Tires wearing down on 04 Camry SE

Just a quick question for you guys.

I have a 2004 Camry that I've had for about 18 months and I have about 17,000 miles on it. I had a tire leak, so I went in to NTB to just have it patched up.

They showed me exessive wear on the shoulders of my tires. Especially the rear tires have very little tread left. I'm no tire expert, but they looked pretty worn to me. When I asked how long I have for them, the woman told me, "I probably wouldn't take these past 10,000 more miles and your rear tires are worse, so don't let them rotate them up to the front."

Since it's shoulder wear, they said it's an alignment issue. I just had an alignment last week because the car was pulling to the right, which I learned after the fact was due to the leak in the front tire.......which of course the dealer didn't catch (rocket scientists!)

Anyway, my question is this. I know Camrys don't come with great tires, but they shouldn't wear this quickly. Alignments aren't part of Toyota's recommended maintenance schedule, so if the tires wore due to a bad alignment, could this be covered under the warranty? What I'm trying to figure out is if there's any way my warranty will cover replacement tires. Also, has anyone ever heard of this happening before?

Thanks.

It's rare to get something like alignment covered under warrenty. Less there is a huge issue, the simple is it's a problem caused by the owner, not the car.
The entire Camry platform - going back to gen2 in the late 80's are rock solid when it comes to suspension geometry & parts. You can smack curbs hard enouh to pop tires, and the alignment would probably stay the same. I had a buddy hit a freaking aluminum ladder on the interstate 70+. Poped a front tire, but it was still in alignment.

You could try to make a case for it, but in my mind it's highly unlikely you'd come out with anything more than a headache.



If the tires were out of alignment, that can cause excessive tire wear.
The lady was also correct - fresh tires always stay on the front (On any vehicle btw, regardless of what the drive axle is). So I'm proud of her on that one.
If it's shoulder wear, it's more likely due to the low pressure. You can check the inside of the tire for wear.
Doesn't really matter... You still need new tires! :D


If you want some low down industry information that's not really relivent - The life span of tires is most directly related to how long the plant lets the rubber cure when the tire is moulded. ;)


The OE tires are not bad. My personal opinion on the matter is that the few people complaining on the internet get a bad set, or their expectations are out in left field.

What brand/model of tire?

If you have the crappy Bridestones, then the treadwear rating is 180 and you won't get much over 20k out of them unless you drive like a timid old lady :)

Read the side of the tire, it should tell you the treadwear rating. A rating of 400 will last twice as long as a rating of 200.


As for alignment, I had a 1995 V6 LE that I could NOT keep in alignment. I never figured out of there was somthing wrong with the car or not, but AT LEAST once a year I had it lined up (sometimes twice) and it was ALWAYS out of spec.

I have a 2005 SE I-4 now with 10K and have not had the alignment checked, so far the crappy bridgestone tires seem to be wearing even.

I've got an 03 Camry that is exactly two years old this month and I replaced all four tires a couple of months ago. The OEM tires were Continentals and they wore just as yours did. I think I got all of about 21,000 miles out of them. :rolleyes:

I do have the crappy Bridgestones.

At NTB, they said they're actually not bad tires, but they're V rated, which means the rubber is softer. They suggested that I replace them with H rated tires if I want them to last longer. I'm not sure what the treadwear rating is.

I'm glad to hear someone else had the same problem....but I'm wondering, regardless of how crappy the tires are, if the shoulders are wearing but the centers are fine, doesn't this indicate some kind of mechanical issue? I mean, I could replace all the tires, but if the underlying issue isn't fixed, won't I just have the same problem again?

I had an alignment done (which incidentally, was NOT covered under the warranty), is that the only thing I need to worry about, or could something else be causing this? If I have to have a $50 alignment done every year to save my tires it's not the end of the world, but I'd like to make sure it's nothing more serious.

Also, regardless of what is causing this, don't you think the bumper to bumper warranty should cover it? I can prove I've had oil changes and tire rotations and balances every 5,000 miles just as Toyota recommends.

Has anyone ever had any luck getting Toyota to replace prematurely worn tires?

Cyndrix - The tires are warranted by bridgestone and not by Toyota.

If the inner edge and outer edge of the individual tire worn evenly, then they were underinflated.

If either the outter edge or the inner edge of one indivdual tire wore out while the other edge on the same tire was fine, then your alignment was out.

I doubt Toyota will do anything, but you can always argue.

I maintain that a tire with a treadwear rating of 180 will only last 20k miles by design.

I once had Toyota give me a new set of tires, but the circumstances were very different from yours. I had a set of General brand tires that came OEM on my 1995 camry, they wouldn't balence and at 8000 miles Toyota gave me a new set (Dunlops) because I had in writing from the General Tire dealer that they claimed my rims were bent and that is why I hade balence issues. The Toyota dealer drove my car, agreed it vibrated, balenced the tires himself, agreed there was still a problem, swapped me out for Dunlop brand tires and all was well. At that point I had him cornered into either 4 new rims or 4 new tires and he went the tire route. :)