I'm having MAJOR tire issues, and i'm getting really fed up with Infiniti of Chantilly right now. I feel so bad because I just gave them a raving review a month and a half ago.

My G35 has 62000 miles on it. My first set of Micheline Pilot sports lasted me ~36,000 miles. I replaced them with BF Goodrich G-force KDW's at 36,000 miles. Those rear tires lasted me ~13,000 miles, and they were replaced, and the replacements lasted me ~10,000 miles. Mind you ONLY the rear tires were replaced, and the fronts were the same the whole way through.

I took my car in at 59,000 miles for service. I ended up having my transmission replaced under warrantee, and since I was having that done, I went ahead and had them put a set of 4 brand new stock size Pilot Sports back on the car. I attribute the excessive tire wear to the BF Goodrich tires since they were slightly wider than stock size. Well, I had this done in March of this year. I took my car back in this morning because the inside edge of my tires is worn. To the belts. In 1.5 months, and just over 3,000 miles of highway driving.

The dealership just called me and said that my tires were worn because I had been spinning them, which is complete BS. I have babied these tires because this is the 3rd set of rear tires I've had in the last 1.5 years. To me, if I had been spinning them, they should've been worn evenly across the tire. The dealership says that they will show me something about the wear on the tread blocks that proves I've been spinning the tires.

The fact is that I have not spun these tires. They HAVE to be worn due to a bad alignment or something. I already told the dealer to put new tires on at a cost of $600. They won't pay for the tires because they said it's my fault. I told them that I am very skeptical because if the only cause they have is me "spinning my tires," then I'm going to be back in there in 3000 miles with the same problem and I want something in writing saying that if I'm back in there, they'll take care of it.

The bottom line is that my tires are worn to the belts on the inside edge. I have not raced, spun, or otherwise trashed my tires, and if anything, I've gone concervative on them. 75% of my driving is highway miles to and from my girlfriend's house 1.5 hours away, all highway miles. The dealership is totally hosing me here, because they won't admit any fault in it. What can I do? I HAVE to pay their BS price for new tires because, well, they're about to blow off the car right now. But I am getting screwed here. The service consultant has basically said he's done all he can do and his manager won't let him do more. I want to know what I can do to get these tires paid for, or at least discounted, because this is not my fault. If I can expect to need new tires every 3000 miles, then I think my next post will be on the For-sale forum.

Open to ANY advice from anyone who has had similar problems.

 

The best thing you can do is get down there and talk to the manager face to face.

It's too easy for them to write you off when you are on the phone.

Tell them that you are extremly interested in seeing proof that spinning the tires will result in inside edge wear only, with zero wear on the outside edge or center.

Almost all nasty arguments I've had with a dealership (Nissan in the past) have all ended because I went there and dealt with it in person.

 

Wow, how is it possible to wear down tires in 3k miles with normal driving? If you look at your rear tires from behind, are they close to flat on the ground without any visible negative camber? Also, are you sure they replace your tires with new tires?

 

Are you bone stock? I was waiting to see what your alignment specs are. That above everything else will tell what is happening. It's odd that one one has suggested you to have your alignment checked.

 

A few notes to address some of the questions.

My suspension and rims are bone stock with the exception of stillen anti-sway bars. I have some intake mods and an exhaust, but no FI or Nitrous or anything like that. I don't track the car, or drag or streetrace. The installation of the sway bars doesn't correspond with the start of the tire wear. The springs, shocks, rims, and tire sizes are all stock on the latest set of tires. The previous set, the BFG tires were sligtly wider and fatter in the rear.

If I look at the rear tires from behind, there is noticeable camber. I'm unsure as to whether this is due to the tires wearing or the cause of the tires wearing. The tires definately sit further in at the top than at the bottom. The dealer told me that this car is SUPPOSED to have some negative camber to help with handling.

I'm 99% sure they replaced them with new tires. The tread was there when I got them. I'm the only driver of the car, and I assure you that I have not driven it to the limit at all on this set of tires. I used to drive it hard, and I intentionally haven't done that lately because I realized how expensive tires were. I only had this set since March, and I've been very easy on the tires since they were installed.

I'm awaiting the alignment results too. It should be getting aligned as we speak. If I understand the dealer correctly though, even if the alignment comes back all off kilter, he's still only willing to give me a free mount and alignment. To me, if a car is that far out of alignment in 3000 miles, either an alignment wasn't performed the first time, or something is REALLY wrong. I mean, I know cars come unaligned, but to come unaligned AND have worn down that far that fast is abnormal.

