[bulajap]

Hi everyone,

I have a 2005 Forester XT that came with Yokohama Geolander tires.

I have 13,000 miles on the car now. Today I brought the car in to Firestone to have one of the tires repaired due to a nail in it.

The service advsior told me that there was "serious outdies tread wear" on the tires and that I would need to replace them soon.

Does this sound right? Not even 15,000 miles and I need new tires?

I have kept the trie pressure at around 38-40 PSI on all four tires soon after buying the car ( bought it new) because I have read that the Subaru recommended PSI was too low.

Are the ries faulty? Has anyone else had this problem?

thanks

Joe

 

[fourortwowheels]

have you ever had the car aligned? and FYI 40psi is way to much! im suprised they are not wearing in the middle due to being over inflated...

 

[LVSFXS]

My Geolandar G900 H/T (OEM tires) have always been kept between 35-40 PSI, and although the middle of the tires looks fine, plenty of treadlife left, the outer edges look almost completely smooth. The tires have 55k miles on them, and have been wearing poorly on the outside since I bought the car with 15k miles on it.

It has to be a symptom of the tires themselves. Check Tirerack.com and look at the OEM tire reviews. Everyone has had poor experiences with them. I could have run them at the max cold PSI allowed, which is 44 PSI by the way fourortwowheels, and the outer edge would have rubbed smooth like they have.

I'm replacing mine tomorrow with Geolandar A/T-S and keeping fingers crossed for better wear patterns.

 

[frogstar7055]

Got about 20,000 on my Geolandar A/T-S's and they're wearing great.

 

[flstffxe]

Sounds about right. The stock Yokohama Geolander on the Forester has a treadwear rating of 320.

By comparison the Yokohama AVID Touring-S has a treadwear rating of 620, which has a 65,000 mile warranty.

The stock tires are not a long life tire to say the least.:icon_frown:

Tirerack reviews of the stock geos.

 

[funkymonkey1002]

Yeah the stock geo's tend to wear on the shoulders. They're a horrible tire, especially considering the price of new ones! I feel the continental extremecontacts dws or contiextremecontacts are a perfect replacement on a stock XT.

 

[bulajap]

thank you for your replies everyone......

someone recommnded that I replace them with Mastercraft tires.

Are the Mastercrafts good?

 

[Quicksilver]

thank you for your replies everyone......

someone recommnded that I replace them with Mastercraft tires.

Are the Mastercrafts good?

Not hearing what your particular use is for the car, I'm not sure that changing the tires is necessarily the answer.
If you haven't been regularly rotating tires and checking alignment, the best of tires will fail similarly.
If you did rotate and align tires and suspension, at the dealer, or otherwise and can document it, it's likely you can get some kind of settlement with dealer.
Failing that, get your car aligned, plan on rotating tires according to manual/tire manufacturer, and get pretty much any tire that meets your budget...they're all better than tires have ever been.
Go to TireRack.com and check out the ratings, in the type of driving you expect to do.
I'll bet you a beer, that you'll have a hard time beating the Geolanders as a do everything compromise tire, except maybe the price, they are a little expensive...
-Quick

 

[flstffxe]

I believe it was a general question(that is how I took it any way) as to the quality of the brand.

Mastercraft tires = Cooper

All in all they are a fair tire for the price. Just look at what fits your driving needs.

 

[md1814]

I have the same stock tires on my 2005 Forester X and although I keep the correct pressure, about 32psi and have rotated my tires, I too see the excessive wear on the outer edges. My alignment is fine and I only have 27k miles. The middle tread looks brand new so I guess this is a symptom of cheap tires. I ran for a while at a higher pressure ~37PSI but its still the outer edges that show wear. It pisses me off because otherwise the tires look perfect but i'm sure i'll be replacing them far too early.

 

[md1814]

Also .... I'm a very mellow driver so there's no reason these tires should be wearing only on the outer edges. I have the subaru gold warranty so maybe i'll complain to the dealer to see if anything can be done. When it comes time to replace these tires i'm defintely going with another brand unless they agree to change them under the warranty. The performance has been fine for my driving style but I want a tire that can get at least 60K.

 

[Blue Fox]

and FYI 40psi is way to much! im suprised they are not wearing in the middle due to being over inflated...

40 psi is perfect for the Geolanders (sidewall reads max of 44 psi). I air mine up to 40 psi when they're warm. Anything below 35 and they look like they're going flat (and their sides wear even quicker). I'm currently on my 3rd set of Geolanders, mainly because they're cheap (I buy tires used)....and I'm not necessarily easy on them.

 

[Blue Fox]

Also .... I'm a very mellow driver so there's no reason these tires should be wearing only on the outer edges. I have the subaru gold warranty so maybe i'll complain to the dealer to see if anything can be done. When it comes time to replace these tires i'm defintely going with another brand unless they agree to change them under the warranty. The performance has been fine for my driving style but I want a tire that can get at least 60K.

First off, the Geolander has more of a "rounded" tread design versus other tires that have a more squared-off tread pattern. This allows the tire to roll onto itself in corners, causing the edges to wear more than other tires, which means it's normal.

