Tires

Thanks. Appreciate the details. Makes me feel better about the wear on my current tires. I do a lot of driving in RI which is a state known for it’s bad roads. I’m a bit confused about how often alignment should occur. I know to get one with new tires and ideally after a major pot hole or season of bumpy driving. Alignments once or twice a year could add up to the cost of new tires. My tires were wearing evenly up until about 2500 miles ago. The front right has a worn out area creating a ridge on the outer edge of the tire.

This is my second time around with this particular Continental. The first set I did get a prorated refund on 2 of the tires. Both sets gave me a smooth and quiet ride. I stopped by the tire place today to get a second opinion on my current tires. Wear is too uneven to file a claim. Oh well, at least I know what I’m dealing with now. As long as I get them before the snow I’ll be OK.

Maybe I need to flip a coin (ha) to see which of the 3 tires to get since I’m not keeping the car more than probably 6 months and can’t seem to decide. I guess they all have pros and cons. I’d prefer ones that come with built in 12 month road hazard to cover me over the next few months.

Thanks again!

 

Why? If the tires wore evenly and the car doesn't pull one way when your hands are off the steering wheel, the alignment is good.

See above. An alignment added to the cost of new tires is a great profit maker for the tire shop.

This is when a wheel alignment is needed.

Always require the shop to give you before and after alignment reading print outs. Most modern alignment machines print this out. You need to see that (a) a change was needed, (b) a useful change was made. A very small change of the alignment can be made by the tech just hitting one tire then taking new readings...and you get the charge for a full alignment job. The print out is something like this:

Get the wheels rotated periodically. The same mileage as you get an oil change is a good way to remember to do the rotation at regular intervals, or when switching to snow tires. Look carefully at the tire tread and its wear pattern. You'll see if alignment is needed. Also learn to check your tire inflation pressure. Follow the placard on the driver's doorjam for the correct cold inflation pressures.

Wheel Alignment And Tire Wear Patterns | Mike Duman

 

Thank you for these details. I get my tires rotated at each oil change. Tire shop rotates them and dealership looks at them when doing oil change. I always ask if they are wearing evenly. I get pressure checked about every other fill up. I must of hit a pot hole since the last rotation. I will definitely ask for pre and post alignment.

The last time they did alignment they handed me a printout that had 2008 instead of 2009 printed on it with no vin number and no mileage. They are supposedly a reputable place but they thought that was acceptable. I went back and insisted they do it again. I guess it’s all a conflict of interest. If my tires wear badly, they get a tire purchase out of me.

I had heard over the years that one should get an alignment in the spring after the intense winter driving. I think this tire store owner said spring and winter but his employees have never mentioned an alignment to me except when I’m getting new tires due to uneven wear. I could buy new tires every couple of years with the money spent on that many alignments.

How do you know you are actually getting a good quality alignment? I’m worried now after all the BS I went through last time.

I now know more about tires than I ever wanted to know. : ) Thank you!

 

Update on my tire purchase. I bought Continental True Contact Tour only because I like how they handle. Plus the $220 rebate I’m still waiting on.

Flat tire last week and waited a week for a replacement tire to come in. It was understood that this tire would be replaced under Continental’s road hazard coverage. Tires come with 1 yr of road hazard with a restriction of only 2/32 tread wear. Well… I’ve only driven 3000 miles. Three tires measured 9 which would have qualified for the warranty but the flat tire was at 8. Unbelievable! I drove over a bolt and did not drive on the tire more than a few miles as it was slowly leaking. Went flat after I parked it.

I just about lost it on them. After multiple phone calls by me to Continental and TF corporate customer service, the tire guy comes up to me and says they will replace the tire under their road hazard plan even though I didn’t purchase it. I don’t know what happened because he was initially insisting they would only repair it.

WTH I’m grateful they took care of it but guess I’m not buying Continentals ever again. I only get about 40k- 45k miles on them.

