2013-Front Tires almost bald <7500 miles

[DaveInAvl]

What surprised me was that the guy says there is NO WARRANTY AT ALL on tires from Nissan for ANY new car. is that true?!

From page 20 of the Warranty Information Booklet from my '14 LEAF:
"The warrantor of the tires supplied as original equipment on your new Nissan vehicle is the tire manufacturer or distributor of your specific tires. Nissan is NOT the warrantor of your original equipment tires."

The terms of their warranties are on pages 12-19 of the same booklet. Then there are sections on how to submit claims to either Bridgestone or Michelin.

 

[gotkwah]

What surprised me was that the guy says there is NO WARRANTY AT ALL on tires from Nissan for ANY new car. is that true?!

From page 20 of the Warranty Information Booklet from my '14 LEAF:
"The warrantor of the tires supplied as original equipment on your new Nissan vehicle is the tire manufacturer or distributor of your specific tires. Nissan is NOT the warrantor of your original equipment tires."

The terms of their warranties are on pages 12-19 of the same booklet. Then there are sections on how to submit claims to either Bridgestone or Michelin.

Do you know what the bridgestone warranty is on these tires? I tried calling and even though the message says they are open until 6 central time, they are already closed. its only 4:15 central

 

[DaveEV]

What are my options here? For now I told them to rotate and put the good ones in the front and bad ones in the back. Im wondering if i can ride out the second year of the lease like that? Seems like the back tire barely wore down at all.

You should be fine with rotating, but definitely have the dealer check the alignment because of the wear. If they adjust it, see if they can dial in a bit more negative camber which will put less pressure on the outside shoulders of the tires.

Can you post a pic of the tires?

If you look carefully, the stock 16" Ecopia EP422 tires have a tread design that make the outer tread blocks look bald as the tread channels are not full-depth like most other tires (compare them to another tire). That said, they do still wear more rapidly on the front shoulders. You can help prevent excessive wear on the front tires by inflating the tires to ~40 PSI instead of the stock 36 which will help keep the tire from rolling over when cornering. Also, I'd suggest 5k rotation intervals.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

My front tires are almost completely bald. However, the back tires seem to be in great shape with a very healthy amount of tread. I have ~7,200 miles on the leaf and have owned it for exactly 1 year & 3 days.

Page 10 of the maintenance manual says to rotate the tires every 7500 miles.

Any idea on the best way to go about getting those front tires replaced under warranty?
Any idea why they wore down so damn fast?

general consensus in the tire biz says rotate at a minimum, every 5,000 miles. that is what i do and all my tires look fairly new still after 12,000 miles. you have other issues to investigate though. no way you would have that much wear in that short of time unless its all spirited city driving. i do mostly freeway so wear for me will be slower than most

 

[Metalman]

I rotate every 3300 miles (OK 3333.33 miles give or take). With my VW experience that's the only way I've found to keep the rears from cupping. These tires aren't very long lasting and if you only rotate every 7500 their life will be short IMO.

 

[dgpcolorado]

^I'm going to go with a cross rotation pattern when I get new tires in the next month or so. I get much more wear on the outside edge of my right tires than the left, given my driving pattern of hairpin turns. Might go with 5000 mile rotations as well, although it is a nuisance. Guess I need a second jack or a jack stand so I can DIY.

 

[gsleaf]

the Michelin's that replaced them.

keydiver, what tires did you get? I'm looking at replacing my EOM tires after just over 20k miles as well.

 

[BrockWI]

Just throwing my $.02 in I usually rotate tire every 5k on all our vehicles and have had good luck doing so. So We finally hit 5k on the leaf so I rotated them and holy wow, I had heard the fronts wear more, about 2mm more. They are worn pretty evenly across the tires. Does anyone know the weight distribution is on the leaf? Is there a lot more in the front? Or (my guess) the re-genitive breaking taking its toll on the front tires?

Bottom line, rotate your tires

 

[donald]

What are my options here?

Buy new tyres and don't accelerate so much.

It is aggressive acceleration that does this.

I'm not saying you are trying to drive aggressively, simply that it is so easily done in an EV that you have to consciously stop yourself. If you simply 'pull off' with a little spirit, you just can't tell from the driver's seat how much force that poor tread is being subjected to.

There is a point where the tyre is not 'spinning' as you would think of it in cops n villains films with loads of squealing and burning rubber, but in what is called 'slip'. As the applied torque builds there is a point where the way the tyre distorts under the load means the tread comes rolling down onto the road under a longitudinal compression. As the tyre then lifts off again, the rubber squirms to release that residual force and this is what wears off the rubber so quick.

You may not be taking the tyre to the limit of its grip, but I'd say you are putting enough torque in on a regular basis where the blocks in the tread pattern of the tyre are getting compressed together to cause this.

Some tread patters will be more susceptible than others. Something with a solid circumferential band, straight or zig zag, would last a little longer whereas the regions of the tyres made up of the smaller block sizes will wear quickly under this sort of load.

 

[MikeinDenver]

Just throwing my $.02 in I usually rotate tire every 5k on all our vehicles and have had good luck doing so. So We finally hit 5k on the leaf so I rotated them and holy wow, I had heard the fronts wear more, about 2mm more. They are worn pretty evenly across the tires. Does anyone know the weight distribution is on the leaf? Is there a lot more in the front? Or (my guess) the re-genitive breaking taking its toll on the front tires?

