I just put my 3rd set of tires on my 07 Fit Sport. 102,000 on the clock. The last set gave me about 50k of service but the last 15k were hell. I had Goodyear Eagle ResponsEdge tires that were out of round when I finally replaced them this week with a set of Hankooks.

This car is all stock. No funny lowering jobs, no oddball tire sizes. Straight up stock.

Has anyone else had problems with the stock tires going out of round?

The inside edges of the tires looked almost scalloped...the tires were like rolling octagons. Folks would ask me if I had a flat when they'd get in the car. With new tires it seems to ride smooth and quiet.

 

Obvious point here, but you didn't mention it. Alignment?

 

The alignment checked out ok a while back at the shop, and since I've never experienced any pulling of any sort. 90% of my driving is highway so the opportunity for having it come out of alignment I felt was reasonably low.

I wasn't aware the type of wear I was finding was associated with poor alignment. Typically, I associated poor alignment with feathering on the tire from out of spec heel/toe conditions. I thought that more likely, it was potentially a tire driven too long slightly out of balance, or just a poor tire design, or maybe worn suspension components. Shocks still seem good though...they pass the bounce test no problem.

 

100k+ miles and only one alignment? Even without your current problem, you should get it checked. Then you can at least rule it out.

Unless there's something obviously wrong with the car (i.e. both wheel bearings shot, dead shocks, whatever), the only likely culprit I can think of is either alignment, or a bad set of tires.

 

I just replaced the Dunlops on my 08 Fit, squeezed out 53k out of them. I am running Toyo Proxes 4 right now and the difference is amazing. Hopefully I get 40k out these new tires.

My downfall is I have yet to get an alignment for the Fit...

 

I only get a bit over 20K on the stock tires. I am now running goodyear eagle GT tires.

I try to do an alignment every other month if I can. I drive fairly aggressively, and need to feel confident in the ability of the car. This is also why I didn't get more than the 20k out of the tires.

I bought a 5 year alignment from NTB, so I figure I might as well go as often as I can and get my monies worth.

If you still have the old tires, you can post a picture of the tread, and that can help us to try to identify what could have caused the issues you are talking about.

 

I've only had alignments done 3 times in the 5 cars I've owned. Seems pretty low I guess, but I've never really had tire wear issues until this last set.

Though I used to work for a large fleet mgmt company and was told by one of our techs to avoid alignments unless it is absolutely necessary. The logic was that if the alignment is not way out of spec most shops will end up doing more harm than good when trying to realign.

 

I don't unfortunately, but it was basic scalloping of the inside treads. The tires were directional so I couldn't flip sides upon rotating. Essentially, the outside edge of the tread was circular and round, the inside edge had uneven wear that made it look almost like an octagon. The camber of the Fit's rear wheels is such that the inside edges of the tires make the most contact with the road. Because my edges were scalloped and lumpy, it would send vibration through the car. At low speeds, I'd hear a "whump whump whump" that increased frequency with speed.

 

I went here and this site has a great explaination on "out of round". Usally caused by wore suspention. The stock suspension is were Honda saved a few yen on shocks.
www.aa1car.com/library/tires2.htm

 

For me, it is a habit I developed from my previous car, a Subaru STi. With that, I had it aligned about once a month! I drove that more aggressively, had more expensive tires so I had to be very careful with tire wear.

I was actually able to get 30k off of each set of UHP summer tires, so I was a bit surprised when I was only able to get around 20k out of the stock tires on the fit, but my driving style hasn't changed much, as far as cornering quickly and redlining on a daily basis, I am just much slower compared to when I was driving the STi. I know the dunlops just weren't that great as far as tires go, and I just ate through them with my driving style.

 

Very interesting. Thanks for the that article. Towards the bottom it mentions that scalloping can be caused by the tire bouncing as it rolls along. They do mention balancing issues as a potential cause.

 

Those Dunlops were horrible. I got around 50k out of them but after around 30k, the wet/snow grip was pretty bad and the road noise was unbearable. The Goodyears were an improvement until the vibrations and noise took over.

Tirerack.com has a review that says about the Goodyears: "But after about 20k they started getting really noisy, especially in the front. At low speeds people would ask if there was something was wrong with my car. Also, I began having problems keeping them balanced."

...a similar problem to what I had.

 

Bounce is caused by the shock being wore to were it can not keep the tire in contact with the road. Feildstone ever seen a car go by on the hiway and one of the tires are bouncing up and down like a basketball? This is a blown out shock and if the tire is out of balance (and it soon will be with this condition) it's like driving in a Clown Car haha

I hope the G.Y. GT's a.s. don't cuz I just got a set! And love them over the Dunlops.

Just like the rest of the car the geometry of the car's suspension needs regular maintience too. Shocks, aligments, grease if there are fittings, tire pressure!, and remember the front ends of cars now usally are grease fitting free so when the rubber outer seals go, then they do too, the joint that needs the lubrication wears out and needs to be replaced. I would say @ 102k that your shocks need replaced and the points were the streering and suspension move need a good inspection. You can do the inspection, remove the tire and have a "good helper" turn the steering wheel and see if there is any noticable "slop" in the movment. Take hold of the were the pivot points are and twist firmly to make sure they isn't any slop there either.
Good talk'n with you, Make it a Good day

 

Theres some decent information in this thread and some not so great info...

Things I'd check, wheel bearings, bushing wear, check your struts for leaks (you'll notice that they're caked with wet looking dirt if they're leaking). Check the front ball joints, I haven't seen too many Fits over the 100k mark here yet and I haven't heard from any dealership tech friends about any common suspension issues with Fits.

 

Yeah, that's the problem. There aren't many Fits with this kinda mileage out there, so I'm the guinea pig, haha. I'll have another look around the vehicle for these things. It has been serviced regularly with no alarm bells from the dealership (and I'm sure they'd ring them for some extra revenue if something were terribly amiss). Aside from the tire wear issue, the thing drives like the day I bought it...crisp and tight. By this point, my old Explorer had a new tranny, new radiator and a host of other issues. I can't really complain.

 

Good to hear its still running great at 100k. Not that I'd expect anything different from a Honda though.

 

I like the Dunlops. They don't grip well when wet after about 30K, but for a Mid profile tire design, the solid band of the outside half of the tires REALLY helps them last longer than most IMO. Other than a little traction loss when it's wet side with some wear, I've had two sets on mine with 80K miles on them. I'm gonna replace them probably soon, but They have been great tires! Let me correct though. I bought two USED SP37s off of a Kia with about 15K on them when I bought the second set. The other two were Tempest Tourings, and the Dunlops are at the same tread wear as the Tempest' are being 15K mile used tires.