While dealing with this I heard someone saying AWD cats require all 4 tires being replaced when there is a flat. Will someone please enlighten me? If this has been a Gen 5 I could have been waiting 60 days for a replacement tire from Tire Rack. I priced parts for a spare to be put in a Gen 5 and the parts not including the actual donut tire cost about $900. I guess in the long run it’s worth it.

My Toyota 12v battery also died when they were putting tire on/alignment. Second time over the past few months. I thought they were supposed to last 5 yrs. Last one was prorated and replaced after 2 yrs as well. Any ideas? Maybe it’s a different Toyota battery that lasts 5 yrs. I see that there is a Toyota True Start. Mine is part number 00544-21171-325 and online says 12 month warranty. Bummer.

 

I got 50mpg with those tires! They were the best tires I've put on the Prius.
Check your paperwork, does it SAY you have road hazard coverage?
Sometimes they can put a patch on the inside. Depends on the size of the hole.
They had to cover their butts! Which is understandable.
Mine came with an 80,000 warranty and I replaced them right at 80,000 miles.
You should have gotten an almost 50% pro rated refund toward your next tires.
They will NOT tell you about that! YOU have to bring it to their attention.

With such low mileage on the tires, there is very little wear so it "shouldn't" make a difference.
The reason they should be equal with all wheel drive, because the car can sense that 3 wheels
are turning at X amount of rpm and the 4th is not, so it thinks it is slipping, or the other are.
So it adjusts to make them even, which it will go crazy trying to keep them equal. Which can cause
damage. It's a lot more involved then, too much typing to explain it. You can search the internet
and find articles about it.

 

Thanks for responding. Do you really think I don’t know what I purchased? This is my 3rd set of these tires. The first time they prorated two and the second time they weren’t evenly worn despite being evenly worn during the first 30k of use and despite my alignment being fine.

This time around I didn’t purchase the store road hazard because I’m hopefully replacing this car soon and thought the 1 yr road hazard that comes with tires would cover me. It’s obviously a joke policy if they wear down so quickly in 2 months/3000 miles use. Repairing a Continental tire also voids their mileage warranty. This apparently is not the case with every tire company. Since this incident I’ve heard multiple people say Continental tires are not made like they used to be. The materials have changed and they wear quickly. They also don’t care about rotating their inventory in their manufacturing plant. That’s why I waited a week for a tire. New tires on my car in November are dated 2023. They are sending directly to Town Fair’s warehouse 2021 tires three months later. I have written confirmation from Continental that they still have 2021s in their warehouse and basically aren’t concerned that their employees aren’t rotating inventory.

They weren’t covering their butts. I registered a complaint with the corporate office after the corporate customer service guy misinformed me. He wasn’t in yesterday so someone else at the office approved the replacement. TF road hazard only replaces a tire if it’s not repairable. Continental road hazard replaces tire regardless as long as it’s less than 2/32 wear. It’s a done deal. On to my battery issue.

 

Do you really think I don’t know what I purchased?
Why would you think that is what I said? It is not. I have NO idea how many sets of
tires you bought. I can only go on what you wrote.
If you don't put ALL the information in, you can't get a complete answer.

I personally have never seen or heard of any tire manufacturer including road hazard coverage
with there tires. It has to be purchased seperately. That does not mean they don't, it only means
"I" have not heard of it. I have only been dealing with it since the mid 80's so what do I know?

NO tire, or any other thing is made the way they use to make them. Everything is cheaper.
That's how the world really works!

 

I was responding to your comment “Check your paperwork, does it SAY you have road hazard coverage?”

Yes, a few tire companies provide road hazard for a limited time. Continental’s road hazard is built into the price and comes with 3 tows up to 150 miles within the first year. Of course you have to register for it and read the fine print. Nothing is made as it used to be.

I have people saying their Hen 2 Prius is still running on the original 12V battery. That’s wonderful! I haven’t been so lucky.