Premature Tire Wear

[Champions]

Actually the reason the the outer wear bar issue on our LEAF is not under inflation. They have been held pretty well at 36 - 38 PSIG since new. It is only the outer part of the tire that wore. It had something to do with the curvy switchback road I was going over twice a day on my work commute! While I didn't drive like a race car driver, I also didn't drive like an old man in a hat either....

 

[TomT]

Yeah, it is clear to me that from both a tire wear and handling prospective, the Leaf could benefit from more negative camber...

Actually the reason the the outer wear bar issue on our LEAF is not under inflation. They have been held pretty well at 36 - 38 PSIG since new. It is only the outer part of the tire that wore. It had something to do with the curvy switchback road I was going over twice a day on my work commute! While I didn't drive like a race car driver, I also didn't drive like an old man in a hat either....

 

[Rat]

Actually the reason for the outer wear bar issue on our LEAF is not under inflation. They have been held pretty well at 36 - 38 PSIG since new. It is only the outer part of the tire that wore. It had something to do with the curvy switchback road I was going over twice a day on my work commute! While I didn't drive like a race car driver, I also didn't drive like an old man in a hat either....

This hatless old man just had his tires rotated and the wear was definitely on the outer edges, both tires evenly. I should have rotated earlier, but I kept thinking I'd have it done when Nissan called it in for a second battery check or something, which hasn't happened so I finally just went and had it done at 9741 mi. I don't have many curvy roads to drive on around here. It's almost all short errands on straight roads or the freeway - store, library, etc., but I do get up into the hills from time to time, although those drives are a negligible part of the mileage. AT 20K i'll probably need new tires, too but I'm happy with the performance of the OEM Ecopias.

 

[Champions]

So our LEAF now has a set of Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max tires. It is early, but WOW... quieter and the ride is a great improvement over the Bridgestones. More to follow as results become available.

 

[Volusiano]

So our LEAF now has a set of Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max tires. It is early, but WOW... quieter and the ride is a great improvement over the Bridgestones. More to follow as results become available.

These are the OEM tires used on the Volts. They're rated at 60K miles tread wear.

I had to replace the OEM Ecopia LEAF tires at 17.5K miles already (with Michelin MVX4). I don't think we drove the LEAF that aggressively, but the Ecopias still wore out prematurely for us.

 

[Champions]

So our LEAF now has a set of Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max tires. It is early, but WOW... quieter and the ride is a great improvement over the Bridgestones. More to follow as results become available.

These are the OEM tires used on the Volts. They're rated at 60K miles tread wear.

I had to replace the OEM Ecopia LEAF tires at 17.5K miles already (with Michelin MVX4). I don't think we drove the LEAF that aggressively, but the Ecopias still wore out prematurely for us.

We got 24,887 miles out of our Bridgestones. I would have pushed it another 2,000 miles, but one of the bad tires picked up a screw, so why bother fixing it when it was pretty bad off anyway.

I don't expect 60,000 miles from the Goodyears, but hey, if I get 40,000 I'll be happy!

 

[ncken828]

You guys are all lucky. My front tires wore out on the outer edges at 10,000 miles. Dealer moved them to rear but never checked alignment. I was sure the alignment out but all they did was rotate the tires for $25 and told me I will need tires soon. Is this just another Nissan rip off like the Pathfinder radiators????

 

[ncken828]

My front tires went bald on the edges at 10,000 miles. I took it to dealer to check alignment. They rotated the tires and told me I needed new tires soon. (They did not check alignment) I called Nissan America, sent them pics they requested and they told me I had to go to tire store as tires were not under nissan warranty. When I went to the tire store they all laughed because the wear pattern was so obviously caused by mis alignment. Nissan does not back up their products, just pass the buck. DO NOT BUY A NISSAN. (Just ask the thousands of Pathfinder owner who ended up with bad radiators that destroyed their transmissions) Nissan does not care once they have made the sale and the dealers are a joke

 

[RonDawg]

Some folks have addressed the irregular tire wear through overinflation, and not changing any toe/camber/caster settings. The problem could well be the recommended tire pressures are simply too low for the OEM Ecopias.

If it was truly an alignment issue, this problem would show up no matter what tires are installed, and so far I haven't seen any posts to indicate such.

BTW the bad radiators on Pathfinders and Xterras were addressed through a recall. A co-worker of mine got a whole new transmission and radiator, even though his truck (which he bought used) exhibited no symptoms. (For those who are wondering what the problem was, a defect in the radiators caused coolant to mix with auto transmission fluid. This does not affect stick shift models since they don't have a transmission cooler in the radiator).