Bottom line, rotate your tires

According to Car and Driver the distribution is 57.8/42.2. Not that unusual for a FWD vehicle really. About the same as a Ford Focus as an example.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Just throwing my $.02 in I usually rotate tire every 5k on all our vehicles and have had good luck doing so. So We finally hit 5k on the leaf so I rotated them and holy wow, I had heard the fronts wear more, about 2mm more. They are worn pretty evenly across the tires. Does anyone know the weight distribution is on the leaf? Is there a lot more in the front? Or (my guess) the re-genitive breaking taking its toll on the front tires?

Bottom line, rotate your tires

According to Car and Driver the distribution is 57.8/42.2. Not that unusual for a FWD vehicle really. About the same as a Ford Focus as an example.

Prius recommendation is 42/40 supposedly due to a heavier front end. wonder what its ratio was. seems to me it was hardly unusual

 

[gotkwah]

OP here again. So back in august i just had the dealer rotate the tires so the bad tires went from the front to the back. i was hoping they would wear slowly enough in the back to make it to end of my lease in July 2014.

That seemed to be working fine, EXCEPT tonight I got a flat pulling into my driveway (dont ask) and OF COURSE, its not one of the the almost bad (no on the) back tires, its one of my perfectly fine front tires, and its a good gash in the sidewall, so no hope of repair.

i am wondering what to do at this point. the back tires are pretty bald and i dont know what i can make it for another 8 months - so i am thinking i just bite the bullet and change them at this point, so at least i have good tires going into the winter. Can i just replace 3 tires, or is the different tread on the 4th one going to cause any issues?

also, what are your thoughts on finding used tires? cheapest new tire i am seeing is $53 and i dont think thats one that most places stock, they all seem to stock a ~$63-65 option.

 

[CJBROWN]

also, what are your thoughts on finding used tires? cheapest new tire i am seeing is $53 and i dont think thats one that most places stock, they all seem to stock a ~$63-65 option.

You're not really complaining about a $63 tire are you? Maybe I'm confused.

Both our BMW and Mercedes have $250 to $300 tires (EACH!) and they wear out by 20K miles. The bimmer went through pads and rotors in that amount of time as well, a $500 DIY job. The dealer would charge $1200 to $1500 depending.

Just buy a new tire and be happy motoring... :mrgreen:

 

[gotkwah]

also, what are your thoughts on finding used tires? cheapest new tire i am seeing is $53 and i dont think thats one that most places stock, they all seem to stock a ~$63-65 option.

You're not really complaining about a $63 tire are you? Maybe I'm confused.

Both our BMW and Mercedes have $250 to $300 tires (EACH!) and they wear out by 20K miles. The bimmer went through pads and rotors in that amount of time as well, a $500 DIY job. The dealer would charge $1200 to $1500 depending.

Just buy a new tire and be happy motoring... :mrgreen:

a) this isnt a BMW or Mercedes. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything?
b) its a lease with 8 months left, so yes, i do want to keep costs to an absolute minimum.

 

[CJBROWN]

also, what are your thoughts on finding used tires? cheapest new tire i am seeing is $53 and i dont think thats one that most places stock, they all seem to stock a ~$63-65 option.

You're not really complaining about a $63 tire are you? Maybe I'm confused.

Both our BMW and Mercedes have $250 to $300 tires (EACH!) and they wear out by 20K miles. The bimmer went through pads and rotors in that amount of time as well, a $500 DIY job. The dealer would charge $1200 to $1500 depending.

Just buy a new tire and be happy motoring... :mrgreen:

a) this isnt a BMW or Mercedes. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything?
b) its a lease with 8 months left, so yes, i do want to keep costs to an absolute minimum.

It's a matter of perspective...are you really complaining about a replacement tire for $63? And whether there's one for $8 less? Just trying to get clarity.

 

[ENIAC]

OP here again. So back in august i just had the dealer rotate the tires so the bad tires went from the front to the back. i was hoping they would wear slowly enough in the back to make it to end of my lease in July 2014.

That seemed to be working fine, EXCEPT tonight I got a flat pulling into my driveway (dont ask) and OF COURSE, its not one of the the almost bad (no on the) back tires, its one of my perfectly fine front tires, and its a good gash in the sidewall, so no hope of repair.

i am wondering what to do at this point. the back tires are pretty bald and i dont know what i can make it for another 8 months - so i am thinking i just bite the bullet and change them at this point, so at least i have good tires going into the winter. Can i just replace 3 tires, or is the different tread on the 4th one going to cause any issues?

also, what are your thoughts on finding used tires? cheapest new tire i am seeing is $53 and i dont think thats one that most places stock, they all seem to stock a ~$63-65 option.

Your choice is to purchase a set of new tires now and enjoy them for eight months or be charged for new tires when your lease is up and let someone else enjoy them. I suppose if you wait you'll have the additional benefit of possibly loosing your life in an accident should you loose control or one of your bald tires blows.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

expect a loss of range with a tire change, especially the ones you are looking at as they are not likely to be LRR. mixing tread, not a good idea. If I were u, I would simply replace the two front tires. matching tread front to back in not critical but side to side is.

other than that, ALL safety experts will tell you its very dangerous to put your worst tires in the rear