Our 2016 Fit only has 30k miles on it. Normally it's in-city driving, which because they dropped the speed limit here means we're normally doing at most 25 mph. I finally did a bit of 60 mph freeway driving yesterday and the car sounded a bit more noisy than usual. Road noise, not engine. No major vibration, just noisy. Took it to an auto place today and they said the original Firestones are "cupped" and need replacing, and the rear shocks are leaking. I pushed down sharply on the bumper (can't do it the way I used to with my old car and a true bumper) but it didn't seem squishy.

Anyway, replacement "Yokohama" brand tires estimated $600. I'm not familiar with that brand and it's been 12+ years since I last bought tires for a car. Okay brand? We do have a Costco membership but it's more of a hassle having them do it (and figuring out their web system), plus not sure if it would be cheaper. I am guessing those would be Bridgestones. If you have any specific recommendations I'd welcome them.

Shock replacement estimated $420. I think the last time I had those done on a car it was $150 for 2.

I guess with suddenly having to sink $1,000 into our 6 year old car the honeymoon is over.

 

The OEM Firestones are noisy tires. I hated them on my '16 LX and couldn't wait to replace them; almost anything is an improvement. Also, even though it looked like the tread was OK, they seemingly had no traction.

If the wear bars are showing and you feel like replacing them, Yokohamas are fine, but there are many options. I'm on my third set of tires - General Altimax RT43 - and I love 'em. Installed at Sam's Club all in for less than your $600 quote.

Leaking shocks? This is one where an outfit like Firestone will try and wallop you. Truly leaking shocks would have a certain pattern of constant leakage. Many shady places will spray on a little oil and say, "whoa, leaking, you need to replace these immediately." Oldest trick in the book.

Unless it's the only auto repair option in your area, I wouldn't go back to this place.

 

The wear bars aren't showing, but apparently just this cupping (and the noise I hear). I remember from other posts on this forum that the original Firestones aren't highly regarded so I've come to accept some noise. I've just put up with them since we had already paid for them and might as well get use out of them. I should have mentioned that the noise I was hearing was in comparison to when I have previously done freeway driving with this car. Sure, they were noisy before at 60 mph, but now were even noisier which made me wonder if something was going on. Hence I took it to our local (not chain) garage which is generally in high regard in the neighborhood though I've got my own issues with them. I just took the car in 3 days ago for an oil change. At the time I said here's our car, we bought it in 2016 and it only has 30k miles on it. While you'd doing an oil change can you check if there's anything else that should be done with a disproportionately low mileage car? For example, I am used to having to have coolant changed every few years regardless of use, etc. They said everything looked okay. Today I take it in commenting about the noise and they say the tires and shocks need replacing. Uh, surely that would have been immediately noticeable while the thing was up on a rack having the oil changed, instead of my having to pay $71 today for them to just do a general check with nothing actually being done to the car?

 

So the local place said everything's OK, and the chain place (Firestone) recommended $1K repairs and charged you $71 for the privilege. I'm thinking the local place has your back more than the chain place.

I'm not sure what noise you're hearing. One option would be to install new tires and see if the problem resolves.

If not, you can explore shocks...but this is something you can do yourself in a driveway. $420 is pretty high even installed. I'd recommend the Koni Orange 8050-1131. Here in the states, about $150/pr. mail order. It's a drop-in replacement for both 2nd & 3rd gen Fits.

 

It was just one place, a local place. Firestone was the brand of the original tires that came with the car.

I used to do some car work myself, but we have an asphalt apron. I can't find car ramps with broad bottoms. I had a set of metal ones but where they rested on the asphalt it was just the edge of the sheet metal. I ditched those one day when after I had spent the day working under the car I saw they had cut about 3/4" into the asphalt. It's either that or work in the winter when it's 0°F. Now I'm limiting myself to stuff which doesn't require ramps which is pretty much nothing with the clearance under a Fit.

 

the generals will be my next tires , but only because my B.F. Goodrich tires have been discontinued . i order usually from tire rack , but then i have get them mounted . might just order them through from my local Good Year place , as the Generals are very popular

 

I have these available if you are interested: https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/soca...t-springs.html

 

Try rotating the tires to see if that helps. How often are you getting alignments?

For the ramps, you could just get some plywood to lay the ramps on so they distribute the weight and not cut into your asphalt driveway.

I'll second the RT43 tires. They were what I switched to after wearing out the Firestones at around 40k. I'm now on my 3rd set of tires, the General GMAX.

To see if the shocks are leaking, wipe off the shocks and then drive around for a while to see if there is some additional oil that is deposited.

I had a run in with a shop you claimed the rear differential was leaking on my 4Runner. I park in the same spot and never saw a drop. I asked them to show me and the pumpkin looked too clean. Like if it was leaking, it'd be covered in road grime. Told the shop, don't touch the diff but finish doing the other work. When I got home, I sprayed the pumpkin off with brake cleaner and monitored and never saw anything. I talked to my friend who was the service manager and he confronted the tech who admitted he was padding his hours. SMH

 

Thank you everybody for the tire recommendations. It sounds like General - and in particular the RT43 - may be the way to go.

These tires have never been rotated, nor have we had alignment done. We bought the car from a dealer who used it to run about for 6 months. After that I have only taken it to this one shop. They have a good reputation in the neighborhood but with reference to my earlier posts, I recently took it there with the feeling that after 6 years something must need doing to it despite the low mileage. Some fluids just degrade with time. My other car is 41 years old and I am used to having alignments and tire rotation every few years, transmission fluid, coolant, brake fluid too, etc. I change wiper blades and air filters on the Honda myself. Two years ago I went in and specifically requested they change the brake fluid because that's a time-dependent thing. Anyway, I asked this place about other things when I took it in for an oil change and they said with this car it didn't need anything doing to it. The grease monkey who did the oil change made no comment next to "tires". Then I took it in a few days later and after $70 for them just looking at it (nothing else done to it, just looking) they said the tires had cupping and the shocks leaked. Note that this is almost the opposite of the place in 2Rismo2's post; I am inviting them to tell me things need doing but they are not until I tell them to look at something specifically!

