Sticker wrong?

[mn shutterbug]

I just realized my 60,000 miles tires I purchased 2 years ago are shot at less than 30,000 miles. I'm driving a 2004 FWD Vue and the sticker inside the driver door says it requires 17" tires and I have 16" tires and rims. A tire expert tells me that could be the problem. However, I have found websites that call for 16" rims on this car and one site says that it came with 16" rims. According to another site, the AWD's come with 17" rims. Why does the sticker call for 17 inch when the factory rims were 16 inch?

[far2grumpy]

Could difference be based on engine?

I have 2005 AWD with 3.5 and 17" tires and one son has a 2006 FWD with 3.5 and 17" inch.

Perhaps the 2.2 Vue's are delivered with 16".

Some of the brighter members will surely know and I'll see what I can find in service manual.

[Tom92SCm]

2.2L VUEs come with 16" wheels.

But I'm having a hard time believing the size of the wheel has any bearing on tire wear rate. I had a car with 3 different sized wheels (not all at once) and the only tire wear issue I was having was from cornering too fast.

When was the last time you had an alignment? What air pressure were you running? Are your struts/shocks good?

[cam]

Originally Posted by far2grumpy

Could difference be based on engine?

I have 2005 AWD with 3.5 and 17" tires and one son has a 2006 FWD with 3.5 and 17" inch.

Perhaps the 2.2 Vue's are delivered with 16".

Some of the brighter members will surely know and I'll see what I can find in service manual.

My 2007 2.2 VUE came with 235/65R16 inch tires. I don't think they were standard but I think the salesman threw in some wider tires for me with the alloy wheels.

[XRL]

I could see a difference if the tire diameter was increased over stock. This would cause the odometer to show a lower (fraudulent) reading, and could explain part of it.

Alignment issues are common on these, the suspensions are pretty weak. What brand of tires are they? Some tires just aren't that great, and a lot will also depend on your driving style.

[emsvitil]

2005 FWD 2.2 Vues had

215/70 16 (steel wheels)

or optional

235/65 16 (alloy wheels) (what I have)


The front tires seem to wear twice as fast as the rear........

[djb383]

If tires are rotated every 5K miles, no such thing as front/rear.

[XRL]

Originally Posted by emsvitil

2005 FWD 2.2 Vues had

215/70 16 (steel wheels)

or optional

235/65 16 (alloy wheels) (what I have)


The front tires seem to wear twice as fast as the rear........

This is typical of FWD vehicle. The front wheels have to do the acceleration, stopping, and turning, whereas the rear wheels are just along for the ride.

[onefunkar]

if i remember right fwd 4cyl had 16 inch with optional 17. fwd v6 had 17 inch. ive never once seen the door sticker wrong for tires. did u buy it new? maybe dealer switched tires with different car for someone else.

[mn shutterbug]

I know I need an alignment, but these are wore way down all the way across, just a little worse on one side. My Vue is a V6 and according to discounttire.com, both the 4 and 6 cylinders came with 16 inch wheels. When I went to the website of the company these tires came from, it recommends Bridgestone 215/70R16 for the '04 Vue V6, which is exactly what is on the car. I guess if their own website recommended these tires, they can't claim the early wearout was due to me asking for the wrong size.

[Vue in Ontario]

Originally Posted by djb383

If tires are rotated every 5K miles, no such thing as front/rear.

How do you rotate your tires?

I simply switch front to back always keeping them on the same side..... never been a fan of the "x" pattern.

[pdough]

I have a 2006 4 cyl 5 speed. Mine was bought with 235/65 R 16 alloy wheels off the lot. I got 60000 plus out of the originals and bought the same tire to replace. I got 60000 out of those. I bought 215/70 R16 to replace those. I am at 60000 on them.

Sounds like an alignment issue. And if you had a 17 inch tire on 16 inch rims you'd not be able to drive it anywhere. They just would not fit.

Look at your air pressure (not by looking, but by checking with a pressure gauge) and rotating schedule if you think the alignment is on the money. Its the only explanation for having even wear on all tires at such a low mileage. Mine does not travel out of lane for 10 seconds in either direction on a really straight, flat highway. If yours does (and I mean really flat and straight with no lane travel ruts...), have it checked.

[mn shutterbug]

I was told at the tire shop that it's not that uncommon for the stickers to have wrong information. They checked the alignment and only one of the wheels was off much. Two of them were right within specs and one was off by just a hair. They tell me that the reason they were all showing uneven wear was because they had been rotated. I had them rotated just once, which could explain 2 of them showing uneven wear, but not all of them. No matter. They said Bridgestone would not honor a warrantee if there are signs of uneven wear. So much for warrantees. It's pretty much like insurance companies. They'll usually find a way to get out of paying up.

[BobbyP]

Driving habits, road surfaces, proper inflation, and extreme temperatures affect tire wear.

i.e. If you drive across the desert in west Texas during the summer, the rubber just seems to jump off your tires.

[mn shutterbug]

I believe my biggest mistake was not researching tires before I bought. I've always been one to check reviews before buying, but for some reason I assumed a 60,000 mile tire would be good for close to 60,000 miles. The tires I have on there are the Bridgestone Dueler H/T 684 II. These are the same tires that come with it from the factory and they get really bad reviews. There are many out there that report their tires are shot at 30,000. I have now done my research and will be buying tires with no less than 7.5/10, preferably closer to 9/10. An average rating of 5/10 is not good.

[pdough]

Originally Posted by mn shutterbug

I was told at the tire shop that it's not that uncommon for the stickers to have wrong information. They checked the alignment and only one of the wheels was off much. Two of them were right within specs and one was off by just a hair. They tell me that the reason they were all showing uneven wear was because they had been rotated. I had them rotated just once, which could explain 2 of them showing uneven wear, but not all of them. No matter. They said Bridgestone would not honor a warrantee if there are signs of uneven wear. So much for warrantees. It's pretty much like insurance companies. They'll usually find a way to get out of paying up.

The tires show uneven wear because they were not rotated enough with an alignment out of spec...

I had two sets of the factory tires and they both ran for 60,000 miles. I rotated them myself every other oil change or more in a criss-cross pattern and got good results. The originals were horrible in hydro-planing but in all other aspects in my opinion were as good as most. I went with Kumhos as a replacement for the third set to see if I could get 80,000 out of them as their warranty suggested. I have 60,000 on them now and am ready to get something else. They are at the wear markers. The Kumhos were good tires, the same as the original Firestones in all aspects but wet traction. They were much better in hydro-planing, but worse on plain old wet streets. For the money, the Kumho is just as good a tire if you know its limitations.

However, I did not get the 80,000 warranted miles from them... And I won't buy them again to get the discount from the warranty. They just were not good enough on wet pavement.

I'm looking at Goodyear Assurance Comfortread as I have on my CTS this time around. I cant say anything about endurance on this tire because I don't have enough miles on it yet, but on the CTS they hold like flies on pie when wet or dry and are pretty good in light snow.

[Bismarck318]

My 3.5 came with 16's the label I believe also says 16, 17" were an added option.

True with a FWD the balance of wear is very uneven, I would even say more than twice as fast wear, so there is a great need to rotate them.

Is the outer diameter of the 17" wheel/tire package the same as the 16? Note the 16 has a higher sidewall. There used to be something called one plus sizing, I forgot how it was done but if you increase the wheel 1 inch you go to a lower sidewall (lower profile) tire.