[Patthecat]

Hi Everyone,

My 07 330d was due it's MOT today which failed due to play in the front wishbones (both sides). What has me worried however is the advisory lists both rear tyres have are worn close to the legal limit.

In November 2017 I bought an alloy wheel and tyre package from LKPerformance, as my chosen tyre was not in stock they offered me Michelin Pilot sport 4s at no extra cost. This was hopefully the end of a long going battle with cracked 19" alloys I had been struggling with.

I've measured the tread on my rears and the tread is worn down flat with the tread indicator measuring at just about 3mm. Due to the winter we've had I have been for the most part been on my winter tyres. Meaning I have actually done less than 1k miles on the Pilot Sport 4s! I would love to say that it's due to me ripping up the roads but on my daily commute it's stop start traffic.

Have any of you had experience with the pilot sport 4s? Do they come with less tread to begin with?

[tadaska]

Makes no sense. I'd need need new tyres after each return trip to Scotland....

[Silver Streek]

Sounds strange, you'd have to be drifting g everywhere fort the tyres to wear that quickly. You've either got bad geometry issues or your tyre fitter pulled a fast one and fitted part warn tyres.

[nick46]

Part worn tyres sounds like the most plausible thing. If the tyres have worn evenly and the car handles ok I'd be surprised if you have a geometry issue.

[jwilalex]

I’m an inherently nosey person when it comes to work done on my car and if I’d had 4 x new tyres fitted would have been round all 4 to look. Surely a quick glance would have triggered a low tread depth warning in the back of your mind. New tyres will have at least 8mm new. If they were new and mileage is as you say then after confirmation with the garage I’d be approaching Michelin UK with a complaint and seeking replacement at their cost or an investigation of the tyres (with a view to replacement costs).

[Patthecat]

Thanks everyone for your input.

I had a 4 wheel hunter alignment when I bought my alloy package so my geometry should be fine, but I will need to have this done again when my torque arms.

I've just had both rears off so I can inspect the tread wear. I believe the premature wear 100% my fault. From the pictures below you can see that there is more wear on the centre of the tyre that there is on both outer edges. I inflated them to what the BMW door spec said to inflate to (40 PSI rears 38 front) ... lesson learnt.

I've decreased all tyres down to 36 PSI in the hopes that I can some further life out of the tyres. If anyone here is running 255/35/18 I would be grateful if you provided your recommended pressures

[Adam1990]

Originally Posted by Patthecat

Thanks everyone for your input.

I had a 4 wheel hunter alignment when I bought my alloy package so my geometry should be fine, but I will need to have this done again when my torque arms.

I've just had both rears off so I can inspect the tread wear. I believe the premature wear 100% my fault. From the pictures below you can see that there is more wear on the centre of the tyre that there is on both outer edges. I inflated them to what the BMW door spec said to inflate to (40 PSI rears 38 front) ... lesson learnt.

I've decreased all tyres down to 36 PSI in the hopes that I can some further life out of the tyres. If anyone here is running 255/35/18 I would be grateful if you provided your recommended pressures

We’re the fronts fitted at the same time? If so how are they looking?


I find it hard to believe that they could wear out in 1k miles under normal driving conditions if they were new, I have had my tyres on for 5k miles now and when cleaned you can still see some of the white strips they have when new.

Looks to me like these could have been part worn tyres to be that low.

[Patthecat]

The fronts were fitted at the same time yes and they look great tread wise.

Although I agree it is amazing that they have scrubbed so low, I do remember checking out the tread on them and they seemed brand new with deep tread and had all the stickers on them.

The fact that both rears are identical makes me think that this is from incorrect pressures and the camber of the rears

[Adam1990]

Originally Posted by Patthecat

The fronts were fitted at the same time yes and they look great tread wise.

Although I agree it is amazing that they have scrubbed so low, I do remember checking out the tread on them and they seemed brand new with deep tread and had all the stickers on them.

The fact that both rears are identical makes me think that this is from incorrect pressures and the camber of the rears

Is your car remapped? A monster amount of torque could contribute to the premature distruction of them?

Other than that if they did look brand new then I guess it is possible that it could have been a bad batch of tyres? Not sure if this happens or how often if it does.

[Chappers 71]

Are you sure you didn't set the pressure at 4.0 bar instead of 40psi?

[Andy198712]

i run stock pressures on mine... seems fine...

[harvs43]

Originally Posted by Andy198712

i run stock pressures on mine... seems fine...

I run mine at 34 psi at the rear and I have got over 12k on PS4s !

Best tyre on the market for me !

[bishbosh]

A remapped car will not wear tyres out in 1000 miles! Otherwise a lot of folks on here would be complaining about premature tyre wear.

Have you had any of the rear suspension bushes changed? I remember reading about one guy's car eating through tyres after only 500 miles or so and eventually the root cause was found to be incorrectly installed bushes.

[adammcf]

Something badly wrong there. I have them on my car which has almost 300bhp and I drive it hard and have got well over 10k on mine. They're amazing tyres.

[Patthecat]

Ive rang up LK performance and got a copy of the invoice showing proof of purchase and I’m off to my local Michelin dealer (ate euromaster) tonight for them to have a look.

Car is not remapped and is completely stock. No new suspension components as haven’t been told they are needed. Alignment was done back in November.

I went on the Michelin website last night and they recommend running the tyres on the psi I had so let’s see what the garage says.

[Smokey33]

Theres no way in hell you have worn brand new tyres down in 1k miles.

My record is 4k miles on a AMG i had a few years ago, and that did 2x track days and 2 days at santa pod.

[Patthecat]

UPDATE

Went to ATS Euromaster and showed them the tyres. They took measurements of the rears and the front. They could not believe how far down they are. They are below 3mm so I have come home and put my winters back on to stop getting six points.

After showing them my receipt and proof of alignment done in November, they have raised a complaint through Michelin’s product defect service. The chap explained that he has input all my details, the tyres codes, date of sale, and current tread measurement. I now wait to hear from Michelin via letter which should only be about a week. They will then either want the tyres for review before making judgement or they will decide immediately. It seems a long process but I was assured that they are quite good at getting back to you.

I think they have c*cked up on a batch and produced them with far too much soft compound. As people have said above, these tyres are meant for really powerful cars, not my 11 year old diesel!

In an interesting side note I measured the fronts when changing to winters and they have 6.75mm left

[Silver Streek]

I hope they replace the fronts too if you bought 4 tyres! Presumably they were from the same dodgy batch?

[bfleming]

Originally Posted by Patthecat

They are below 3mm so I have come home and put my winters back on to stop getting six points.

The legal limit is 1.6mm, so very unlikely you'd get a fine & points for 3mm.

[djgandy]

That is definitely not right. My Pilot Super Sports have been on for 20k and still have more tread left than that!

[Patthecat]

UPDATE:

Michelin have today emailed me the following:

“Immediate Diagnosis
Accepted
There has been irregular wear of the tread on your tyre(s). This may be due to a number of reasons: the effect of the power and weight of your vehicle mainly when gripping in a turn, or the condition and composition of road surfaces. We are therefore pleased to replace your tire(s) with new one(s) as a one-off sales gesture only. This compensation will not be considered in any case as acknowledgment of our liability.
Send tire to Michelin Warehouse
Destination”

Regardless of their final decision after analysing the tyres, the fact that they have (within 24 hours) agreed to supply two new rears for free is fantastic customer service. Even though this have caused some inconvenience, I will be buying Michelin again and recommending to others

[nick46]

Result! Just goes to show there are still companies out there who know how to provide excellent customer service.
Let us know how the new ones perform.