My 2007 Camry Hybrid came with Bridgestone tires. At 18,000 they have started to cup on the corners, make significant road noise and look like they are almost without tread.
The car has been maintained to specs with tire rotation on schedule and an alignment in June. The only thing I did not do was balance the tires with each rotation since the technician insisted it was a waste of money. The service has all been done at the Toyota dealer
When I brought all this to the attention of the service technician today she told me that this was common for Toyotas and that the company puts "soft tires" on new cars to improve the ride. She noted that new cars typically get between 20,000 and 30,000 miles on the original tires and that when I buy new ones, they will last longer.
Sounds like a crock to me...your thoughts?
BTW, I have purchased a new car (all Fords or Merc except on Mazda) every four years since 1987. This is the first car that I have had with tire problems - also the first to have Bridgestones.
I have a Chevy Aveo and I had tires replaced at 9000 miles, it would not pass inspection, at the Chevy's expense. Talk about cheap tires. They were Kumho or something like that.
I also have a 07 Camry and I looked at the tires the other day and it did not appear they were wearing well.
Oh boy, this is a new one. "soft tires" to improve the ride. sounds like bullfeathers to me. I put two Goodyears on my 1997 Camry about three years ago, and have since driven over 40 k miles, and they still have deep tread and roll so straight that it's as if the car's on rails. The Michelins on my later Avalon have not fared quite that well.
Don't know what the soft tire for improved ride is about - it would seem like you'd want a tire that gives a comfortable ride and has good traction even at the expense of life but it's also likely that the tires you have are not the greatest set of tires you've ever owned. You might want to try replacing them with a set you have some experience with and like.
Bridgestone? Isn't that the company that owns Firestone that was involved in the Ford roll-over accidents? Cheap tires don't perform well. That's just an example of it.
Just go to Costco and check out how much thinner the sidewalls are. These cheap Bridgestones cost as little as 50% of what Michelins cost. Personally I'd stay away from el cheapos.
Michelins use long life silicated rubber compound, and their Energy- Plus Green models roll more easily to save up to 3% of fuel. The disadvantage, some reported, is they don't grab the road as well. But in normal driving I have no problems with them. Michelins don't cup and don't pull to one side like cheaper tires (including Yokohamas) after I Googled around. And Costco offers lifetime balance/rotation, nitrogen fill and road hazard at any US location! Good deal.
If you need T-rated tires only, check out the Michelin HydroEdge. I stick with H-rated ones so the choices are more limited.
Yes, cupping can also be caused by suspension problems. The alignment and suspension should be checked within 1yr/12K miles warranty. While Toyota suspension systems don't win awards, I personally would still stay away from cheap tires.
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A "cupped" wear pattern is typically caused by worn steering / suspension components or by worn shocks / struts. Typically, worn suspension components (i.e. ball joints, control arm bushings, wheel bearings) will result in sporadic cupping patterns, whereas worn shocks / struts will generally leave a repeating cupping pattern. To prevent replacement of good components, all parts should be inspected for damage or excessive wear prior to replacement.
Also let us know if the problem turns out to be worn struts (or other suspension components). I never liked the KYB struts (aka. "Keep Your Bilsteins") Toyota likes to put in their cars. IMO these are inferior struts, but they do save Toyota money.
For normal driving I much prefer the Gabriel Ultra, with 9 stages of automatic inertia sensitive valving and lifetime warranty from AutoZone. Good deal.
Check out the Gabriel Ultra "G-force" story video:
I agree that Bridgestones are a softer tire for the Camry, IMHO. (Yes, driving style, highway speeds DO contribute to tire mileage. That Camry is a hard beast to reign in.)
I went through the original set of Bridgestones on my '99 Camry in ~20,000 mi., ditto a second set of Bridgestones. Got the same tire composition reply from the tire shop. Switched to Goodrich and have been getting much better tire wear. The V-6 LE tire specs apparently take handling into consideration, hence the softer composition. Haven't noticed any sacrifice in handling with the set of Goodrich tires.
Used Michelin and Goodrich on my '89 Toyota truck for 193,000 mi. with great results, but that's a much lighter vehicle and not a good comparison with passenger cars tire mileage.
It is not the brand of tire that makes a difference. All major tire manufacturers make a wide range of tire designs with various tradeoffs and prices.
OEM tires are selected to sell the car which means they must have good handling/braking and a quiet ride. But you should understand that longevity of tire is theoretically at odds with a tire that has good handling/braking and good traction (all other things being equal). In order to get a tire with good handling/braking and one that lasts a long time, expensive high-tech rubber compounds must be used with a well-designed tire (tread pattern, sidewalls, etc).Since manufacturers like to save money on their OEM tires, they are not likely to last a long time because of the cheaper rubber compounds used (this may be different with a luxury car where they are not as cost conscious).
