Here is my story.

I bought my crossfire a little over 2 years ago, upon purchase we put brand new tires on the car. Less than a year later the car is in a local shop getting an oil change and the tires have gone almost completely bald. They only had around 8,000 miles on them. It turns out when the local shop put the tires on they did not align the car because they did not have the proper tools (so they told us) and they failed to tell us this. So we had to have the tires replaced in early may. This time I took the car to the stealership to have the tires put on and 4 wheel alignment. I thought ok good everything was done right these should at least last 25 thousand miles, hopefully more.

Now fast forward to 10 months later I have to take my car into a local kauffman tire because my driver side rear went flat, it turns out I ran over glass. They repaired the tire but told us that on both rears on the inside the tires were almost completely bald again! The guy told us basically the car looked as if it was never aligned and if it was it was not done so properly. I have spent over 2500 dollars on tires in under two years and its getting ridiculous.

My question is, is the dealership in anyway responsible for this considering the car was supposed to be aligned, I have the receipt and everything. Also could it be something else besides the alignment? Because I am seriously having to think about selling the car because I am in college and I can simply not afford tired every year.

Thanks in advanced,
Austin

 

I'm a newbie XF owner. I have read many posts here. Tire life doesn't seen to be a virtue on a XF!

I just bought new tires.

I'm sure an alignment does affect the rear tires, but I thought it mainly affected the front tires.

Discuss...

 

Oh yeah I know they don't last nearly as long as other cars. But 2 sets of tires both with under 9,000 miles on them? Something doesn't add up there.

 

Is your car lowered? Depending on how much, it is not possible to bring the alignment into spec without changing some suspension parts. Adjustable rear camber arms (aftermarket only, solves the bald where you can't see it problem) and the factory washer kit for the front are must haves on lowered cars.

 

Nah it's not lowered, 100% stock.

 

Your tires should last at least 20K if you drive it decent. Mine isn't lowered either and noticed the inside of the rears wearing more than normal. On most Crossfires you can see the negative camber just following them.

There is no adjustment on the rear camber so the alignment shop will just let it go as is. I installed the adjustable camber arms and now my wheels are pretty close to 0 as that should curb the inside wear on the rear tires.

James

 

MikeR makes a very nice set of adjustable rear camber arms. Contact him to buy:

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...-hardware.html

They will definitely help make the rears last longer. BUT, as James said, reasonable driving will help even more. But what's the fun in that?

What tires are being destroyed? Make? The softer the compound, the quicker they'll go away. There are choices of harder rubber that will last longer at the expense of lower performance.

 

I never spin the tires and do mostly highway so I would say I treat them relatively well. I called the dealership today and it seems promising that they might give me some help in getting new tires so thats good news.

I will look into the those camber arms, the tires I run are cooper zeons RS3-S they have a 20k mile tread ware protection and everywhere I read they seemed like decent tires.

 

My 07 was going thru tires quickly, after an alignment .....cheap tires are lasting > 40,000 miles!!

On wife's 08 originals changed at 13,000....& at 16,500.....DWSs show wear already.....gotta schedule an alignment soon!!

 

The Zeons are reviewed by many to have average-to-poor lifetime. Even with a 500 UTQG rating. And that would tell me that the tire compound is pretty darned hard (long-life).

An alignment by a competent Wheel/tire/suspension only shop may solve all of your problems. An import (Mercedes) specialist shop too.

I frankly (sorry, Frank) wouldn't trust my local dealer to do this.

 

If you want long life and are ok with terrible performance from an all-season set in the snow, ice, and heavy rain, my Yokohama Advan S4's have lasted much longer than any set I've had before. Just don't expect to go anywhere if it snows more than an inch or the road is icy, even a little.

Other than that, I used to get about 14,000-19,000 out of my tires before they were dangerously close to giving out. The Crossfire is not nice to those rear tires.