I have an 09 fit that I love. Took the car in for a winter check-up and found out my two front tires were bald. The repair guy told me it was because I had front wheel drive (like I was an idiot!). I had an accident early in the year that damaged my undercarriage. The tires are Firestone Tourisma EL470's. Could the repair job not have fixed some problems, leading to balding tires? I only have 18,000 miles on the car and the dealer is telling me to replace them (no warranty on the tires, so out of my pocket). i don't think this is right, but want to hear from others who may know more than me.

 

First, are the tires bald all the way across the tread ? If its one side or the other and especially if to one side on one tire and the opposite side, inside to outsde, there appears to be an alignment problem or suspension geometry problem that could be caused by the accident.
If the tires are bald all the way across its more likely too much power leading to spinning the tires. And for those FS tires it doesn't take much. They aren't very good tires for scrub wear..
good luck

 

have you ever rotated your tires? if you drove 18k miles with the same tires up front, they should be pretty worn

 

Like others said, if the tire is bald evenly (inner outer) then its from wear and tear over time.

If you don't know anything, just take your car to a local tire shop. put the car on alignment machine and check your alignment/camber/toe. that will tell you everything you need to know.

 

Thats the only bad thing about Hondas is the tire treadwear number are low. On the Fit the number is 340. On the 2008 Civic I traded in for my 2010 Fit Sport had a 300 treadwear. I had to get new tires after 22000 miles. I expect to get new tires after 27 to 30000 miles.

 

While they may be wearing prematurely,they are relatively small and therefore inexpensive to replace. 18K is too soon,but as someone else said you should be doing regular tire rotations and inspections. Having someone tell you that your tires are badly worn is an indication that you are not checking them very well.

 

I agree. Stock Dunlop tires suck! I do a short drive with curvy farm roads everyday to work. I believe this leads the already crappy tires to wear even quicker. I also have 20K miles on the speedo. I rotated my tires every 6k miles too. Tread wear was even across the whole tire....just tread depth went quickly. I just replaced my tires with Yokohamas Avid Envigor's 205-50's. They have a tread rating of 560. I'm hoping to get 40-50K miles out of these tires. Ride and quietness is 100x better.

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