GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I noticed the other day after having my tires rotated that the inside edge of my rear tires (now on the front) are beginning to scallop. The tires that were on the front appear to be fine. They have about 25,000 miles on them. Any one else have this problem or know what might cause this? Thanks.Lowell

Any tire rotations previously? If not then is understandable... the rears just follow along, almost bounce along if you will. They can wear differently.

If they are Continentals you're lucky to have gotten 25,000 miles!

My conti's have about 30,000km on them and are still going.

Yup. The rear tires are scalloped on mine too: Contis at ~30,000 miles. They were already scalloped and noisy at 23,000 miles when I purchased the car. There's still about 3/32nds before the wear bars, but they're crappy on wet pavement already.I'm replacing all 4 tires before serious winter weather occurs in central Indiana, so I haven't bothered to rotate them.

All,Thanks for the replies. I guess that I will need to upgrade to a higher quality tire, and more frequent rotations.Lowell

Quote, originally posted by Sputnik »My conti's have about 30,000km on them and are still going.My contis have 18,000 +, still look new and rotated every 5,000.

I am not familiar with scalloped...is that the same as couped???

feathered same thing GM will not warrenty my tires because they tell me a didn't rotate them which is BS they were rotated every spring the car only has 39,900kms so half was on snows

The Goodyear store where I had my 2nd tire rotation at 12,000 miles said they were "cupped" and that might be due to bad shocks. They do seem to be noisy. Now at 17,000 and will do another rotation when it hits 18,000 in a couple months. Tread is a-o.k. 1st rotation was with a free coupon from the dealer. 2nd was with an oil change special at $19.95 for both. Now have a free tire rotation coupon from Monroe - or Goodyear will rotate and balance for $24.00. I hessitate to get an alignment as Bob & Ray says the #1 cause of needing an alignment is getting an alignment. As I have said many times before, the auto companies are leaing money on the table by not having extra cost tire options. "You can get these crappy Contis standard, but for $150 you can upgrade to xxxxxx." I;d bet they could sell a lot of upgrades. I am looking for a quiet all season tire with a comfortable ride. Even a 40,000 mile tread will last me 5-6 years so that is sufficient. Any recommendations?

GM specs call for the rear camber setting to be slightly "tilted." This will cause uneven wear on the inside rear tires. Rotate tires at every oil change.

you may also want to get alignment checked. from what i'm gathering (here and not on here) it appears as though many vibes are sold with only factory alignment done and it wasn't done well. Many dealerships aren't going through the pre-sell check and we're ending up with the problem.

Our 2005 Vibe had cupped tires. I had rotated at 6k and 10.5k. Had about 15,000 I could hear the noise, so I checked the RF. It was cupped. Had to call GM after the service manager told me the stock Continentals were NO good. GM replaced all 4 with Good-Year RSA's. So far so good. The GY have a fairly low tread wear rating though.

I got something like 44K miles out of my stock Continentals, and they were worn very evenly even without as frequent rotation as is recommended. i think my car must have come with good alignment. I wonder if there is any correlation between people who have had fast or uneven wear on their tires and lower than expected gas mileage.

Hey...This happened with my OEM Dunlops as well. Replaced them at around 12,000 miles. Had become very loud. Replacement Continental ExtremeContacts are now up to a little over 44,000, rotated every 6-8,000 miles then flipped on the rims every other rotation. They're going strong and should last to 50,000. Rotate regularly(every other oil change if you're on the 3,000 schedule), check alignment yearly, flip on the rims (then place on the other side of the vehicle) to get a more even wear, especially with camber like with these cars. Do whatever it takes to make your tires last.Dave

Quote, originally posted by 429dalefan »Our 2005 Vibe had cupped tires. I had rotated at 6k and 10.5k. Had about 15,000 I could hear the noise, so I checked the RF. It was cupped. Had to call GM after the service manager told me the stock Continentals were NO good. GM replaced all 4 with Good-Year RSA's. So far so good. The GY have a fairly low tread wear rating though. How did you get GM to do that?. I thought they passed off tire problems to the tire companies.

Our dealer suggested that we call GM. If must be pretty common complaint because it was no problem.