I will be going into the dealership soon to talk about it with them. It's a PITA because it's over an hour away, and I was just there this morning, but I want this fixed.

 

This is what you do:
1) Check online for the stock oem alignment specs. ie.. rear camber spec
2) Compare this to what you get from the dealer.
3) You are going to have to research when you first complained to the dealer about this problem. This would establish when YOU first noted the problem and when the DEALER should have properly checked for any causes for excessive tire wear.
4) If it's found that the alignment is way out of oem spec (ie.. neg camber beyond 1-1.5 deg deg or so), then the dealer "should" be held for at least the replacement tires and maybe part of the oem tires also.

IMHO, they just ignored the real problem and wanted to sell you tires.

 

I'm trying to find the dealer alignment specs, but I'm not having much luck. I'll continue searching, but if anyone has them handy, I'd greatly appreciate!

 

Search. Coupe and Sedan oem alignment specs are here. The hard thing to get is what your car is sitting at right now. If you are having the dealer handle the alignment, they will conveniently "forget" "lose" "misplace" your currentl alignment settings if they are truely out of whack.

 

That's what I'm afraid of. Them "losing" my alignment specs, or just flat out lying about it. Especially since I'm probably going to have to go in tomorrow to pick my car up rather than tonight. The guy did say that they were going to save the tires so that they can show me how they can prove it's from spinning my tires.

My arguement to that is still, if I was spinning my tires on a properly aligned car, why is the wear only on the inside edge? Can you see any major flaws with that statement? (and fwiw, I haven't spun my tires in probably 15,000 miles or so, never tracked or auto-xed my car, so whatever proof they have has to be coincidental)

 

speak to the manager and get pissed off always works for me.

 

That is utter BS, I have or had 36,000 miles on my Michelin Pilots and got perfect wear across the whole tire when it was aligned, before I wore the inside of the rears due to no alignment being done and yes I am FI and I spin the tires every now and then but alignment is the issue.

PS all 36,000 miles on my last set were all on FI.

 

WOW thats terribly ridiculous that you are wearing out the tires every 3K miles, especially good brands too...i had the same problem with my front tires, they wore out nasty in the inside, but the rear tires remained in good condition...the dealer told me i needed to replace all four tires even though i could tell there was nothing wrong with the rear ones (thieves)...i passed on their offer...i am pretty sure there is something terribly wrong with the aligment you got done...thats the only way i can think of having the tires wear out that fast...good luck keep us posted

 

What do you drive? Sedan or Coupe? I've got the specs for the camber and toe for the sedan. You can go to any shop that does alignments and ask them to give you a printout of the car's stock alignment specs. Those are all saved on their computers. At the same time if you have been to the dealer, they can give you one just as easy, they can't deny you that, and also provide you with your current settings as well.

 

Take the car to NTB and have a free alignment check done. If alignment is still covered under warranty you might want to have them do it, if not have the dealer but take the form and it will show how much the car is out of alignment. I had to do this to my local dealer because they screwed up my alignment where it destroyed two tires in 5k of miles when I had 15k on them before that and they looked new still. I had to take it to ntb and have them align the car correctly.

 

I drive an '03 6MT coupe with the stock 18" rims FWIW.

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one, and that I am correct in my statement that when properly aligned, the tire should wear evenly across the tread. Like I said earlier, that was my experience with my first set of tires. The ones on it from the factory. They lasted over 30,000 miles, and quite honestly, I was MUCH harder on the car then. I had never had a sports car like this, and I flogged it a lot. Now, I'm quite easy on it, especially because I'm aware of the tire issue, and also because all my "free" money is tied up in my business, so the cost of maintenance hits a little harder than it used to.

I had the shop do an alignment yesterday at 3:00, and they said that they would call me with the results, and as of right now, 10:41, I haven't heard back from them. I'm about to give them a call and ask what the deal is. I want them to save me a copy of the alignment print-out (although I do agree with an earlier post that they'll either lose it or give me one for someone else's car if things are out of whack) and I also want to see my tires where they say that they can prove I've been spinning them.

I guess if my tires had worn like that from the beginning, I'd just go with it, but the fact that I had one set for 36,000 miles shows it CAN be done, and that somebody messed something up. I just get REALLY tired of having to argue with the dealership service departments about every little problem, and have them say it's "my fault," because I just drove my car.