade of 100 would indicate that the tire tread would last as long as the test tire, 200 would indicate the tread would last twice as long, 300 would indicate three times as long, etc.
The problem with UTQG Treadwear Grades is that they are open to some interpretation on the part of the tire manufacturer because they are assigned after the tire has only experienced a little treadwear as it runs the 7,200 miles. This means that the tire manufacturers need to extrapolate their raw wear data when they are assigning Treadwear Grades, and that their grades can to some extent reflect how conservative or optimistic their marketing department is. Typically, comparing the Treadwear Grades of tire lines within a single brand is somewhat helpful, while attempting to compare the grades between different brands is not as helpful.”
One big problem is that some cars can be easier or harder on tires than other cars. Suspension geometry plays a big factor, FWD, RWD and the different types of AWD all wear tires differently.
The driver will also have a big impact too. Drivers who like to do burnouts will wear tires faster too. Hard braking will wear tires faster.
Yes how you drive and whether you maintain proper pressure and rotate the tires at reasonable intervals impacts tire life.
I also have seen an info graphic that correlates tire wear to where you live in the US based on the type of aggregate used in asphalt in the various regions of the US.
Most tire shops now will not touch a tire older then 7 years no matter what condition it’s in. I don’t drive enough miles spread out between 2 cars these days to make a tread mileage warranty useful for me. I have gotten around size and type hassles by bringing in the wheels and tires in and explaining they are for a yard waste trailer, that way I can get the size and type I want without issue. A privately owned used and new tire shop will often mount and balance older tires without hassle. The chain stores have strict policies for liability concerns now.
My F-150 had a set of Michelin LTX A/S 10 ply (load range E) tires on it when I got it, and I’m guessing they probably had at least 80,000 miles on them when I replaced them a few weeks ago. Silent, and great for towing but the bad weather traction was lacking – thank everything for 4 wheel drive and limited slip axles.
I replaced them with Cooper A/T 3’s because I like lots of grip, am kind of a nerd and thought they’d probably do fine for the lifespan of the truck.
Now that I’m pretty hell bent on keeping the truck forever, I kinda wish I would have sprung for the LTX M/S 2’s in a 10 ply. Oh well… Next set can be that… 🙂
I had the experience where my tire store wouldn’t honor the road hazard warranty once the tires were six years old. These Bridgestones had a seven year tread wear warranty when I bought them. (At this same store) They weren’t down to the wear bars yet. It seems that certain guidelines have been established by certain tire stores about where in the tread they will repair(only in center ribs) and they won’t repair tires that are six years old. These Bridgestones had a seven year, 70,000 mile wear warranty. I asked them why should I buy a long wear warranty if it will be timed out before they are worn out? Just something to consider.
Figures that even though we will put at the most 7500 miles on our lease before it’s done, I’ve already gone through two replacement tires due to punctures. My old Mini had Contis, this one has Hankooks as OEM, but I can’t say in good conscience the Hankooks are more puncture-prone. It’s a pretty small sample size. And there has been an uptick in construction around these parts. However two nails in two years has been a bit of a bitch.
One of the oddities in owning a VW Eurovan Camper is that they take a nutball tire size, with a “D” truck load rating. Michelin is the only manufacturer in creation that makes those tires… in Italy. Our local Costco special ordered the tires for me, quoted a decent price, and installed them when they finally arrived. This after a number of tire stores said the exact tire wasn’t available, and tried to match the tire with something close. Unfortunately, none of the substitutes carried the correct load rating, so I passed.
Two things I won’t cheap out on- shoes and tires. I walk too much at work, and the wife and kids ride in those cars.
I still can’t believe you get a warranty on tyre life in the USA. Most folk here buy new cars with bling wheels and very low tyres, so you only need to hit one or two potholes and the tracking is gone, and so is the tyre life.
I am very fussy about tyres, so I buy online these days and get my local dealer to fit them. I never buy on tyre-life, I buy on grip. I know from experience that few people are prepared to pay for decent tyres, so the dealer tends to stock mostly cheap Chinese brands. Since I run Japanese cars I usually buy Yokahama/Bridgestone/ Toyo , although we keep my wife’s Honda on Goodyear Eagle F1.
I used the warranty once or twice to get a discount on a new set of tires. They didn’t give me anywhere near half off, though.
I run into the same problem Paul described – the tire shop wants proof the tires were rotated, but getting them rotated at their shop is such a pain and time waster. They literally need the car all day, and I can’t afford that time. They won’t honor the warranty unless they do the rotation, so I’m stuck.
I put 2 Michelin on one of my old cars. They were rated for 60,000 miles. At that exact mileage they still had almost half of their tread left. Both tires had belts break on them within 2 weeks of each other. Almost like they planned it that way.
Unfortunately, the mileage warranty’s are pretty well useless for me. My trucks Michelin LTX MS2’s will be worn before they reach the tread wear warranty mileage, but they are past the 5 year time limitation. I only put about 10K miles per year on it, and I run winter tires for 4-5 months. So they don’t have incredibly high mileage yet. Even our main car which sees quite a bit more mileage (around 18-20K) will most certainly surpass the time limitations due to the use of winter tires and the extremely high mileage that they are warrantied for.
What I meant by my last sentence was that our main car will see much more mileage annually, but it will still take more than 5 years to get them to wear out. We buy tires with very high mileage warranties, and while they don’t make it to the warranty standard, they still last for a long time. One other point I didn’t mention is that I usually won’t run my all seasons beyond 4/32’s and winters beyond 6/32’s. Tire warranties usually require them to be worn to 2/32’s, which really isn’t a safe option with our driving conditions.
Paul, do you want to put your personal information out there like that?
Obviously I do.
Seriously, a whole lot of folks used to have their address and phone number listed in the phone book a few years back, me included.
What exactly would someone do with this “personal information” (my address)? Come pay me a visit? No problem.
Now, if you’re past 90 days for Michelin, 60 days for some of their other brands, you have to pay for install of replacement tires out of pocket. Also, they reimburse for the prorated portion of the tire value only. They do not reimburse for the cost of whaterever taxes you are charged in your region on the replacement tires, nor any other fees like environmental fees legislated here in Canada.