Tire Rotation ain't no joke on the vibe

[Flip-Side]

Got a call from my wife up in Michigan, and she had a flat tire. Turns out the 2 front tires were worn way down on one side. Lucky it wasn't a blow-out on the freeway. Anyway, I have always rotated my tires every-other oil change or 6000 miles. Well, I forgot to rotate them again before I left, and so we put on 10,000 miles since the last rotation. I did not realize how quickly the front tires wore down on the inside. Dang Continentals. I had to buy 2 new tires to replace the old ones. Had the alignment checked just to be sure, and it was fine the way it was. Guess I will never forget a tire rotation again.

[joatmon]

Other than bad alignment, what else would cause the tires to wear unevenly, excessive wear on the inside of the front tires?

[Flip-Side]

No clue bro. Other than faulty tires or the fact I should have rotated them. I have heard about the Contis wearing down too quickly on our cars, so I'm hoping it's not my car thats messed up. My car does have close to 23,000 miles on it now though, so the tires were probly worn quite a bit before my mistake. Do what Flip says...Flip your tires! Save your wallet! So you can buy beer! Sweet, delicious beer. Ohhh the pain!

[DavidPIL]

Hiya,Not sure this is just a Continental issue. I had nearly 13k on my Dunlop SP 9000 before I changed them for less noisy all-season tires. Rotated @ 5K and 11K... the tire shop showed me unusual wear on the inside portion of all 4 tires though the 2 on the passenger side were worn a bit more. Had the tires rotated at the dealership and the wear SHOULD have been noticed at the 11k rotation but they missed it... Allowing me to go over the 12k limit for any warranty repair on alignment issues.... anywho... The toe alignment was out by about 1/4" on the passenger side (driver's side was ok)... I think no matter what, any tires on this car will wear funny. I'm considering having my new directional tires actually flipped on the rims yearly to help avoid over-wear on em... I think that's possible. I did notice on my last oil change that the same sidewall pattern was on the inside as well.Davep.s. I took the car back to the dealership for them to check the alignment after the tire place told me something had to be wrong, all they did was inspect the parts, didn't actually check the alignment. You may want to have a reputable alignment place check it or just go to a toyota dealership.

[ArcsVibe]

I am curious could also low tire pressure or uneven tire pressure cause this?I hope that doesn't sound too stupid to ask

[DavidPIL]

I obsessively checked the air pressure making sure I was no more than 34 psi and even on front and rear. Wear on the outside or inside of the tire would mean under-inflation mostly, right? Over-inflation would wear the centers out more. hmmm... maybe the 32 psi for the Vibe isn't correct then. The place where I got my new tires told me I shouldn't run below 40 psi with those tires and this is a reputable General/Continental Tire establishment. Installed Aqua-tred III's on my old Ranger, kept the pressure at 38 psi up front and 34-36 in the rear. After 30,000 there was hardly any wear... Maybe the OEM Continentals need more pressure than suggested so the sides don't wear as quickly? Just a thought...Dave

[Hot Vibe]

With winter coming you need to check your tire pressure at least once a month. The owner's manual says to check it when you fill up the gas tank. I know that most of the owners manuals say that but it may not say that in the newer manuals. You be the judge on how often you check them. For all of those off-roaders out there you guys know that lower pressure means more grip for off roading. On a road surface use the optimum psi setting. In the snow lower pressure may be good but unless you live far from a big just keep it on the right PSI at all times.

[johnsoax]

But you should never check the tire pressure when the tires are hot (actually, when the car has been driven for more than 1 mile). Why would they tell you to check them when you fill up the gas?I have close to 17k (in 8 months) on my car now and I have rotated the tires twice, 7.5k and 15k and I have no (read that 0) wear, unusual or otherwise, on the Goodyear Eagle RS-A's. I keep them at 32PSI and I check it every other weekend. But I always check them cold.

[Jeff]

How about a design flaw! I recently noticed a noise at 16,000 mi. sort of like "wubba wubba wubba". I've always rotated my tires every 6,000 mi. front to back just like the owners manual states. At 18,000 mi. it was time to rotate again and I noticed wear on the inside of the tires known as cupping it was also directional. I rotated the back tires to the front changing sides and rotation direction and moved the front tires to the back. This eliminated the noise for now and should help even wear. I'm seriously considering doing this every 3,000 mi instead of 6,000.

[drunkenmaxx]

the stock contis suck period. my front ones are worn horribly, even w/awd. the rear ones still look almost new though...

[johnsoax]

If both sets of wheels lean with the top in towards the vehicle then why would changing sides matter with stopping wear on the inside?/ (how tires look from back of car) inside should see more wear on both sides./ (how tires look from back of car after rotation) They see the same inside wear on either side.Or am I missing something?

[johnsoax]

I was just thinking that maybe the front wheels had less of an incline, but couldn't remember. Like I said before, I have followed the rotation in the manual and I have very little to no wear at all on my tires, but I have the Goodyear's.

[DavidPIL]

I've noticed that too but just thought it was some optical illusion. I notice it mostly when looking from the front backwards which made me think it was just my eyes.I mentioned earlier about actually flipping the tires on the wheels so the outside of the tire will not be the inside. Maybe a yearly thing? Could help the wear. I'll probably ask to see if they can do that for me next Spring when I get the new wheels.I did put 14,000 on the vehicle within the first 4 months so I did get pretty much an average year out of the Dunlops. They weren't bad yet, just noticably wearing. If I would have/could have fipped them on the wheels, I could of doubled the miles on em easily, which would have put me up to near 30,000 which isn't too bad for these tires, or so I've heard. Is there any benefit in having the tires angled as mentioned like... / ? Maybe hard turns the wheels would flatten out more to the pavement? Dave

[Flip-Side]

quote:the stock contis suck period. my front ones are worn horribly, even w/awd. the rear ones still look almost new though...Thats how mine were. The fronts had to be replaced, and the rears still looked great. Ok...so I let the rotation go a bit, but the fronts just vaporized. And what bothers me is that the fronts were worn way worse than they should have been on just the inside. Had several other cars in the past and haven't seen this before unless the alignment was messed up. Guess the vibe just needs some extra lovin. Mabey I better get ANOTHER alignment check from my dealer when I get back just to be sure.

[johnsoax]

quote:I mentioned earlier about actually flipping the tires on the wheels so the outside of the tire will not be the inside. Maybe a yearly thing? Could help the wear. I'll probably ask to see if they can do that for me next Spring when I get the new wheels.This isn't possible on my car because the tires say on them, this side out. But they are not directional.

[Jeff]

The wear only on the inside of the tires in a alternating concave shape tells me there is either an alignment or design problem. Changing the direction of tire rotation by crossing tires over does not fix the root cause of the wear problem but will prolong tire life because wear pattern is directional (higher toward front of vehicle if I remember correctly). I've seen this type of wear before on high milage cars usually with worn ball joints or bad struts, but never on a new car!

[Jeff]

Sounds like a good plan. Thanks Salsa!

[Flip-Side]

I agree. I'll be home, hopefully by christmas, and get it checked by the local shop I've been to. McElveen Pontiac in SC is horrible for maintenance, and I won't go back to them again. Wish I bought the vibe up in Michigan, from Al Serra or another decent dealer. There aren't any decent ones down in SC. I'll be going to Oxford Brake and Front End on Lapeer road. Best service and maintenance I have ever been graced with.