jime

I am very disappointed with the tire wear of my optional High Performance Tires and recommend that new car buyers avoid them.

I just had my HPT (Bridgestone Potenza RE030) tires rotated just after the first oil change and were told they needed to be replaced soon. I checked and found that they were very worn, especially the two that had been on the rear wheels. I normally get very good mileage out of a set of tires as most of my driving is freeway commuting.

I found that the UTQG treadwear rating for these tires is only 140. I have never seen a rating so low. I did a mathematical calculation of tire wear ratings against Tire Rack prices and found that these Bridgestone RE030 costs 2.75 times as much per mile as the very expensive Michelin Pilot Sport A/S and 4.25 times as much as the Pirelli PZero Nero M&S.

Saintor

Sorry to hear that.

This is one reason why I always dreaded 17" tires. Excessive costs. Typically 20000 miles only

In your case, I would have the car alignment checked.

Bitium

If you toe is off in the back, then they will wear 10 times faster than normal.

since it was only the back and was probably just wear on the inside of the tire. Check your aligment before you think is just the tires.

for a rating of 140 don't expect the tires to last more than 20k miles. I had a set of 160 and they were awesome, but I drive very hard, so they only lasted about 4 months (6k miles).

roadman

High Performance skins have 0 treadwear warranty, that means that even with a treadwear of 140 you are lucky to get 10k miles out of them.

The Michelin or Pirelli's are A/S which will by design get you better milage but not handle as well as a dedicated summer high performance tire.

caball88

summer tires will wear out alot quicker than normal. but 6900 miles is pretty low even for those tires. i would check the alignment to make sure that didn't add to it. did you drive the car hard?

vtechbrain

Sticky summer rubber wears very quickly specially if driven enthusiasticly. 10k is low but speed will wear them quicker than normal, compromises, compromises.

Almost Jake

I knew they would wear quickly, just not that quick. If you look at the tread wear rating (TWR) for those tires, they are something like 130. Typically, my tires with TWRs of 400, last around 45K miles. Don't let this sour your impression of Bridgestone tires, this is just a crappy model. The numerous posts on this site may help narrow the field of replacement tires. The Perilli PZero Nero's would be my choice.

Hamma Tyme

Sounds like you were having a great time!

6000 miles without a ticket I hope

TBone2004

yea, but it was a fun 7K tho right?

lakeman

I echo Bitium, your rear alignment must be out. I have 8500 miles on my HPT's and they are in great shape. Looks like I could get 15 to 20K out of them. I did rotate sooner than the oil change at 5K miles and would recommend anyone with performance tires to do so. I do drive mostly interstate, but did a couple of "mountain runs." I saw a good bit of tire dust and the fronts were worn more on the edges, after these trips, but this hasn't seem to hasten the wear any.

NightRider

I have 7300 miles on my 5AT with stock tires, and the outsides of the of both fronts are very worn down as well. I guess i made the MISTAKE of not ASKING for a tire rotation at the first service, (didn't think you should have to ask?). Alignment problems or normal?

spidey07

My first maintenance was 'A1' code. I was told that is change oil and rotate tires.

But to the OP, that is incredibly short tire life. wow. I've got 6K on my HPT and there is at least another 15K left in them. And I drive pretty "spirtedly" all the time.

1FasTL

You definitely must have a rear alignment issue. It would make sense that the FRONT tires wore fast (this is a FWD car afterall). With all the power, turning and stopping going on at the front contact patches, the fronts will probably last about 1/2 as long as the rears. If the rears are wearing this fast, something must be wrong, have the Dealer check your alignment.

Rotations should be every 5 to 6,000 miles. Have your Dealer or oil change place do this, or do it yourself if you're so inclined. A "modified-X" pattern is recommended. This means you should cross the rears to the front and bring the front tires straight back (unless you have a directional tread pattern, then just front to rear, same side).

If you can use summer tires all year, then go for a good HPT, something like the Goodyear Eagle F1. It's a great looking tire that has had super accolades in the press. Good luck!

Tripp11

Why not just go back to the dealer and talk to the service manager about your "unusual" wear on your HPT's. I concur with others here, it almost HAS to be an alignment issue which should have been right when you picked it up. Hell, you didn't know the dam* thing was out of alignment when you were driving it for 6,900 miles and now your rear tires are worn out. If you go to them with the right attitude and approach, one would think the service manager would be helpful in your situation.

Have you talked to them about this? That would be stop #1 for me.....and if they blow you shi* about the car not being out of align then take it to another shop for verification.

JoganJani

8300 miles and no wear to be seen on my HPTs. In case this helps.

jime

Thanks for the feedback.

The alignment is a good idea. I guess I expected too much in thinking that a new car would be aligned correctly when shipped. I also had a rear tire that was out of balance and didn’t find out until I rotated it to the front and found significant vibration at speeds over 70mph. I don’t consider myself to be a “spirited” driver, but we are talking about a 6MT TL and it is hard not to get a little “spirited”.

Since I purchased the car from one dealer and am using another for service (long story), I don’t think I am going to fight what I see as an uphill battle about the alignment/tire wear. I will have the car aligned and plan on replacing the tires before the rains come to California this fall. The Z rated tires are a bit stiff for my tastes anyway.

SilverBulletCLS

I have some Goodyear GS-D on my G35 Sedan that are rated at 180 treadwear. I have 10k of miles so far, one rotation at 6k of miles, and they only have worn a little. Might be the way you drive. I know I have heard a few people only get 10k of miles out of these. I haven't even been that nice on them either. Powerslides, burn outs, and hard cornering most of the time!

Ron A

There was a thread several months ago from a Canadian owner who said he drove to Florida, about 4,000 miles, and wore out a set of rear tires. He bought two new tires and put them on the front, and put the fronts on the rear, and they wore out by the time he got home.

