What's wrong with this tire? (Wear Pattern)

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Sep 26, 2002
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Central Arkansastan
I am in the process of replacing these Michelin Primacy A/S tires with a set of Conti Crosscontact LX25's. I rotated these tires every 5K, and they all seemed to be wearing evenly until this last check, today. Tire is on the Right rear at the moment, but was last rotated to the right front. (Its on the rear now because when I went to the tire shop, they removed my wheels then realized the tires ordered were wrong size, so they just randomly installed them until the right tires come in). Anyhow, what would cause this type of wear? The "better looking tire is 3/32, the "balder tire is 2/32. # are like the better, only the one is like the "balder" one.

Tire1.jpg
Tire2.jpg
 
What specifically are we looking at here...?

My initial answer to the question is that they are worn out...

This tire used "emerging grove" technology so as they wore the groves changed and or got wider so the differences in the sipes can likely be attributed to that.
 
could even be just the difference due to battery/driver being on a particular side of a commuter vehicle, taking out the center tread a touch early like that. Always smile when I see the RR tread on my VW bus go out a little early. (Battery perched right over that tire/rim) : )
 
The tire see's all four corners, So if there was an issue I cannot tell where it would be coming from. All tires ran at 33PSI, and no issues with pulling, or odd steering issues. Vehicle has 35K on it, tires are OEM. Since it was only that one tire, I just thought it was odd.
 
In my experience even with proper alignment and good suspension parts, when all 4 tires have been worn down to the time that they need to be replace, I have always noticed some slight differences in all of them.

Also, from the time that the tires are new... and then worn down to ~ 1/2 tread while being properly rotated, I still haven't notice anything ODD. Maybe measurably different in 32nds but nothing odd. It's only when they're all worn down like yours, to the time that they need to be replaced is when I do in fact notice what you are experiencing.

I too have noticed some center tread wear on tire(s) that would make one think that the tire(s) have been "over inflated" even when I've had the proper PSI. I can't answer for this but it does indeed appear to be (IMO) a normal wear pattern that does show up(to the eye) at this low 32nd of tread depth when the tires need to be replaced anyway.

Prior to or when you get new tires installed, make sure that everything in your suspension/brakes are proper. Proper alignment & good suspension parts and too, that no brakes are dragging even slightly. Along with evenly distributed weight around the vehicle. I mean, do you have a ton of STUFF in the rear that maybe stashed all to one side? You know, things like that.

Best of luck,

CB
 
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Looking at the pictures....You got your moneys worth..they are worn down...
 
I'm curious how many miles you got out of these?

Had a set on a 2010 MB C300 and they wore rapidly to say the least - they were pretty much done by 20k miles. Fantastic tires but just wore out quickly and that seemed to be par for the course for the Primacy A/S.
 
I got 34945 miles out of them. They actually still had decent traction, not the best in wet, of course, but were predictable. The Conti LX25's I replaced them with are quiet tires, but I did notice a vibration coming from the rear. Not sure if balance is off or what. happens only at 70-80 MPH (I didn't go above 80). The Michelins were always smooth, just absolutely worthless in any kind of snow.
 
I got 34945 miles out of them. They actually still had decent traction, not the best in wet, of course, but were predictable. The Conti LX25's I replaced them with are quiet tires, but I did notice a vibration coming from the rear. Not sure if balance is off or what. happens only at 70-80 MPH (I didn't go above 80). The Michelins were always smooth, just absolutely worthless in any kind of snow.
You did quite well with them - still not quite to the tread warranty though. Like your experience fantastic tires but wear out rapidly. Michelin killed these tires pretty quickly so the tread warranty claims must have sent the bean counters into a tizzy.
 
I'm curious how many miles you got out of these?

Had a set on a 2010 MB C300 and they wore rapidly to say the least - they were pretty much done by 20k miles. Fantastic tires but just wore out quickly and that seemed to be par for the course for the Primacy A/S.

You did quite well with them - still not quite to the tread warranty though. Like your experience fantastic tires but wear out rapidly. Michelin killed these tires pretty quickly so the tread warranty claims must have sent the bean counters into a tizzy.
Considering how crappy our roads are here, with excessive use of chip-seal, I think I did quite good! What you mean killed? They are still available, and fairly pricey, at that. I actually debated them VS the Conti LX25's. The 25's won out mainly over the noise level and what I felt was anything better when we get our snowmageddon of 1 inch during winter, because the Michelins were like driving on bald tires in the snow.
 
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