Minivans eat tires…anyone put XL rated tires on?

Joined
Feb 28, 2015
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885
Location
MD
So we all know minivans like to eat tires. My Sienna did it horribly. We have a new odyssey now and we have about 28k on it…it’s tires probably shouldn’t make it through next winter at this point (although wife works from home, Maryland is hit or miss with snow, and our county spans to Pennsylvania so our weather varies a lot, thus our county shuts down schools for the threat of snow…so a lot of times I run our tires well beyond the TWI). I rotate every oil change which is 5k intervals for me. I get no abnormal / different wear from corner to corner, just typical minivan accelerated tire wear.

Anyways, one contractor shop we use when I was pricing tires years ago for my Sienna told me I should be using an XL rated tire, that we wouldn’t waste the tires if we did that. His theory makes sense to me, just wondered if anyone actually does this?

There aren’t many options that are really minivan suitable / appropriate with an XL rating, but there are some out there.
 
The nice thing (about the only nice thing) about how my Sienna eats tires for breakfast is that I get incredible prorate on the tires when I buy a new set at Americas Tire. The last set I had on, the Cooper CS5 Grand Touring, an 80K mile tire, lasted all of 24,000 miles. And I did regular rotations too.

I'll watch this thread to see if there are any longer lasting tires.
 
I am a fan of putting heavy duty truck tires onto normal passenger vehicles when that option is available. They should be able to last much longer, but there are trade-offs.

Harsher ride, louder, reduced gas mileage, and sightly less traction are all possibilities.

Everyone has different priorities when it comes to tires, and a plus in one thing usually means a trade-off in something else.

Like I said, I like the stiffer, heavier tires with more tread-depth, but many people do not.
 
The nice thing (about the only nice thing) about how my Sienna eats tires for breakfast is that I get incredible prorate on the tires when I buy a new set at Americas Tire. The last set I had on, the Cooper CS5 Grand Touring, an 80K mile tire, lasted all of 24,000 miles. And I did regular rotations too.

I'll watch this thread to see if there are any longer lasting tires.
Do they make you prove receipts for rotation?

I need to find a shop who doesn’t. I do all my own maintenance. I keep a log but there’s no receipt. I know Costco won’t accept that, but their wait times make the free rotate and balance a headache…so much so that even though I bought my Mazda tires there, I quit letting them rotate them once I calculated that I’m on track to make it close to the mileage warranty.
 
I'm very happy with Sumitomo Encounter HT that I got about 3 year ago (on Sportage) and now have over 70k km on them, not running them in winter thou. I'd say they are about half way into their useful life, wearing very well, not loud, very good dry and wet traction, I like them.
 
Do they make you prove receipts for rotation?

I need to find a shop who doesn’t. I do all my own maintenance. I keep a log but there’s no receipt. I know Costco won’t accept that, but their wait times make the free rotate and balance a headache…so much so that even though I bought my Mazda tires there, I quit letting them rotate them once I calculated that I’m on track to make it close to the mileage warranty.
Thats some crap. I dont like anyone touching the lugnuts but me. As long as they arent worn unevenly, not sure how they have a leg to stand on with rotation causing excess wear or whatever their idea is.
 
There could be commercial tires in your size. Just look for a C at the end. For example, 205/65-15C :unsure:

Michelin has the Agilis CrossClimate, the Agilis name being their line of commercial van tires.

Those might help. EV-specific tires might also work, due to electric cars being heavier.

But honestly, my choice would be to just get the cheapest all-weather tires in your size. If the cheap tires don't last that long, no big deal since they're so cheap :D
 
Thats some crap. I dont like anyone touching the lugnuts but me. As long as they arent worn unevenly, not sure how they have a leg to stand on with rotation causing excess wear or whatever their idea is.
I think the last straw was a rotation appointment (all be it at mid day because I work a weird shift, so it was like 2:30 on a weekday) took them 2 plus hours and I had a horrible vibration. I called them and they said i must book another appointment online, that I get no priority over the next guy even though they caused the vibration. That’s when i found out they knock off all the weights every rotation and do a fresh balance. I went back 2 more times to get it right and decided my tire wear is on track to get me close enough to treadwear warranty to not care enough to deal with that bs anymore.
 
There could be commercial tires in your size. Just look for a C at the end. For example, 205/65-15C :unsure:

Michelin has the Agilis CrossClimate, the Agilis name being their line of commercial van tires.

Those might help. EV-specific tires might also work, due to electric cars being heavier.

