I have 19K and the tires are cupped, worn and noisy. They have been rotated twice (7K and 15K) and aligned and balanced at 15K - that was when the noise appeared and I noticed the cupping in the last few weeks.

Dealer insists it is normal for these tires to only get 20K before needing to be replaced.

I have a bad history with Firestone - I think they are just crappy tires. It looks like the Michelin are much better.

My car was assembled in Japan and my sister's was assembled in the US. Her's has the Michelins and a few other very small differences.

I have never personally checked the tire pressure having assumed that the dealer knew what he was doing. I will check them in the morning!!!

 

I think higher psi than recommended by the auto manufacturer can reduce thread wear. That seems to be true with my other car when I jacked up pressure by 10 psi. The current set lasted 20K more than the last set which gave only 30K.

I am almost at 1900 miles on the Turanzas and just jacked up the the pressure to ~40 psi front and rear today. It was at exactly at 32 psi before. The ride seems a little rougher than before but cornering seems to be much smoother and the car seems to retain its momentum better after a turn. I like it now at the higher pressure but concern with its effect on stability control and winter driving. Can't wait till the next fill up to see if my mpg goes up.

It's somewhat disconcerting that the US assembled car comes with a different make of tire. Anyone with a clue why?

 

I have had good luck with OEM tires on my new cars for many years. I make a rule to put 35 psi in them only after they have cooled, like after dark. I use a dial gauge thinking it may be more accurate than the slider types.

The new TCH I have had for a few weeks came with Michelin's. I have 40 psi in all four tires. I would expect to get at least 30,000 miles out of them. If the tread looks good at 30K I may run them to 35K. I doubt the OEM's would run many more miles than that.

When ordering the car. I told the manager, that I would not accept the car if it did not come with michelin's. When it came in he was relieved to see that it had the tires I wanted. I'm not sure what he would have done if it came with some other brand.

OEM tire replacements. I would consider Goodyear as an alternate choice. There are other good brands that cost similar. I do look at the tirerack.com tire ratings. For instance, the "would buy again" column. Rank number within the category compared to the other tires. I compare the tire weight listed in the 'Specs' to the OEM tires that came on the car. Lastly, of course would be the price.

 

I dunno.. my GY Integritys on my Prius are now at 55,700kms. Our Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus on the 02 Camry lasted nearly 70,000kms. Mostly city driving unless it's a trip down to the States.

 

We already know that Japanese made cars were coming with 2 different tires: Michelin and Bridgestone, I would imagine Kentucky made cars are the same. We also could not find any consistent pattern why, original theory was that cars sold in North would have Michelins (all season) and cars sold in South would come with Bridgestones, but I think that was not the case, since some got Bridgestones in North and Michelins in South. At the end I would speculate Toyota uses 2 sources for tires to avoid possible disruptions in case one tire maker has problems with delivery and they just put whatever they have in stock at the moment. IMO Michelins are better and should last 60k miles or more, Bridgestones may have better traction due to softer rubber. Most dealers will swap the tires (for example exchange Bridgestones for Michelins) if you request it before picking up the car.

 

I saw somewhere the both the michelin energy tire and the bridgestone were both designed for hybrid cars. Mainly toyota and honda. I'm not sure what the Altima comes with.

Factory tires are designed to steer good, ride smooth and quiet. I have seen the OEM tires usually don't have as much tread depth as quality replacement tires.

 

I'm not sure about those tires being developed for hybrids. My 2001 Honda Accord had the same factory Michelin tires as my new TCH and back then only Prius and Insight had hybrid drivetrain and I don't believe Prius comes with Michelins to begin with. Back in 2001, Michelins were called low rolling resistance tires and together with 5W20 oil, introduced at the same time as standard engine oil for some Ford and Honda cars, was helping both companies to stay within corporate MPG standards , so they wouldn't have to pay extra taxes.

 

Huh? The Michelin Energy tires that came on my 2007 TCH are the *exact* same tire as I can go to Tires Plus or wherever and buy off the rack. Same tread depth, same wear rating, everything.

Do you have an example of this?

Scott

 

Most of the tires that are factory specified for Hybrids are Low Rolling Resistance (LRR) tires. Michelin, amoung others was a pioneer in this research. Over the last few years, many car manufacturers have utilized these tires in models that they advertise as "fuel efficient". You can find some interesting data on this subject here: http://www.michelin.com/corporate/fr...e=PAG_AXE_RECH. The rolling resistance of the tires can account for as much as 20% of the total energy loss in a typical passenger car.

LRR tires have other differences also. For example, they typically contain more silicon in the tread, so they do not electrically ground the car as well as convential tires with greater rolling resistance. Some toll both operators have complained about static shocks when receiving coin payments from Honda drivers. The cause was traced to early use by Honda of LRR tires.

On the plus side, LRR tires are typically quieter because of the lower coefficient of friction to the pavement, so FE and noise reduction go hand in hand in this case.

There are other differences too, but you can find them on the link, or elsewhere on the web.

 

OEM tires are the tires that comes on any car. Like I say there usually designed to give the car a quiet, smooth ride and provide easy steering. Yes, you can for sure buy those tires anywhere. If you look at the would you buy again. The numbers are usually very low. Only the michelin energy tire is the tops in OEM tires that I can find.

OEM tires are usually made of softer rubber to provide a nice ride. Thats the reason they usually wear out early at 20,000 to 25,000 miles. Not so with some tires including the michelin energy tire. Another thing I was referring too is the less tread depth. You can find these in the tire rack listings under specs. I said they designed the OEM tires to aid the steering. Compare these tires tread depth to the more expensive top of the line tires in michelin and goodyear.

michelin energy S8 10/32" there 17" = 9/32"
michelin symmetry = 10/32"
michelin hydro edge = 11/32"

goodyear integrity = 10/32"
goodyear assurance triple tred = 11/32"
goodyear comfor tred = 11/32"

You can see here the better tires have slightly deeper tread. They also last longer. The shorter tread depth helps the car have crisper steering like when out on a test drive.

There are lots of other OEM tires like bridgestone but I have not looked at any new cars that had them. Kumo I think comes on the Hyundai's.

I hope this helps.

Burt