Causes of Excessive Tire Wear

dredwing

I have a 2007 Hyundai Sonata Limited. I am on my fourth set of tires in 90,000 miles. Can anyone tell me why the tires wear out so fast on the trailing rear tires?

[Deleted User]

How often do you align your car? The answer could be there.

LASHAWN

I've got 87k+ on my 06 Sonata and replaced my tires once and have yet to have an alignment done. My car does not pull and my tires are still wearing evenly, replaced them at 63k miles.

targettuning

There are quite a few reasons
A) no routine alignments at at yearly intervals and no "instant" alignment after hitting a particularlarly bad pot hole or curb hard enough. This requires at least a front but preferrably a 4 wheel alignment.
non-rotation within specific mileage intervals usually about 6K miles or so.
C) low/high tire pressures (normally low verses high)
D) road conditions ( pot holes, broken pavement etc. coupled with A above)
E) personal driving style, i.e. road racer types taking curves at speeds greater than necessary.
F) ignoring questionable car tracking/handling, i.e. pulling on a straight minimally crowned road or shake and shimmy in the steering wheel.
G) using crummy (cheap) tires that may develop internal problems earlier and more often than say a Michelin. Things like broken or shifted steel belts and inherent balance problems caused by poor molds, i.e. out of round etc.
Usually, the fronts wear out faster in a front drive car (without routine rotations) due to all the tasks placed on them (steering, acceleration demands, extra weight from the engine/transaxle) as compared to the rears that are mostly along for the ride.

nj2pa2nc

own a 06 acura tsx, bought new 11/17/06. The original michelin tires lasted almost 74,000 miles. They all measured 4/32 when I replaced them with Yokohama Avid v4s tires. When they were replaced the dealer did an alignment. Other than that I never had an alignment done. I do get the tires rotated and balanced every 6,000 miles and check the tire pressure on a regular basis. I am now doing research on the next tires. The Yoko's now have almost 62,000 miles and are all 5/32
I also own a '11' sonata with 25,000+miles. I do the same thing with the tires on that car.

crankeee

nj: What brand and type of tire came on your 11 Sonata. We just bought a 2012 Sonata GLS with 16" tires. Came with Kuhmo tires. i always praised Hyundai for mounting good Michelin tires on most of their models. When i asked dealer about switching the Kuhmos he advised they are seeing better wear and less "cupping" with the Kuhmos. I ca not argue that point but have never had any problems with Michelin in many many years.
Any comments on Kuhmos vs. Michelin and maybe Hankook tires on Hyundais?

nj2pa2nc

our sonata also has the Kuhmo tires. No problems with them so far. We have owned older Hyundai's that came with Michelin tires. They were very quiet but a soft tire so they did not last long even with tire rotations, checking the tire pressure, etc. Loved the michelin tires that came on the tsx.

crankeee

nj: thanks for the reply. not familar with the kuhmo line of tires but the dealer is pretty good so far & with with your 25,000 experience on your 11 model we will just drive them. i also check air pressure,rotate at 5000 and have an air compressor in the garage. So far we really are pleased with the 2012 Sonata. The highway mileage is outstanding and the cars ergonomics, features and creature comforts are great. Bluetooth would not download contacts due to older Motorola phone but works great with "dial" command and number. In town mileage depends mostly on type of driving.
Do you use 5W30 or 10W30 oil at dealer changes?
Ours has midnight black paint with $750 PEP and alloy wheels -beautiful car and just exactly what we wanted. Great value for the price IMO.
Thanks again

ryster

I have a 2011 Sonata GLS with the 16" Kumho tires. They get rotated every 7500 miles. I have 24,000 miles on the car and the tires still have 6/32" tread depth remaining. Should be able to get 35,000-40,000 miles out of them. Not bad for an OEM tire, although they are very noisy. If I still have the car when the time comes for new tires, will most likely get Michelin Primacy or Toyo Versado LXII as replacements.

