Elantra and OEM Michelins

I thought I'd start a new thread as this was such a hot topic in the earlier
spark plug thread. I also found a thread on another forum regarding tire
wear.

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.eea1f49/4629

Still no reference to cupping however, and that thread seems to show the OEM
Michelins wearing out somewhere between 30-50k miles.

Perhaps hyundaitech might like to share his experiences with tire wear on
the Michelins?

 

Changed mine at 30k on 2001 Elantra.
Bad scuffing and bald spot on inner side
of all tires. Had them balanced and wheel alignment.
For some reason both the front and back tires on the
passenger side would lose up to 10 pounds pressure
every week whilst the drivers side remained constant.

 

30-50k miles is about what I've seen.

 

Then you should have had them re-mounted or replaced under warranty if
re-mounting didn't fix the problem. If you're running them under
inflated because they leak, you have to expect wear problems.

 

It's all in how you drive. An aggressive driver or one that doesn't
check their pressures or rotate them is likely to wear them down
quickly. If you drive reasonably and maintain them, you should get good
life. It also depends on the area you live in. In hot weather, tires
wear faster. In wet climates, you need more tread depth to drive safely
and may to change them earlier than if you lived in a dry environment.
If you're trying to use them as snow tires (dumb, IMO), tread depth is
even more of an issue. You have to keep reports about tire wear in
context or they're essentially meaningless.

 

meaningless.

I think that's clear from the broad lifespan reported. I was hoping for
more evidence about the alleged cupping issues, but there seems to be a
serious lack of evidence, despite the strong assertions from the now
departed Blue Flash.

 

Cupping does not typically indicate a tire-related problem. Most cupping
I've seen is on cars which do not have tires rotated frequently enough.

Once upon a time I had only rear drive vehicles. My standard procedure
was to purchase new tires, install on the rear (drive wheels) and put the
older ones on the front. As the front tires wore out, I'd do the same
procedure again, always keeping the best tires on the drive axle.

When I purchased a 1990 Taurus, I approached it the same. I aligned it
shortly after I bought it. I installed the new pair of tires on the front
(drive wheels) and moved the older pair to the back. When they wore out, I
did the same thing. What I discovered was that after I drove a significant
period of time, the rear tires were cupped. In effect, what happened was
that the front and rear tires all wore out quickly. The front because
they were on the drive wheels and the rear because they had huge flat
spots all over them. Ever since then, I've rotated my tires regularly and
have had no cupping issues.

 

I'll add an associated topic regarding my Sonata, but it could be anything.

I received my used Sonata with "new" tires of the OE model with
"Heel-Toe Wear." This is a condition is which the leading edge of the
tread blocks is a different height than the trailing edge. It's rarely
desribed in consumer car books and/or web sites, but you'll find it
commonly on truck tire web sites; that's where I got the info. If you
dig around those sites, you'll find the condition described quite nicely.

The phenomenon comes from neglecting tire rotation. I devised my own
fix, which was to have the tires rotated in a pattern intended to
reverse the wear -- an exact criss-cross. The tires are still in very
good shape, and this maneuver hasn't caused any deterioration in
handling, noise, or other nasties. I also elected to slightly
overinflate the tires vs. spec in order to compensate for uneven wear
caused by either hard cornering, underinflation, or both.

The guy I bought the car from is a vehicular airhead, so it's probable
that if he neglected rotation, he probably neglected his inflation too,
having left this to the tire shop. And since I've never been to a tire
shop in my life that inflated the tires close to correct -- well, you
get the idea. In fact, I've even bought new tires from one or two shops
that didn't even own a pressure gauge. Yeah; it's that bad.

Richard