OEM TIre wear pattern at 56,000 miles

likely an alignment problem.

 

I came here to post the same question today. I have a 2016 Three Touring with OEM tires. Mine are the Yokohama BlueEarth
P215/45R17 87V but still 17". Last week when I went in for my 25,000 service I asked them to look into the road noise and roughness I have been hearing at lower speeds. They found my driver front wheel bearing was bad and replaced it. Afterwards, they also let me know that all four OEM tires have significant cupping on the inside and should be replaced within the next 5k miles.

Needless to say, I'm not thrilled about the possibility of buying new tires this soon into the vehicle ownership. Plus, how did they miss this uneven wear at any of the prior 5k checkups (expecially when there's a 1 year/20k alignment coverage from Toyota). They've had them off to rotate at each 5k interval. I would assume as they check tread depth it would have been noticed.

I went to a tire shop today to get an alignment check. All are within Toyota's acceptable deviation except for the rear passenger, which was just barely out of tolerance.

So, to the other Gen 4 Prius owners out there, is anyone else seeing this uneven wear on the treads like myself and @ATHiker are?

The tire shop today explained that some performance cars will have factory alignment camber that's not at 0 degrees, just to help with cornering. Is this the case for the Touring Models of the 2016 and 2017 Prius?

Anyone else already had to replace all four tires on the new Touring models?

 

welcome!

athiker has 56k on her, so i'm not sure you're in the same position. can you take a pic?

 

I can in the morning when it's light out again. Both dealer and tire shop said I have about 5k miles left. on the inside before they're down to about 4/32 or 5/32 or so and need to be replaced. If I can deal with the rougher road noise that long.

Could be that the Yokohama OEMs just suck worse than his Bridgestone OEMs?

 

it's possible. did the tyre shop have any thoughts?

 

I highly doubt dealerships are doing any of those complimentary inspections at all. My Gen 2 I took in for various maintenance items and one inspection report noted nothing, the next noted glaring items, then the one after that noted nothing again. Its free because they almost never do it or don't do it correctly at all.

 

When I took my Gen 4 in for the 5K check, the paperwork said they set tire pressures at 32 all around They actually were a more reasonable 39.
The new service writer asked about checking the battery since it was listed on their form. Apparently the tech said the Prius has a different battery so they do not check it. They apparently do not know the Gen 4 battery is now a normal car battery under the hood.
I did my own oil change at 10K miles.

 

Tire scalloping is common to all cars/tires. Simple Google search yields the following answer, ""Scalloped tyres" are bumps or dips in the tread. Its uneven wear 'around' the tyretread. In patches. That can be caused by faulty shocks or miss-ballanced wheels/tyres. So the force is focused on a cirtain point(s) on the tyre as it rotates."

 

I suggest the scalloping is simply the remainder of the innermost tread pattern indentation IMHO.

 

maybe stick with shrimp and clams, to avoid the scalloping.

 

Besides isn't the OEM tire a lowly rated tire. At 56k miles might be time to buy a new set.

 

Yep, looks like a suspension issue although certain tire brands have been known to do strange things in wear patterns. If the alignment is correct and you are doing 42 PSI with 422's it is most likely a week suspension (struts /sway bars/ lift bars/ dive bars etc).
Toe and camber adjustment buy an experienced mechanic can help this issue. Maybe with Depends. After 20K my 8 tires on two cars have zero wear. Normally road hazards kill my OEM tires over a 4-5 year period and after 9 hybrids I have not seen cupping at 42-51 PSI.

Is it on one side or all 4?

Also the brand of tire does make a difference. Bought 4 tires for a van and they had a strange wear pattern. Bought a different tire the next time and the problem went away.

Another poster mentioned 56K is not bad for a set of tires. Spot on eh!

 

Thanks for the update. It will be awhile before I get to 56K. Two more surgeries at least.

BTW I like the 422's a lot and the American version may have deeper tread in this size. Depends. Don't leave home without them.

 

Walrus or Eggman?

 

The scallops appear to be in sync with the tire's sipe, two per space. So maybe it's due to how each block of tread squirms, nothing more?

 

From what I've read here both North American ittereations are pretty good for rolling resistance. Maybe a slight drop in mpg due to brand new rubber plus slight increase in outside diameter?

I like the look of the Mex vs US tread pattern. It's the US that has one less row, wider gaps between?

Maybe rear camber is adjustable on your 2016? There's some oversized, rotatable washer on a lower suspension bolt, at the bottom of a shock I think. It has demarcations and numbers IIRC.

 

Why is your right caster still off?