Are my tires going to explode? What new tires should I buy?

[dennis thompson]

I took my 2009 Honda Odyssey in for its 30,000 mile service at the dealer yesterday (It actually has 33,000 miles on it). The dealer called & said I needed 2 new front tires. I was surprised ,thinking that I'd get more than 33,000 miles from them but I asked him "How much?' he said $490, $200 per tire plus $90 for a wheel alignment. I thought this was a little steep, so I plan to get them from the repair shop I normally use. The dealer said "don't go more than 1,000 miles as your tires might explode!" When I took them to my shop he said they were just getting down to the wear bars. I'm getting new tires but I don't think I'm going back to the dealer, I think they have a tendency to exaggerate.
Does anyone have any thoughts on what the best tires I might buy are, I put about 15,000 miles per years on the car, mostly just around town.
Thanks
Dennis

[Matt Meiser]

Explode? Well....

I just paid over $1K to put new tires on my F150 at 36,000 mi. They weren't at the wear bars but I had two wierd flats in 2 weeks where there was a hole more like a tear down between the treads. Needless to say I didn't put Asian tires back on it.

I think it was close to $500 for 2 on my wife's Focus in January. I would shy away from doing 2 at a time if you can. We got into that on her Focus due to a flat on almost new tires and being unable to get the same thing so we had to buy 2 of something different. Then a year and a half later when the other two needed replacement due to wear, we couldn't get the same thing as the two we replaced and had something different yet. And if you ever to got trade it in that way, they ding you for mis-matched tires. We only got back to 4 matching due to another flat. I really hope her next car won't have 50-series tires--they are no match for the SE Michigan Pothole.

[David Weaver]

We have had good wear out of goodrich touring T/A tires. They are a bit harder than some OEM tires, but they are decent and very long wearing. And not too expensive.

I think for 205/55/16s, they were about $500 or $550 installed for 4 at sams. Might be a touch higher for an oddysey depending on how big the tires are on it, and add about $10 per tire if you get them anywhere other than sams, as far as I could find (walmart tire has them).

The service guy at my dealer, before I stopped taking my cars there, would always say "the mechanic recommends", and fill in the blank by choosing something that was only 3/4ths of the way to the recommended interval and not worn out, like tires, timing belt, plugs...whatever. It got to the point that I would start every sentence in a conversation with the guy with "i recommend not telling me what the mechanic recommends..". It was the kind of place that worked over women by trying to make every early recommendation a possible safety-related horror story - which is disgusting. They had "free inspections" on new cars, but they always called to tell me they had to adjust the headlamps for $60+ (on a new car) and change the wiper blades ($40) or they would fail the car. I changed them a month before an inspection once to see what they'd do, you can guess what they did.

So on top of the Touring T/As, I "recommend" not taking your car back to a place who acts like worn tires have dynamite in them unless you want to entertain us with what they say.

[Jeff Monson]

I'll agree with Matt that 2 tires is usually a big mistake. Do you rotate your tires on a regular basis? (every 7500 miles)
I like Cooper CS4 tires, a new set on your Odyssey and regular rotation should get you 60 to 70k easily. Hondas usually come with Michelin's, and it does not surprise we when you see them worn to the bars at low mileage, I'm not a Michelin fan.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

Not real surprising the new car tires only got 33k miles. They frequently put very cheap tires on new cars. They buy in enough volume they can spec tires the tire companies don't usually sell. Unlike Jeff I do like michelins and usually get about 60 to 80 thousand miles on them on my fleet of vw's and dodge caravan. So, buy a good brand of tire at a tire specialty center for the best price - in my experience stay away from any "house brand" tires you don't recognize. I've had bad experiences with some of those.

[Frank Drew]

I've also had good luck with Michelins.

Even though Virginia isn't known for snowy winters, I run snow tires from maybe October or November until March, then back to all seasons for the rest of the year.

[Michael Weber]

I always advise people buying tires to NOT get a front end alighnment unless you have uneven wear or the car is pulling to one side. My sad experience is that the people doing the alignment will more than likely just mess it up. I sold my last car at 100,000 miles and never touched the front end with any of the 3 sets of tires I had. Just asking for trouble IMHO. YMMV

[Myk Rian]

It's not cheap tires that cause early wear out, it's the softer compounds used.

Your tires weren't about to explode. Time to find a different dealer. That's a load he told you.
If you can put a penny in the tread, and see the top of Lincolns head, you're OK.

