[eurocarlov]

Hi! I have an 04 Mo with approx. 12,500 miles on it currently. I have already noticed some wear in the tires (which is expected), but I am just concerned about the longevity of the factory rubbers. How many miles can I expect to get from the stock tires given regular rotations? Its just that I drive a lot and am concerned that im going to be shelling out hundreds, regularly, for new tires! Thanks all!

 

[hfelknor]

Well it's going to depend quite a bit on your driving habits and your maintenance schedule.

First, Maintainence:
To get good mileage it is imperative that you check your tires regularly and keep the air pressure at 33--37 pounds.
I had a friend, very artistic guy who just couldn't seem to "get it" when it came to cars, etc.
His OEM BF Goodrich tires wore out on his car in just 15000 miles. He said he couldn't understand it.
I asked him what pressure he ran the tires at? "32" was the answer.
Further questioning indicated that he thought they were at 32 when he bought the car "because the dealer would have set them correctly, right?"
and he checked tham at the one year point and finding them down about 10 PSI per tire filled them to 32 again.

Then rotate as you mentioned.
Some say every 5K, I do every 7k.
But I am also anal about alignment and balancing.
Alignment and balancing is critical to enjoying a car as far as I am concerned.
And if a car is misaligned you can go thru a tire or two in a couple of thousand miles.

Then there is HOW you drive.
You will shorten the life if you think the MO makes a pretty darn good sports car.
Leaviung rubber (even if it is only a little squeak), drifting thru corners and slamming the brakes will take their toll.

Then comes WHERE you drive.
You will get MANY thousands of miles moer f you set your car at 70 miles pre hour and just drive until they wear out. That's what they do at the test track in Texas and they routinely get 100,000 miles on a set of tires.
City driving is much more punisihing to the tires.

And then I guess the final variable is WHEN is a tire "worn out"?
Some take them to the wear indicators, but I drive in the rain a lot and do not.

We have had one member who drives fast, but sensible, almost exclusively on the highway, and does his maintenance, and he got almost 90,000 miles on his OEM tires! (Check out IVnurse posts)

As i look at my 20K tires (Due for rotation in a few weeks) I would guess that I will start looking real close at 30K and maybe buy new tires shortly thereafter.
I don't like hydroplaning.
And people that use these so called all weather tires say that when they get about 30K on they are pretty bad in the snow also.

So I see them as 30-35K tires. Others see it differently.

BTW, I personally will likely replace the Goodyear LS', with the same tire again.
I know a lot of people say that it is not a good tire, but these same folks have bragged about how well their MO handles and how quiet it is.
I think that it is a Good summer Tire.

Homer

 

[JMcDonald]

And then there's _what_ you drive on...

In Lake County (Northern California) they used a lot of volcanic material as fill in some of the road surfaces during the '70's and '80's. I had a customer to my motorcycle service & repair shop that commuted Lake County to Santa Rosa every day, and he would melt the tires off his Gold Wing about every 5 weeks.

Great for traction in the turns, but lousy on the mileage... ..!

 

[DrMurano]

Mileage on stock tires

You want to rotate your tires every 5000 miles. If you still have your stock GoodYears LS what you need to do is to find a GoodYear dealer in your area and they will rotate your tires for FREE for as long as you have GoodYears. So it makes sense to keep buying GoodYear if you like how they handle, plus you are guaranteed free rotation for as long as you have that brand.

Just my 2c

 

[bob1]

I am careful with rotate, balance, pressure and things but I am a little disappointed in the wear. I have about 20K on the MO and the tires look a little more worn than I had imagined. I'm guessing 40K will be when I'm looking for some new ones. Just an estimate, we shall see.
I did have a previous car in my past a 94 Camaro. I put Potenza's on that and after 40K they looked brand new. Now that car is a lot lighter than the MO. My Altima has the Brigstone Turanza as a stock tire. I am very happy with these tires. At 39K they show almost no where at all.
When its time for the MO, I will definitely consider Turanza's as a replacement.
Bob1

 

[rjardine]

My local Goodyear Centre strongly recommends rotation every 6000km (3750 ml) and for maximum life ensure the fronts are rotated diagonally to the rear as per the manual. Claims this will minimize any feathering that might take place even with good alignement. As noted above they will do this for free.

Also recommended alignment every year whether you think you need it or not. In my case after one year the only adjustment that was out of spec was the 'Toe' on the rear drivers side. I thought it excellent that the rest of the specs were all within the tolerance ranges.

 

[Kris]

I have rotated tires every 7k miles, kept pressure 33f, 35r and replaced them at 28k miles. They could have lasted another 3 – 5k. In my personal opinion you cannot get both – quiet performance tire and longevity. Tires that last 30 – 40k miles are OK with me.

My replacement are OEM GDY Eagle LS and I am quite happy. They are definitely not in the same league like Bridgestone Potenza though cost 50% less. The FX has 20k miles now and judging by threat depth they should last another 15k or so.

 

[Eric L.]

I am still on the stockers and rotate then every 7500 miles. At 24k, they are over half worn, so I would estimate a safe tread life for this tire ~35,000 miles (or less).

 

[UmmelGroup]

OEM Tire mileage: Actual experience

I just replaced my OEM Goodyears at 50,100 miles. They were getting a little noisy towards the end, but I felt safe and had plenty of tread left (fairly even wear ... just approaching the wear indicators).

I don't know if this factors in to the equation, but my driving was primarily highway, dry roads (I'd say 90% or more) vs. city. Also, I rotated/balanced about only every 15K, and always kept inflated to 40 lbs psi or at times even slightly higher.

I replaced with new OEM Goodyears last week, and now back to nice quiet/smooth ride. I figured, if it's not broke, why fix?

 

[LKimura]

Replaced mine at around 45K. They showed wear and became slippery in the wet. I drove 90% on the freeway, California. Balanced them once. 33psi all around. I think I will run them at a higher PSI, 35-37.

Replaced them with the same tire.

 

[Murano_driver]

What is the easiest way to check if you have enough tread left?

 

[Eric L.]

What is the easiest way to check if you have enough tread left?

Use a penny!

Checking tread depth.

 

[Murano_driver]

Thanks