Nearly bald tires on rental car

[wwillson]

This past weekend I was in Austin and as usual rented a car. The car as a Ford Explorer about 2 years old with 62,000 miles and was in good shape except for the tires.

The first indication I had that the tires were not well was when I darn near went off the first curve of what I call a "Texas Turn-around" at a freeway exit ramp. When you need to reverse direction on a freeway, at some exits, Texas has dedicated lanes to do so, very slick. The arrow points to where the skid happened.

It had just started raining and being an experienced driver, slowed way down in anticipation that the road could be slippery. I was probably going between 10 and 15 MPH when I went into the turn. The front end didn't turn and it felt like I was on ice, the anti-skid caught the brakes just before I did. Between the effort of the computer and my foot, the skid stopped and we continued around the corner. It scared me!

When I parked, about 5 minutes later, I took these pictures of the tires. Very disappointing that the rental car company didn't flag these tires as a hazard and didn't replace them. I mentioned the worn tires to the lady that checked me in and she wrote in marker on the driver's side window, "Front Tires Bald". Hopefully they will get replaced.

 

[CKN]

Many have trouble getting a rental vehicle at all...at a decent price. You want good tires with that......

 

[Nick1994]

That's not good.

I just had a rental 2020 F150 with 56k miles. Luckily it had tread on the tires, but 3 were Corsa Highway Terrain tires and one of the fronts was a Lionsport. Enterprise is on quite the budget I guess. It shook pretty bad on the freeway.

Edit: Each wiper blade had about 4 inches of rubber flapping in the wind.

 

[c502cid]

I wont take a rental with over 20,000 miles beacuase not only tires could be iffy, but the wiper blades are surely done too. Fortunately I have a ton of status with National and Hertz and mostly get under 5000 mile vehicles these days. After 9-11 there were some rentals with bald tires, cars that had over 50,000 miles, it was take it or leave it. Things are improving in the rental car world recently though.

 

[JavierH19]

someone before you had a bit of TC light on the dash kind of fun.

 

[Owen Lucas]

I always take a video of the car inside and out with vin, odo, and gas to make sure I don't get charged for previous damage. I do the same thing when I return the vehicle, quick walk around with the camera, you might look crazy but if they try to pin some dukes of hazard damage on you, the video will be helpful.

 

[nthach]

I wont take a rental with over 20,000 miles beacuase not only tires could be iffy, but the wiper blades are surely done too. Fortunately I have a ton of status with National and Hertz and mostly get under 5000 mile vehicles these days. After 9-11 there were some rentals with bald tires, cars that had over 50,000 miles, it was take it or leave it. Things are improving in the rental car world recently though.

I rarely rent a car - but I was in LA a few weekends ago and Uber adds up quick, I called Hertz. I had a Chevy Equinox with 29K on the clock, the tires(Michelin Latitude Tour HP) seemed like they were in decent shape, I would have guessed 5-6/32nds of tread left.

This was a Hertz HLE location(LA Union Station), not a high-volume airport one.

I know Avis owns Zipcar and I’ve seen cheap garbage on them. I’ve seen a Zipcar Subaru with two Sailuns and the OE Yokohamas. Asking for trouble.

 

[dnewton3]

First of all, I agree those tires are in need of replacement. However, they are not "down to the wear bars". I can see from the picture that the tread is above the wear bars in mutliple pictures. So the "inspection" by some rental car monkey would have probably turned them out to the next rental person anyway. Part of the problem is that the wear bars are really a very poor way to judge the quality of tires remaining life. Yes - there's techinically some tread life left there. But it's very low depth now allows for hydroplaning much sooner than a "normal" tire would do so. And, often it seems the quality of the tire's tread adhesion is often different (compromised) in the material itself.

Which brings me to my next comment ... Most of the Fords I've had of recent manufacture are fitted with tires from the factory that lean towards fuel economy. Both our Taurus and Fusion were fitted with Michelin Primacy MXM4 tires. Those things SUCK in the rain and snow. So much so that I replaced the ones on the Fusion with Conti PureContact tires after only 28k miles, and did the same with the Taurus at 25k miles fitting Conti DWS0Plus tires on it. I mean the MXM4 tires are so freakin' terrible that I replaced 55k mile rated tires in less than half their rated lifespan. If it rained, or was even damp on the road, they had compromised adhesion. And snow??? Forget it ... they were worthless. There's something about that compound they use in the tires that does not grip nearly as well as other tires they make. I'm not faulting Michelin; it's Ford's choice what they put on a vehicle when new. I've had some great Michelin tires, but these MXM4 tires aren't up to my expectations. The media promo on Michelin's website would have you believe they are a great tire for all-season use. But the reality is it fails in adhesion when it's wet outside, and it fails miserably.