But honestly, my choice would be to just get the cheapest all-weather tires in your size. If the cheap tires don't last that long, no big deal since they're so cheap :D
I’ve typically run middle of the line all seasons. Yokohama or continentals. Not a fan of the cheapest tires, they’re usually noisy or have poor traction. But I get where you’re coming from, I’m pretty cheap but tires are something I spend a little on after having experienced so many different qualities of tires working in shops so long.
 
Our odyssey doesn’t eat tires at all, and I’m not very good with rotating often.

My wife is a cautious and excellent driver, and does not accelerate, brake, or corner hard.

We put Michelin Defender LTX on the odyssey at maybe 60k, now at 115 they still look like new. I’m sure we will get 100k out of them.
 
Our odyssey doesn’t eat tires at all, and I’m not very good with rotating often.

My wife is a cautious and excellent driver, and does not accelerate, brake, or corner hard.

We put Michelin Defender LTX on the odyssey at maybe 60k, now at 115 they still look like new. I’m sure we will get 100k out of them.
^This.
Don't go with LT tires. It will ride horribly and accelerate slower and hit you at gas pump.
 
I’ve typically run middle of the line all seasons. Yokohama or continentals. Not a fan of the cheapest tires, they’re usually noisy or have poor traction. But I get where you’re coming from, I’m pretty cheap but tires are something I spend a little on after having experienced so many different qualities of tires working in shops so long.

Maybe you might like Milestar. They are well-liked on this site. The Milestar AW365 seems like a good choice if you don't want the cheapest tire but still don't want to spend too much.

What is your tire size? :unsure:
 
Our Ody has the 19” wheels/tires so they are the XL ones. Currently have Defender LTXs on there. Been on since about 40k and it has 88k on it now. They still look almost brand new. Have had them rotated every 6-7.5k at Costco where we bought them. Next set of times will maybe be the Continental LX25s or Pirelli AS+3/4 just to try something different.
 
No, they never have. They keep records of their own. As long as you get the tires rotated NLT every 8K miles, they are fine.

Do they make you prove receipts for rotation?

I need to find a shop who doesn’t. I do all my own maintenance. I keep a log but there’s no receipt. I know Costco won’t accept that, but their wait times make the free rotate and balance a headache…so much so that even though I bought my Mazda tires there, I quit letting them rotate them once I calculated that I’m on track to make it close to the mileage warranty.
 
There could be commercial tires in your size. Just look for a C at the end. For example, 205/65-15C :unsure:

Michelin has the Agilis CrossClimate, the Agilis name being their line of commercial van tires.

Those might help. EV-specific tires might also work, due to electric cars being heavier.

But honestly, my choice would be to just get the cheapest all-weather tires in your size. If the cheap tires don't last that long, no big deal since they're so cheap :D

A cheap tire doesn’t necessarily grip well on smooth asphalt when lightly rained on, nor when lightly snowed on. They don’t necessarily perform well in dry braking and in wet braking conditions. Cheap tires are usually sub standard because they are cheap.
 
A cheap tire doesn’t necessarily grip well on smooth asphalt when lightly rained on, nor when lightly snowed on. They don’t necessarily perform well in dry braking and in wet braking conditions. Cheap tires are usually sub standard because they are cheap.
But yet third tier tires are seeing growth-
https://www.moderntiredealer.com/retail/article/55252542/tier-three-tires-remain-in-the-lead
quote-
There’s proof of that trend in our look at the best and worst performers. Dealers indicate tier- three tiers were again the most in demand. That marked seven straight months at the top of the demand rankings.

This is different from our observed long-term trend, where tier-two tire brands have historically been the most popular in the decade-plus history of our survey. Tier-two brands were again in second place, while premium tier-one brands remained in last place for a third consecutive month.
 
A cheap tire doesn’t necessarily grip well on smooth asphalt when lightly rained on, nor when lightly snowed on. They don’t necessarily perform well in dry braking and in wet braking conditions. Cheap tires are usually sub standard because they are cheap.

Cheap tires have become VERY popular. In particular, the cheapest all-weather tires sell out a lot :D
 
But yet third tier tires are seeing growth-
https://www.moderntiredealer.com/retail/article/55252542/tier-three-tires-remain-in-the-lead
quote-
There’s proof of that trend in our look at the best and worst performers. Dealers indicate tier- three tiers were again the most in demand. That marked seven straight months at the top of the demand rankings.

This is different from our observed long-term trend, where tier-two tire brands have historically been the most popular in the decade-plus history of our survey. Tier-two brands were again in second place, while premium tier-one brands remained in last place for a third consecutive month.
Why is that important when it comes to their performance? I don’t understand. Just bcs. people don’t understand that tire is the most import safety item, doesn’t mean OP has to get whatever brand.
 
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