I don't remember if he ever replied about getting the car aligned, and if that fixed it.

Would be interested in finding out.

rets

I think you're talking bluenose... he's using EL42s... about "alignment" issue, you're right, I didn't see such replies yet.

When tires wore out, this should be the first thing the tire shop or dealer should check. I don't know why they never mentioned this to owners...


jime, could we have pictures if possible?

soljc

What the fugg is wrong with Bridgestone? First the Turanza flatspot problem, and now this?? I'm having my HPTs rotated next week (8500k), and I'll lose it if I hear the same thing. In fact, I'm done with Bridgestone.

Ok, Pilot Sports or PZeros? I'll probably need a dedicated snow, but how is the wet/snow traction with either of these?

93SHOcar

I'm not sure if I would discount the performance of the Michelin Pilot A/S this much. I would not be suprised if they don't handle better than a mid-pack dedicated summer high performance tire. However, if you compare the best/latest design summer tire against the A/S, then yes I would agree.

Nicki

Acura missed the boat big time in the Tire Department. The engineer and all those instrumental in picking Bridgestone especially the EL42's should be be fired! Because they are bums.

chazy777

I raced some Mustang GT (kicked his ass by the way) and I smoked these same tires with my 6MT all the way across the intersection and then some. I have 2000 miles on mine and when I got home I checkd them out and I think I just burned off 5000 miles of life out of them. I'm not gonna be doing this anymore.

Have you smoked your tires at all peeling out or anything? Somehow I managed to do this with my TL and I tried before and couldn't cause it grabbed. I think I hit the high RPM just right and everything. I looked in my rear view mirror and there was a cloud of smoke from me there was tire dust all over the side of my car too I was able to wash off. Damn.. I don't think that drag race was worth it after seeing this forum about these tires having low ratings..

ensley696

What is the EL42 tread wear?

need4spd

Not much better at 260

bluenoser

I had the alignment done and the rear was within specs. One measurement was at the limit, but everything else was well within the specified range. Interestingly the front wheels were out of specs and the front tires showed only normal wear (very little).
Bridestone Canada told me that the TL has a geometry problem with the TL and it (Acura) is aware of it and saying nothing.
If someone could tell me how to attach pictures, I can show how the rubber was ripped off the rear tires.
I think the problem occurs when the car is loaded (I had 4 adults with luggage aboard).
In this condition the rear wheels were visibly tipped in and toed in, when looking from the rear, and the wear pattern supported this.

rets

bluenoser, sorry, I misspelled your name.

http://www.pifiu.com/upload/

Try to modify your pictures to fit the scree, I think 800x600 is quite enough, then use the link above to upload your pictures and copy those [img] links to here.

We're eager to see your pictures since April.

dsc888

bluenoser,

I have also noticed that most if not all Honda vehicles are designed with quite a bit of rear wheel negative camber...or what you described as the top the tires being tilted inwards towards that center of the car. I have noticed it on the Accord, the Odyssey, and the Civic while driving next to them on the freeway. It's also done on BMWs and many other cars. I always thought that was done to reduce oversteer or fishtailing in aggressive maneuvers as the tire becomes perpendicular to the road surface when cornering. BUT, it induces increased inner tire wear while going straight down the road. The situation gets worse when you increase rear load with luggage and rear passangers. My 97 Camry was just the opposite. The fronts had more negative camber, as expected, than the rears whether it was loaded or not.

That's just my personal observation. I don't pretend to be a suspension specialist but I do have to agree that significant negative camber will wear tires rapidly.

dsc888

ndabunka

The "treadware" designation is meaningless. Do to a loophole in the standards group, the tire mfgs are allowed to set up their own treadware parameters. Thus a 140 treadware from Michelin is not the same as a 140 treadware from Bridgestone. Stupid, I agree but just ask any tire dealer. They will confirm. As far as the wear on the HPT's, I have 12K miles on mine and show VERY little wear and certainly nowhere near the treadbars. That car DEFINITELY has to have an alignement problem (Sorry). On my prior car I had the Pilot sports and while they were a great handling tire, the treadware was abismal. Only got around 22K miles before they needed replacement so if any of you are thinking of going that way for better treadware... you can forget it. The plain and simple fact is that you MUST trade off treadware for performance. When I bought the HPT's, pilot sport, Toyo T1-S, Pontenza S03, etc you only EXPECT to get 20-25K. If you want a longer wear tire, you can buy yourself one of those rock-hard "touring" catagory tires with their 60K pro-rated warranty. Sure, they will ride like rocks, but the suspension will absorb most of the impact.

bluenoser

I've noticed the same thing, but in my ammual trip, from Nova Scotia to Florida, my 99 TL had no rear tire wear problems at all.
What I noticed with my 04 is the rear tires are also very toed in when the car is loaded (four adults with luggage).
I was also getting rear tire steering when either rear tire had more weight placed on it. Going over a hump which put more weight on the left rear would cause the rear to push right - the opposite for the other tire. Also, going around a corner gives me the feeling of late understeer, when the outside rear tire takes more weight.

bluenoser

rets,

Thanks for the link, I missed it in you're earlier PM. I tried to send you some photos, perhaps you could post them while I wait for my registration.
Thanks

geminis2

Remember Those Tires are summer tires!!!!! Thats the cost for Performance Sticky and wear alot quicker. Also get that Alignment checked out you should have more miles on them. I had a Honda S2000 with Bridgestone S02s very sticky and wear out quickly.

danno

The dealer warned me they wear QUICKLY. Even when I had the thought of getting the HP tires with the car in OCT.

Nitrotiger

i have 11k on mine and there fine and rip the car daily and thats with the re30