The best tires I've used are the Goodyear Tripl tread. Fantastic in all weather.

[Gene Howe]

Coopers on my 250. 50K and good tread remaining.
Dunno if they make your size. Prolly do.

[Paul McGaha]

Best tires I've ever had are a set of B F Goodrich tires that came on a new 2001 Ford F-150 pick up.

They are still on the truck. It has 67,000 miles on it and they look to be good for another 5,000 to 10,000 miles.

This truck has had sort of a charmed life. It has been used full time only a couple of years and the rest of the time it sits at the house mostly and gets driven only on occasion.

When it comes to replace them I will no doubt get another set just like them.

PHM

[Jim Rimmer]

I have two comments.

1. I agree with the Honda dealer assessment. Every time my wife takes her Accord in for anything, they always come back with a "scare" list of things you need to get done right now.
2. I also agree with the frond end alignment comment. Many, many years ago I took a front end alignment class at a junior college. It was taught by a man that had a front end shop for 35 years. His comment was that you don't need a front end alignment unless you have hit something hard enough to bend something or move something. Cars don't get out of alignment just from driving.

There are only three adjustments to the alignment: toe-in, camber, and caster but tire balancing is important, too. You can "read" the tread wear to see what is going wrong:
Wear on both outside areas - under inflated
Wear only in the middle - over inflated
Worn areas spaced around the circumference of the tire - out of balance
Worn on one one side or the other - incorrect camber (the leaning of the top of the tire in or out)
Run your hand across the tread - smooth one way but catches coming back - toe-in adjustment
The caster adjustment is what causes the wheels to return to a straight ahead position when you release the steering wheel. Mis-adjusted caster may introduce premature wear on some suspension parts but will not cause tire wear.

I'm not a mechanic or front end expert, but what I learned in that class years ago has paid off many times over the years.

[Lee Schierer]

We have Kelly Navigator Touring Gold tires on our Mazda 6 sedan and have been very pleased with them. They are wearing quite well and should easily get 35,000 miles. They have excellent wet traction, are quiet on dry roads and even handle well in the snow. They sell for about $90 each.

[Bill Edwards(2)]

How old are your new tires. I had tire sidewalls start to deteriorate with less then
respectable miles on them and discovered they were almost 3 years old when I
bought them new (so to speak)

[ray hampton]

How old are your new tires. I had tire sidewalls start to deteriorate with less then
respectable miles on them and discovered they were almost 3 years old when I
bought them new (so to speak)

Bill, rubber products start going bad from the day that they are cast [ I think that it are call "dry-rot " the store that handle my tires got a story about this subject posted on the store wall--I believe that the numbers on the tire will tell when each were product

[Don Alexander]

+1 on the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" method of deciding whether to get the alignment done

if the tires are wearing evenly like they should leave it well enough alone

[David Weaver]

if the tires are wearing evenly like they should leave it well enough alone

That'd be my test for alignment. I've only ever had it done once on a car, and only because the wheels were toed in way too much and the tires were wearing badly on the outsides.

When people want to charge $75-$125 for an alignment, you have to see something wrong to justify it.

One of my favorite lines my service guy said to me one time when I said I didn't think a repair cost was justified on car was "people shouldn't let money get in the way of taking care of their cars the right way". He didn't agree with me that a car was a consumable mode of transportation, which is what I told him after I said that.

To me, that means the car is going to have to go through tires and gas at a rate faster than the alignment issue or it doesn't make sense to pay the difference. I can only guess it was potholes in PA that cause the alignment issues, and the OP probably could have the same thing happen in Jersey. We can get some real tire eaters and metal benders here.

[Shawn Pixley]

Tires are inherently a trade-off between grip and longevity. I run very soft rubber on my car to maximize the performance. I typically get between 20-30K out of a set. Mine are also directional and a different size between front and back so they don't get rotated. Ironically the dealer is always the cheapest when I need to replace. My Honda dealer seems completely different from the experiences above. They have never suggested any service that wasn't needed to me, my wife or my son.

For LOML's car we run a midlevel performance tire and get between 40-60K. The harder tires get more mileage and cost less gas but can affect cornering, wet performance, and stopping distance. We once bought harder tires and regretted it. We replaced them after ~4 months with tires that gave us the stopping power we needed. Sold the harder tires.