My previous car, a 2006 Chevy Impala, was on its 3rd set of tires when I traded it at 60,000 miles. That car also had tires rotated every 7500 miles and received a 4-wheel alignment at 30,000 miles. It simply "ate" tires. You could literally see the tire condition change from month to month.

targettuning

Our 2012 Sonata SE has Hankook low profile tires (better handling is the goal here I believe) but they ride stiffer and are noisier which is the down side of low profile tires. Anyhow, with regard to Kuhmo tires, I have the second set (Solus KR 21's) on my 1995 Dodge Stratus and I am happy with them. The first set lasted in the neighborhood of 55-60,000 miles before I thought they should be changed at the onset of winter two years ago. The current set has about 35K miles and look able to go to that 60K the first set did. Kuhmo tires are a Korean brand so it makes a certain amount of sense the Korean built cars in the Hyundai line-up, would be equipped with a "home town" brand. Yes, I realize the US built Sonata's are also equipped with them. I work with a guy that bought a 2004 Elantra new and it came with Michelin tires. They wore out quickly disappointing him given all the hype that comes with the Michelin name. At my suggestion he finally replaced the second set of tires (which also wore out quickly) with Kumho Solus KR-21's. These lasted too well....they developed tiny cracks in the tread/sidewall area from age but did not come close to actually wearing out. Did I mention he drives 80 miles a day to-from work so the miles added up. What finally prompted the change (to another style Khumo's) was a broken belt in one tire + the fine network of age cracks. So, in my experience Khumo's are a fine tire that are reasonably priced.

crankeee

ryster & target: Thanks for the reply on Kuhmo tires. We have had nothing but Michelin for years and good to know you both had good results with Kuhmo. The dealer was adamant about them. As posted, we have low profile Michelins on 2010 Buick Lacrosse. Great handling but $300 per tire - OUCH! if replacement needed and only low profile can be used. The 2012 GLS with the Kuhmos has 205 65 HR16 and the price to replace is ~$120 depending on brand. The GLS was our choice for many reasons stated and so far so good. We are getting the EPA MPG numbers plus some on the highway with 35# in the tires- ride is good. Lots of value for the $.
Thanks again for the meaningful posts on Kuhmos -these sites have real value with knowledgeable members and factual info.

peterdilts

I have a 2009 Sonata with 60000 miles and Michelin tires. I also have a 2011 Sonata with 32000 miles and Kuhmo tires. The Michelin's look better than the Kuhmos and I will have to replace the Kuhmos by the end of the year (40000 miles, tops) while the Michelins look like they will go on to 70000+. My next set on the 2011 will probably be Michelins, definitley not Kuhmos.

For the record I haven't had an alignment on either car and I balance and rotate every 7000 miles.

I also had Kuhmos on a 2006 Miata and they were gone before 20000 miles.

crankeee

I aggree with the comments on michelin. My question was relative to the Kuhmos being OEM. some of the Michelin OEM tires used to be less mileage than the after market choices - sometimes due to softer high speed rated tires that rode "softer" for initial sales test drives and reviews. The S & T rated tires were rated at 80,000 miles and would go that far if they did not dry rot first - HA!
WE always replace OEM with Michelin in the south. they hold air, are round and wear like iron in our experience - great quality control. Make cost alittle more- but outstanding in all respects. When combined with full service seller like Costco, Sams, NTB- ard to beat.
The Kuhmos with 40,000 miles on OEM Sonatas are acceptable in all respects - so far.

mrmagoo1

Kuhmo 215/55/17. 20,500 miles on car/tires. Always rotate, 75 hiway/25 city driving, easy driving. Looks like I won't make it to the winter w/these tires and tread condition.
Anyone else having similar problem?

thanks

dredwing

Thanks for all of the Responses. I had taken my 2007 too 4 different shops and went through 3 sets of tires of the rear end. Everyone kept saying alignment was off. I had the alignment done 4 times in 20,000 miles (it's not the alignment). Long story short for every bump every mile your shocks are wearing out. I replaced my shops my fuel economy improved and the tire wear vanished. If your shocks are worn when you hit a bump and go up your shocks must push the tire down to make road contact. Monroe shocks has an awesome video on youtube demonstrating this. I plan on replacing my shocks in another 50,000 miles just to avoid the future tire wear issue.