Camry Hybrid - Front tires SHOT already!

[rtb3rd]

This is the most tire wear I've ever seen on any car in just 12,000 miles! I went to rotate the skins recently, and found the front ones worn almost down to the treadwear indicators. It's all nice and even across the tread - not high pressure or low pressure wear, and not cupped, nor worn only on the inside or the outside. The rear tires (which are the front ones, now) look almost new.

I may be way out in left field, and I confess I don't yet fully understand this car's hybrid operation yet, but I had one possible reason come to mind. Isn't a lot of the routine braking done "regeneratively" and/or electromagnetically by the Hybrid system, from the electric motors and through the drive train? If so, it's all going to the front wheels, instead of receiving some help from the rear as in conventional pad-to-rotor braking. Result: faster tire wear on the front.

Or - maybe my wife is right and I'm just an overly agressive bully behind the wheel.

Would like to hear your experiences, and any recc's on new tires when I get 'em.

[ag4ever]

I got 35,000 miles out of my bridgestone tires that were run at 40 - 45 PSI.

I also rotated the tires every 5,000 miles.

I hope to get 60,000 miles out of the new michelin tires I put on it.

[9phil9]

rtb3rd,
You should listen to your wife more closely.
You tailgate a lot, don't you?
I'll bet you do, because of what your wife told you.
lol
Well let this be a lesson to you, because of your overly aggressive driving style, it's coming out of your pocket.
A pair of new tires should set you back a couple of hundred bucks, including mounting and balancing.
And the worst part is, you never really got anywhere much sooner, than if you had backed off just a little bit.
Try it, once you get the new tires.
Counter to popular opinion, taking it easy behind the wheel will not affect your sexlife one bit.

[rtb3rd]

Alas! I am truly humbled. You have read me like a book and pricked my heart. But I may as well keep on tailgating, because my sexlife couldn't get much worse anyway.

[dunebuggy73]

I feel like 12000 miles is premature for that kind of tire wear but I would recommend a more frequent tire rotation for the next set. I would say at least every 5000 do a rotate and balance. Some would say it is wasted money but I will tell you from my experience that after 5000 miles I put my camry hybrid's tires on the balance machine without removing the old weights and they were out of balance. This rotation and balance is critical to the lengthening the life of your tires. A little less aggressiveness might help too.

[whistler]

I'm seeing the same thing at 18000. My previous car was a 2001 Camry. I replaced all 4 at 25,000.It's probably not the hybrid. Toyota makes good cars and seems to put lousy tires on them.

[warren965]

I love my 07. The only bad thing was the Bridgestone tires. I had the car for 1 week and had to replace a tire. Coulden't get a Bridgestone so I put on a Toyo. I rotate every 7K. At 31K all 3 Bridgestone tires were shot and the Toyo is still looking good. No more Bridgestone's for me. I called to let them know I thought 31K was not enough miles to be worn out and after a lesson I diden't need on rubber compounds the Customer service rep hung up on me! If I had known she was going to hang up on me I would have told her what I really think!

I now have 3 new Toyo tires and one old one that looks like the rest.

Warren
07 Camry Hybrid
07 Tundra 5.7 DC

[TundraSoul]

We're still on the first set of Michelin energy tires and just passed 40k with plenty of life left in them.