The Strange Case of the Disolving Tires ...

I have an '02 Passat GLS wagon with just 31K miles (I don't get out much) and the tread on the factory tires (Michelin MXV4+) is technically gone, worn down to the wear bars. Worse, the car spends 5 months of the year on snow tires (four Michelin Arctic Alpins), so the actual mileage on the tires is far less. The tread on the snows is just fine, but I guess packed snow and ice are less wearing than pavement.

The wear is even on all four tires, with nothing that would suggest alignment or other problems.

Is this common with these tires, or did I just draw a bad batch?

Reply to
Bert Hyman
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Well, I don't know about that particular Michelin tire, but these days tires should last much longer than that on paved roads. My tires in recent years have gone for as long as 80,000 miles.

So something is obviously wrong. Do you brake a lot? I have seen many drivers habitually tail-gating in heavy traffic, and they are applying their brakes every few seconds. Just a thought, not an accusation.

Reply to
Papa

snipped-for-privacy@my.fun (Papa) wrote in news:rtOZg.15951$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net:

A discussion with a local car fancier suggests there might be an alignment problem. He says that bad toe-in/out adjustment could produce rapid but even wear on the front tires. Since I have them swapped front-to-back each year, after a while all four would be messed up. The snows go on in a few weeks; I'll have it looked at then.

No; generally the contrary :-)

Reply to
Bert Hyman

Those were the original skins on my '01 Jetta, I replaced them last fall at about 51,000. I was pleased with the longevity. They were also quiet, had good dry traction and were good-looking.

I would have replaced them with another set, except for two things: Like all Michelin "all-season" tires, they are awful in the snow and rain, and they are very expensive.

Seems to me that the toe-in theory is plausible, because you should have gotten more than 31,000 out of them.

Reply to
Brian Running

I got 80,000 miles out of that model tire on my 2003 Jetta wagon. Mostly highway miles with the tire pressure at 31-33 psi front and back. I was happy with that mileage so I bought three more. I made use of my spare for the second set.

Some alignment shops will check your alignment for free with the obvious 80% or better chance that they can find somethng out.

I w>I have an '02 Passat GLS wagon with just 31K miles (I don't get out

Reply to
Jim Behning

For one, tires are not all made of the same rubber. harder rubber wears longer but generally might be noisier, rougher ride, less traction. Softer rubber wears faster but will be grippier.

Second, alignment can be a problem but your even wear sort of rules that out. Can't hurt to have the alignment checked after you get new tires though.

Third, overinflation will cause the center to wear faster than the edges. Underinflation will cause the edges to wear faster than the center (and also can cause the tire to overheat and fail, so underinflation is dangerous). Do you keep the tires inflated properly according to the recommendations on the door sticker? If the tires are not the same pressures front-rear as on the sticker (front-drive cars are usually higher pressure in front than in back), after rotation to you readjust the pressures accordingly? When adjusting pressure are you doing it cold (should be)?

Lots go into tire wear and pretty much only the rubber compound that went into the tire is the manufacturer's "fault". And it could be that the given model of tire is one they want to be grippy and quiet (but the side effect is faster wear). And that doesn't make it a "bad batch" either...it's simply how the manufacturer wanted the particular tire and it's how VW wanted the car to be equipped.

Bottom line is keep the pressures in check (once a month at least), rotate regularly, drive sensibly, and choose a tire that meets your needs (wear vs. grip vs. noise vs. ride, etc.)

Reply to
Matt B.

Heh. My '03 has 20K on it.

Mine's got the MXV4+s too. Yeah, they suck.

-- Mike Smith

Reply to
Mike Smith

I had a 2002 Jetta GLS and the tires were crap after 15,000 miles.

Reply to
Rabbit TDi

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