I don't know what Ford puts on the Explorer you rented, but with 60k miles on it, they are probably at the end of their OEM life and sucked LONG BEFORE you rented it. This is just a guess on my part, but the Explorer you rented (being 2 years old) was the chassis that was the same as the Taurus. It's quite possible that you had MXM4s on that car. Did you happen to see what brand/model of tire was on it?

 

[CharBaby]

I have refused a few rental vehicles due to being out of inspection or waaaaay to dirty to drive and have even returned them if they were running poorly.

One time, I flew into Phoenix, got to the rental car place and it was a cluster from the moment I walked in. Cars were just being turned in and signed out immediately. I went through 4 vehicles before I found one that was acceptable for my 3 week stay. I was going to be traveling while in AZ, CA & NV and didn't have time for vehicles to be returned in the middle of my stay.

 

[mrsilv04]

What is left of the tread suggests that they are Michelin Latitude Tour tires, which can have a treadwear warranty as low as 30,000 miles.

No surprise here.

 

[bullwinkle]

They may not be down to the bars, but I would never let mine get that bad. One quick stop or turn in rain, you're done with those! Good thing you were being careful, Wayne, that could have ended badly.

 

[Hall]

I don't know what Ford puts on the Explorer you rented, but with 60k miles on it, they are probably at the end of their OEM life

Do OEMs put on tires that have anywhere near 60k mile life ? It seems like 20-30k is more typical nowadays.

 

[wwillson]

Did you happen to see what brand/model of tire was on it?

They were Michelin, but I didn't see the model.

 

[wwillson]

Good thing you were being careful, Wayne, that could have ended badly.

5 MPH faster and I'll bet it would have.

 

[PF52]

62,000 miles on a rental is yucky. Time for that one to filter down to the local "Ugly Duckling" rental lot..... Assuming those guys are still in business.

Like was mentioned, rentals are in short supply nowadays, but this is really pushing it. What company was it? Can you pick and choose from amongst a row of cars? I rent from Dollar and typically within whatever row they let be pick from there is always a low-mileage creampuff. Dollar is the low-priced subsidiary of Hertz and lots of people hate them but they have always been good to me.

 

[javacontour]

Yikes! Glad you are okay.

 

[JTK]

It's about time for that rental car company to slap some cheap tires on it and list that Exploder up online for $42500.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Tight radius exits usually have gas oil dumped on them and then rain on top of that = near zero coefficient - fresh siping may help a bit but sometimes not.Add to that the mystery steering ford exploder, and you have a hard time reading the surface,
It was very good luck you didn't hit the curb and tip it !

 

[JustinH]

Yep when it rains down here the roads get very slick. We have had a bit of a wet week.

 

[CKN]

First of all, I agree those tires are in need of replacement. However, they are not "down to the wear bars". I can see from the picture that the tread is above the wear bars in mutliple pictures. So the "inspection" by some rental car monkey would have probably turned them out to the next rental person anyway. Part of the problem is that the wear bars are really a very poor way to judge the quality of tires remaining life. Yes - there's techinically some tread life left there. But it's very low depth now allows for hydroplaning much sooner than a "normal" tire would do so. And, often it seems the quality of the tire's tread adhesion is often different (compromised) in the material itself.

Which brings me to my next comment ... Most of the Fords I've had of recent manufacture are fitted with tires from the factory that lean towards fuel economy. Both our Taurus and Fusion were fitted with Michelin Primacy MXM4 tires. Those things SUCK in the rain and snow. So much so that I replaced the ones on the Fusion with Conti PureContact tires after only 28k miles, and did the same with the Taurus at 25k miles fitting Conti DWS0Plus tires on it. I mean the MXM4 tires are so freakin' terrible that I replaced 55k mile rated tires in less than half their rated lifespan. If it rained, or was even damp on the road, they had compromised adhesion. And snow??? Forget it ... they were worthless. There's something about that compound they use in the tires that does not grip nearly as well as other tires they make. I'm not faulting Michelin; it's Ford's choice what they put on a vehicle when new. I've had some great Michelin tires, but these MXM4 tires aren't up to my expectations. The media promo on Michelin's website would have you believe they are a great tire for all-season use. But the reality is it fails in adhesion when it's wet outside, and it fails miserably.

I don't know what Ford puts on the Explorer you rented, but with 60k miles on it, they are probably at the end of their OEM life and sucked LONG BEFORE you rented it. This is just a guess on my part, but the Explorer you rented (being 2 years old) was the chassis that was the same as the Taurus. It's quite possible that you had MXM4s on that car. Did you happen to see what brand/model of tire was on it?

I had a new Honda Accord with MXV4 tires-they would break loose on run off from overflow from a watered center strip on the road.Not bad...but very dangerous!