Tire Question

I had harmonys on my saturn for about 4 yrs till I ditched the 'turn- d- great tires; noticed a difference right away

A 2009 with 14K is hardly 'not used that much'... Say two years, 14K miles is lower than average but not that bad.

How are the tires wearing? I'm convinced that some cars have tires that are made with either reduced tread depth, or with rubber designed to wear out prematurally. My grand daughter's Hyundai wore its tires out in under 20K miles, too. I was unimpressed, since I've 55K miles on my Dodge truck's tires adn they are still good for another year at least.

Personally I'd recommend winter tires in the winter, and summer tires in the summer.

Check the tire warranty book that came with the car when you bought it. Yes, you did get a tire warranty book, it must be supplied with the (new) car by law, and it will outline the tire warranty.

How did the tires wear, evenly or not? Were they rotated according to the schedule? Have you checked alignment as needed?

I don't know about Harmony at all but have bought Michelin's exclusively since 1999. On my truck, I will get 90k miles no problem at my current tread wear. They are A/T all seasons. On a 1995 Pathfinder that had steering issues, in 1999 I changed the tires and the problems disappeared. Wa a smother ride, good steering even better gas millage.

Hopefully in a few years when I need another set they still make them good.

You have to be a little careful about which particular Michelins you buy. They will not all give you this sort of tread life. Nor were they intended to.

I have bought Michelins for years, but when the high priced (ca $185 each) Michelins on our Avalon failed at 27,000 miles, I started looking around.

These tires had a treadlife rating of about 300-400, speed rating up around

167 mph or suchlike. (I dont remember the exact numbers, but you will get my drift)

These tires were intended to be smooth and stick like glue.. They just dont last long.

I replaced those tires with some Platinum Kumhos, same speed rating, but treadlife over 700.

About a year ago, I priced Michelins at WalMart. Then I checked the figures on tirerack.com. They did not have good customer reviews, and the expected treadlife was mediocre.

I still like Michelins, but be careful what you buy.

"PeterD" wrote

Two of the tires on my Hyundai (Sonata) were replaced at 44,000, the other two were still good when I traded it in a 67000. They were the OEM Michelins.

Being worn at 14k or 20k seems rather poor for most any tire made today. Could be like the printer cartridges that come half filled in new units from the factory.

I was bothered by the quick demise of these tires too... It is possible that it was her driving habits (but she's generally a good driver, and you don't do many burnouts in a Hyundai. Another possiblity is simply that they were defective from the factory (improperly cured, or wrong rubber mix...)

Will keep that in mind. I too am from Canada, and I time my tire replacements with a shopping trip to the US, get them up at SAMS Club or Walmart. Stop by the Canadian border on the way back and pay the taxes and save a bundle. As good tires in Canada seem very much over priced.

I assume all Canadians would pay the proper tax, the same way we report our state taxes on mail order from out of state.

I dont believe we (Texas) pay taxes on out of state orders, Ed. We didnt, at one time, but that may have changed and I just didnt pay it any attention.

If your state has a sales tax, they also have a use tax. You have to report and pay the tax on out of state purchases where no tax was collected by the seller.

No provincial taxes here, just GST. Government of Canada is pretty greedy, you pay on you way back into Canada as they don't trust us and will not wait. Last time I was through they were more worried if the truck I was in had GST paid than if I had Osama Bin Ladden in the back.

Show them the reciepts and although I have usually used a personal checque, I believe they now take Visa and Mastercard. Takes 5-10 minutes tops. 100% legal.

When I lived there for 10 years, I never once did. Never added up to much, but never did. Don't think anyone I knew did either.

Nope, I dont think so.

"hls" wrote

Does not matter what you think; check the laws.

Use Tax is a substitute for sales tax. All states which have a sales tax also impose a use tax. Use taxes are imposed to minimize unfair competition between sales made in-state and those made out-of-state. The use tax rate is the same as the sales tax rate. When does use tax apply? Use tax applies when sales tax has not been charged. Purchases made over the internet and out-of-state are the most common type of transactions subject to a use tax

The Goodyear tires that came with your vehicle should last FAR longer than 14000 miles.

I made the stupid choice to not rotate the tires on my wife's 2006 Grand Prix, and paid the price.

Still, the front tires lasted 49000 miles,and the back ones still have plenty of tread remaining.

Someone is feeding you a line. Check the owners manual in your glove box. There should be a seperate tire manual with waranty information, including info pertaining to wear waranty. If the local tire shops wont help, maybe the dealer you bought the car from can. If he is of no help, I would contact the regional GM manager in your area. Unless there is some kind of problem with the car itself, or the tires were neglected of abused, I would think you would be entitled to some sort of pro-rating on a tire with only 14000 miles on it.

Im not sure it matters what tires are used if you don't drive your car much. The tires will dry rot first.

Ed, your link is for the state of Maine..Not Texas.

If you read the second sentence, it says ALL states.

But just in case you still don't believe, follow these links

State Sales and Use Tax is imposed on all retail sales, leases and rentals of most goods, as well as taxable services. Texas cities, counties, transit authorities and special purpose districts have the option of imposing an additional local sales tax for a combined total of state and local taxes of 8 1/4% (.0825)

If you Google Texas use tax you will get over 35,000,000 hits.

Tires have an expiration date and should not be older than 6 years.

Often you get in the shops tires that have been in storage for a number of years and are as such deadly traps and should never have been sold.

A brand new tire can last a long time under the car in use.

The same tire not put under the car for say 10 years and just collecting dust before put in use is completely unpredictable.

The brand name has no meaning as such because the very few producers left are making different kind of tires and they can vary a lot from one place of production to the other.

Buying tires is similar to buying beer or milk.

Two bottles may look the same at first glance but if there is a difference in production day one may be fine and the other completely wasted.

If you look at the expiration date on milk you should also look at the expiration day on the tire you are buying.

If you get an unused old tire it may prove to be your last.