---BUT---

Do you realize that your tires are a little over 5-years old? THAT should be concerning your more than the tread-wear. Those tires need to be replaced due to age alone. And since you are only averaging 3 to 4 thousand miles per year, there is no way you'll ever get 60,000 miles out of a set of tires. NEVER drive on tires that are over 5-years old!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDgSk5xWkrI

YouTube - Tire Safety

 

[LVSFXS]

I finally got to change my OEM Geolandars for the A/T-S Geolandars today. After myriad delays, I got to put them on, and they look great. Aggressive and more to the point than the last Geos.

I saw a lot of sidewall cracking on the OEMs and other dry-rot symptoms as I changed them out (markings on the sidewalls that should not have existed). The shoulders were completely smooth, while I estimate the tread in the middle alone would have given me another 10k miles or so before needing replacement, maybe more.

I only have 100 miles or so on the new Geo A/T-S tires, and I'm trying not to be picky. They make a little more noise, which I don't mind. This is a trade off for more off-highway capability. They ride smoother in a straight line, which I'm happy about. But they squirm. They have a perceptible amount of delay between steering input and actual change in direction. Back and forth steering input upset the tires. Not to mention they follow rain grooves a lot more than expected.

I'm gonna break them in a little while longer before my girl drives the Forester across the country as I move in the next couple weeks. I hope Yokohama makes me a believer this time around.

 

[md1814]

Good point about the age of the tires. I was not aware that you should consider changing tires after 5 yrs even if they still appear good. I guess new tires are on list of things to do.

 

[flstffxe]

....

Do you realize that your tires are a little over 5-years old? THAT should be concerning your more than the tread-wear. Those tires need to be replaced due to age alone. And since you are only averaging 3 to 4 thousand miles per year, there is no way you'll ever get 60,000 miles out of a set of tires. NEVER drive on tires that are over 5-years old!.....

You would hate to see my F-150:biggrin:, original tires replaced at 62K in 1999 with 31-10.50 BFG Long Trails. The truck now has 173K on it with those same Long Trails.

They are now down to the wear bars and developed some side wall cracking this winter, at which point it was parked. All in all best tires I have ever purchased, 11 years and 111K.

 

[malamute man]

I am seeming to have the same problem with my stock Geo's. I rotate and check the air every month but still seems to be wearing the outside edge. I have about 34k on them the middle still looks good but worried about the outside edge. I have taken it in for alignment and although it was off was told not enough to make the kind of edge wear I am getting. Looking to get a set of ATS but worried about loosing mpg. Not too worried about noise because besides a mud tire I don't believe any tire could make more noise then the stock geo's. I hit fire roads for camping and biking shuttling. I hit the mtns when it snows. Looking to up size to a 215/65/16 for that slight extra ground clearance.

 

[bbottomley]

That's simply the way the stock Geos are.

 

[Quicksilver]

md...
It could be that you have a bad set and should be going to the dealer to get settlement, since you've been pristine about rotating regularly and alignment has been good and checked recently.

I ran my Geolanders until the first one went 'wearbar', then replaced them all at 47,000. I don't care what kind of tires you buy, 50,000 miles is good. I didn't autocross mine, but I do explore the envelope on freeway entrance and exit ramps, and have been a moderately aggresive driver most of my life.

That said, I'm running some no name tires that I liked the tread design on, that I got a great price on, and they singlehandedly improved my cornering (and don't squeal at all) speed and more importantly control. They've got 37,0000 miles on and have substantial tread left.

-Quick

Also .... I'm a very mellow driver so there's no reason these tires should be wearing only on the outer edges. I have the subaru gold warranty so maybe i'll complain to the dealer to see if anything can be done. When it comes time to replace these tires i'm defintely going with another brand unless they agree to change them under the warranty. The performance has been fine for my driving style but I want a tire that can get at least 60K.

 

[funkymonkey1002]

thank you for your replies everyone......

someone recommnded that I replace them with Mastercraft tires.

Are the Mastercrafts good?

In general don't listen to tire places. They generally get deals on the mastercraft, cooper, etc low end tires which are absolutely some of the worst tires ever created but they give the stores a good profit margin on them.

The stock geos wear terribly. I recommend anyone looking into buying new tires to go onto tirerack, and read reviews of different tires in the size you want. I generally look at the bad reviews to see exactly what people complain about (alot of the good reviews are meaningless as most any new tire will be better than an old worn tire!).

The stock geos have a tapered tread that gives a pretty skinny tread width compared to the overall width of the tire. Most better tires have a good amount of shoulder tread with a sharper edge rather than a donut shape like the typical oem or "minivan" tires (like old bias ply tires).

Also, even if theres plenty of tread left, replace tires within 5-6 years of MANUFACTURE date (not the date they're installed, a lot of tires sit around in warehouses for years!). Old or dryrotted tires are what cause many accident and are far more susceptible to road hazard damage.

I got 35k from the oem geolandars and was glad to be rid of them, they're probably the worst tire value on the market, the dealer quoted me almost 250$ per tire compared to the ~$80 I spent on contiextremecontacts(lasted 30,000 miles of abuse, the new dws should get 50k) or the $120-140 of goodyear tripletreds(friends have generally gotten around 60k out of them) which imo are two of the best allseason/allweather tires on the market.