As for alignment, my old car had manual steering so you really could tell if the alignment was bad. I'm not sure with a modern car (I made a 35 year jump in model years!). It doesn't pull, and of course I don't have to fight when turning it.

Anyway, I am kind of feeling I can't trust them now to generally keep an eye out for the car. Sure, if there is something that needs doing I am sure they can do a good job. I just remember having work done on my old car at a tire chain store place (not the kind of place you'd normally trust your car to for general maintenance) and the person there said it is best to try to have one person do the maintenance so they can keep track of work done on the car. I can kind of see the point and was hoping that was what this place was doing. I know my current place does have computer records but I am just now getting the impression they aren't keeping track of things. Either that or modern cars truly do not need routine maintenance the way old cars (e.g. my '81 Corolla) did.

Anyway, the car has 32k miles on it with the original Firestones. From what people have said on this thread and others about the original tires, I shouldn't be surprised at needing new tires and maybe be glad I now have an excuse for putting on something better. My local shop was talking about installing Yokohamas. I have been trying to research tires online but it is hard to get reliable recommendations. Sure, the General RT43 get 4.5/5 stars, but that's on General's web site! One site that seemed fairly neutral wasn't all that glowing about Yokohamas. Another place I called was going to put on tires made under their name by Cooper, but most of the web hits I got about Cooper was about all the recalls it has had in the past.

I do have snow to contend with 5 months out of the year. Are the RTs okay with that?

I'd have to go to a place across town to get Generals but I couldn't probably have it done while I wait. If I need new shocks I'd prefer to have it done nearby where I could walk home for the day. In that case I'll see if I can get far enough underneath the car without ramps (I got rid of the old ones) to see if I can see any oil. I have also found that just sticking my arm under there and taking photos sometimes works. In addition, if I have the tires changed then maybe I can get a second opinion from the tire place.

So, go with General? A place about 2 miles from me has them for $110 each. Also, is it worth waiting a bit of extra time for them to get the T speed rated ones? They have H but the Ts have a 75k treadwear warranty and our current tires have a T speed rating. I doubt I'll ever get within 40 mph of T, let alone H!

FWIW, we just got home from a 280 mile trip (done several times per year). In the past immediately after an oil change I'd be getting 49-52 mpg on that particular trip. This time it was 46 and I was specifically going 5-10 mph less that I'd normally drive on that trip.

My new suspicion is the battery. We've not had any issues with it but again, it's a 6 year old battery and my experience with the other car is despite getting good batteries, they dies the day after the warranty expires. I guess I just like being proactive about this kind of thing. On the other hand, my experience with my Toyota was the original parts such as the alternator, water pump, master cylinder, all lasted 15 years but then once I started replacing them, the replacements only lasted 3 years.

 

I looked at many Yokohama reviews and they were so-so compared to the Generals. However, the RT43s appear to have disappeared from all tire place sites in the past week or so! Any alternative recommendations? I could maybe get some from Tire Rack but I am kind of leery buying from an online place, particularly if them being in stock may be an issue (despite them saying they are).

 

Just found the RT43 at Sam's Club for $114 each, which is about what I paid last year. Keep in mind this is national, not local to your area, though a special order should be possible:

https://www.samsclub.com/p/general-a...plp_product_18

 

We're not Sam's club members and it wouldn't make much sense getting one just for this (particularly since we already have Costco).

I had been thinking I would install General RT43 tires on our 2016 Fit. Now that I finally get around to setting up something with a tire shop I find that these have pretty much disappeared from every shop's options. Tire Rack seems to be the only place that may still have them in our size. What I now find is General and the shops have an Altimax 365AW tire. This appears to be a combined all-season+winter all-weather tire. A tire for people who need/want, but don't have storage room for, a regular tire and a winter tire. So an all-season tire notching up potential winter suitability one step.

Does anybody know if the RT43s are now yesteryear except for present stock? I spent an hour browsing web sites but it wasn't clear.

In general the few reviews out there seem acceptable of the 365AWs. I guess we could consider getting the 365AW, assuming the RT43s are really gone. I have had the impression that given the limited clearance under a Fit that there isn't much point in our getting a full winter tire even though we live in the upper midwest and snow on the roads is not all that uncommon. Am I correct in this? In that regard the 365AW is kind of designed for us, though frequently we just avoid going anywhere by car until the snow is cleared.

One concern is if there will be any hit on fuel economy. I kind of like it when I show up at our in-laws and can point to our gauges displaying "50 mpg avg". Certainly most of our miles are put on the car in summer, in the city, and I am not sure how "wintery" these tires are in terms of summer use.

 

OK, no Sam's Club, do you have a WalMart? Surprised you didn't see this in your search.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/General-T...-Tire/42955368

 

"These tires have never been rotated..."
"My other car is 41 years old and I am used to having alignments and tire rotation every few years..."

Whatever new tire you choose, you'll increase their longevity and performance if you rotate them regularly. Over the ownership of a car that will save you money.

You can find mileage recommendations in the manual, or if you don't want to keep track of tire mileage you can rotate them on a timed schedule (e.g., once per year or at every oil change). Basically, any rotation schedule you can follow is better than no rotation, although "every few years" is not ideal.

I've read here that the OEM tires aren't great, but not rotating them undoubtedly contributed to the uneven wear and increased noise you experienced and noted in your original post.