I believe that most Camry's specify a tire with an H speed rating. If you go below that (S or T) then you may get a tire that lasts a long time, but it is more prone to failure at high temperatures (high speed). Tires heat up rapidly when traveling at highway speeds due to the rapid flexing of the steel belts under the tread. A tire with a higher speed rating (V, etc) will have outstanding handling/braking, but will not last as long as a H rated tire (all other things being equal).
I have used a wide variety of tires since 1992 on various Camry's. I have used Goodyear Eagles, Bridgestone RE92's, several Michelins including the Pilot. Currently I have Yokohama YK520's which are quite good with handling/breaking and have a quiet ride. Not sure about how long they last, but they have a pretty good reputation. I would highly recommend Yokohama YK520's to anyone looking for a good tire for a Camry or similar vehicle. But personally, tire longevity is not THE most important criteria for me (although it is nice to have), so keep that in mind regarding my recommendation.
To make things clear, by soft tires you mean under inflated? Yes under inflated tires will give you an improved ride. Under inflated tires will show uneven wear with worn threads on the edges and not on the middle. Don't trust Toyota service for tire pressure, keep a personal tire pressure gauge, Measure your tire pressure before and after a service.
Was the alignment performed on your Camry under warranty?
The US 2001-2003 Toyota Prius came with the Bridgestone Potenza RE92 XL tires. Most owners reported about 20,000-30,000 miles life on them, with some reporting as low as 8,000 miles to as high as 45,000 miles, on this "40,000 mile" tire. Tread rating was a mere 160. The biggest problem was inside tire edge wear shortening the life of the tire. Yes, proper alignment is necessary to proper tire life, but... The main thing that owners discovered was that proper tire inflation was very necessary... Maintaining the owner's manual pressures consistently greatly improved tire life. Many owners decided to try pressures above what was in the owner's manual (keeping the load bias, but less than the max. cold pressure listed on the tires), and found even longer tire life. Many owners dumped the OEM tires when they wore out and replaced them with tires with a longer expected life/ higher tread rating.
(On my US 2001 Prius, I've never had a dealer properly inflate my tires. They were even delivered with the incorrect tire pressures! After rotations, sometimes they wouldn't change the pressures (so the bias was on the wrong side of the car), sometimes they'd just set it to 30 or 32psi all around (which was too low for this car), etc. Buy a good tire pressure gage, and either learn where the local free air pumps are at service stations or buy an emergency inflator/jumpstarter for your car!)
The 2004-current US Prius (non-Touring) now come with Goodyear Integrity tires. Although these have a longer treadwear rating of
460... Owners are reporting in the 30,000-50,000 mile range on them. Having learned from the Classic Prius owners, however, most owners (on the forums at least) tend to watch their tire pressures and typically don't see the edge wear problem anymore (although some new to the forums sometimes report it...)
What size/model Bridgestones are on the TCH?
Have you tried asking other TCH owners about their experiences? You'll find more of them on a dedicated hybrid forum, rather than on USENET.
Get a free Toyota alignment before the 1year/12K mile warranty on alignment expires, if you notice any uneven wear and the tires are properly inflated, rotated and balanced. Or even get a free check if you notice pulling to one side and the tires are properly maintained.
Stay away from cheap tires. If GoodYear gets you 30K miles that a minimum. I prefer Michelin tires. Google Bridgestone/Firestone and Yokohama seem to show pull and fast wear problems. Toyo seems like a decent brand too but a few out-of-round tires mentioned.
As Mark & mrv said, it's not the brand that matters, it's the model. The Bridgestone Potenza RE 050, for example, is one of the best performance tires available - although probably not suitable for your needs.
The TireRack ratings for the Potenza RE050 is average at best, ranking
13 among 23 tires. There is little performance to speak of from the ratings.
In my personal opinion I just don't think anything good can come out of Bridgestone. Yugo's top model still won't make the cut.
Performance alone is not the reason for most typical drivers. It should be a good combination of handling, traction, price, tread wear, and structural integrity. The last of which seems to be lacking from googled messages about Brdgestone's pulling and out of round.
Bridgestone supplies racing tires for F1, IRL, and many other circuits, so your comparison to Yugo and your claim that their entire brand sucks is obviously ridiculous.
Racing is also a marketing event. Pay up and join in.
Champion spark plugs also appear in racing events and that doesn't make it a better spark plug. IMO Bridgestone compared to other tires is as appropriate as Yugo compared to other cars. Yugo met US highway safety standards for sale in the country, by the way.
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