oops, I see the thread titled Tire reviews/advice.

Are the tired bald all the way across the tire? Or is it just the edges? Did you have your car aligned when you put the tires on? Did you keep them rotated? Did you keep the pressure up on the tires?

Any of the can play a huge wear in tire wear. I work at a shop that sells tires, we really really like the Cooper CS4's. Put 4 more on it have the front end checked for wore out parts, and have it aligned. Keep the pressure on 35 PSI and rotate every 6k.

Vahomeowner is right on. What end of the car are your tires
going bald on ? Alignment is the factor here. I've heard of
Cooper tires. They are a VERY good tire. I still have a set on my 75 Olds. bought them in 92. If one set of tires go bald before the other, providing both were put on at the same time, you have an alignment problem or parts
problem with the vehical. Don't blame the tire.

They're losing their tread in the middle.

The "knowledgeable" guy at the store where we bought them, had them installed & have them rotated & repaired or replaced on extended warranty, said this tire (& a couple of the other Coopers) is no longer in production.

He said the reason is they can't honor the tread wear warranty; i.e., 70 K when the tire wears out at 45 K.

Is he correct on both accounts or doesn't know what he's talking about?

**He said the reason is they can't honor the tread wear warranty; i.e., 70 K when the tire wears out at 45 K.**

I don't understand this sentence.

Tires wearing in the center is generally an indication of over inflation.

Tire warranty's often times aren't worth a lot under normal circumstances. For example, a tire has a 40k mile warranty. They wear out at 30k and you go in to claim your warranty. They say you got 75% of the use of the tires so you're entitled to a 25% discount on a new set. List price for your tires when you bought them was $100 each. The store sells them all day including the set they sold to you for $75 each, but your discount is calculated from the list price. So, your warranty has a net worth of zero at that point in this example. If you got more miles than that, the normal price of the tire is a better deal than the warranty price. Less miles than that and the warranty might be worth a few bucks but not much. The greater the difference between the list price and what the store sold them to you for, the less the warranty is worth.

Tire manufacturers continually change tire designs. A particular tire becoming obsolete is not an indication that it was a good, bad or somewhere in between quality tire. Just means they don't make that one anymore.

jmo

"Tires wearing out in the center"

Two things can cause this phenomonem: Running the tires over-inflated, and gross over-inflation during mounting.

The maximum pressure noted on the sidewalls of a tire refers to the maximum pressure that a tire should ever be exposed to, and is not the recommended maximum pressure for everyday use. This maximum pressure should not be exceeded during mounting, else the tire may be damaged.

Typical damage (from over pressure during mounting) is stretched or broken belts. Typically, such a damaged tire will show badly worn tread at the center but normal wear elsewhere. The worn tread section may be less than 1/3 the width of the tire, and the worn area will quickly change to normal wear tread depth going from the center of the tire towards its edge.

A tire that has been run over-inflated, but whose carcus has not been not damaged will show a gradual change in tread depth from the center to edge.

When I say middle, I'm meaning all over the tire & not just on the ends. Understand? Sorry if I wasn't clear.

I think the tires on the rear have been showing more wear than the tires on the front, though the car is front-end drive. The tires have been changed out regularly.

CONFUSED

The guy said they're not able to honor the warranties of so many thousand miles because the tires have been wearing out a whole lot sooner than what was "promised".

SHRUG

**The guy said they're not able to honor the warranties of so many thousand miles because the tires have been wearing out a whole lot sooner than what was "promised".**

I told you how tire warranty's work. What he's probably trying to tell you is with the formula I told you, the mileage you already got out of them exceeds the dollar value you'd get out of the warranty. A 40k mile tread warranty doesn't entitle you to a free set of tires if you wear them out in 30k miles. If he's telling you he's not honoring the warranty because the tires failed within the warranty period, he's an idiot. Pick another tire store next time.

If you have a front wheel drive car or a rear wheel drive pick-up and the rears are wearing out faster, they're probably over inflated, and possibly the rear brakes are coming on a little to hard. My money's on over inflated. Someone filling the tires to their maximum rather than the manufactures recommendation.

libbyliz

To answer your question directly, I've been using BF Goodrich for a long, long time and I'm satisified with the cost to performance ratio. Traction T/A's to be precise. However, as has been pointed out by some of the others - addressing the wear issue should be your first priority, that means suspension check and wheel alignment. Once that's all in order you can maximize tire longevity by keeping the tire pressures per the car's decal, and following the rotation recommendation in your owner's manual.

A lot of people don't know what pressure to put in their cars, maybe I don't,lol but I do believe one is suppose to go by whats on the car door, as long as one is using the car manufactures suggested size of tire.

My husband has been the one to inflate the tires to what's recommended on them. Same with the folks I take the car to for oil changes, etc. (Toyota), & the folks I take the car to for fixing holes in the tires.

The tires have been rotated on a regular basis, I believe. I'd have to sit down & do some calculating. But the car is front wheel drive & the tires on the back wore down first, per hubby. And I don't carry heavy loads in the sedan. That's what his Chevy 1500 WT is for.

So I don't know what's happened with those two instances; the inflation & tires wearing down.

I went to CostCo earlier today & a guy in the tire shop recommended BFG Touring T/A Pro Series or Michelin Primacy (?) 94H or 941t. I can barely read the guy's handwriting. I liked the tread on the BFG but the guy likes the Michelin since he has them on his Accord.

And lastly, my husband got on-line a bit ago & joined a consumer watch dog site of sorts where he found there & other places on-line people complaining about the same Firestone tires wearing out extremely fast.