The rear tires on my 18" staggered setup were bald in the middle. I am not a stoplight racer and neither is the blue cat, so chalk it up to 255 wide tires I guess. Fronts are fine with at least 60% tread left. So off to the tire shop I go.

The Yokohamas I had on were warranted for 45k miles and they had been on for 22.3k. Almost exactly half-life. Imagine my surprise when they said there was no warranty left. I showed them my original paperwork that said 45k, but they said since the tires could not be rotated due to the staggered set, that the warranty was cut in half and this was standard for most manufacturers.

To their credit, they did honor the 45k warranty (got two tires for the price of one) since the reduced warranty was not stated on my invoice. Rest assured it is typed on the new invoice.

Side note, Continental brand does have a full warranty for staggered tire setups, but their warranty for the equivalent tire is (drum roll please) 22.5k miles. Sounds like marketing math to me. I stayed with the Yokohamas as they have worked well otherwise and the fronts have normal wear.

Just thought I'd share in case anyone else ran into this issue at new tire time.

 

Your tires were over inflated. These wide tire are very sensitive to air pressure and should be inflated to ensure full contact.

 

Is your service provider Discount Tire? Mine is, and they honored the 60,000-mile warranty for the first set of 255/40/19 Yokohama YK580 rear tires on my wife's car at 20,800 miles because they had worn down the center to 3/32 while both edges were at more than 6/32. After the proration, I paid just over $200 for two new rear YK580s. I had started the first pair at 32 psi, dropped them to 31 psi a few months later, then dropped them to 30 psi a couple of months after that. Unfortunately I had not dropped my pressures soon enough to prevent premature center wear. I explained this to my Discount Tire guy, he understood and agreed with the physics involved, and we installed the replacement pair running 29 psi even though Jaguar's specs (and his computer's specs) call for 33 or 34 psi if I remember correctly....

Maybe I'm lucky because I've dealt with these guys for years, they know me when I drive up, they have always been more than fair with me, and they know I have sent them referral business over the years....

It may help if you point out (and keep records) that you do indeed rotate your tires. While the tires must remain on the same axle due to being staggered, that still counts as rotation. While Discount Tire has never asked to see my rotation records, I always bring them and show them when it comes time to utilize the treadwear warranty due to any tires not going the distance they were warrantied for....

By the way, this second set of rear YK580s is now pushing 32,000 miles simply because they started out at 29 psi and lately I have been running them at 28 psi. I think they'll do 35,000 miles or so before I have to replace them, and I fully expect my guys at Discount Tire to honor the 60,000-mile warranty again when they do the proration for me. I don't think that ANY rear tire can do more than 35,000 to 40,000 miles on these cars simply because of tire width and engine power, even with my wife driving (she's no racer or stoplight jackrabbit)....

I find it surprising that her rear YK580s (255/40/19) carry a 60,000-mile treadwear warranty while her front YK580s (245/40/19) carry only a 45,000-mile warranty but I'm not complaining since the rear tires do all the suffering. Her original front YK580s are now pushing 43,500 miles and it appears that they will go their full warranty distance before I have to replace them. I have consistently run them at 32 psi with no issues....

 

My full patch contact pressure is 28psi on a gauge I keep with the car. Gauges can be off a pound or two from one to another and that will make a difference on these tires.

 

Actually I keep them just above the "comfort" setting shown on the console lid. 30psi all around. It lists 28psi. Should I drop down to that?

Interestingly, when I checked it after the replacement, the installer had inflated all four to 36psi!

 

Jon,

Yes, I use Discount Tires. They have always been easy to deal with and provide a good product at a fair price.

They did take care of me using the stated invoice warranty of 45k miles, I was just surprised about the "no rotation possible, no warranty" statement. I let the service desk guy know I rotated them from side to side, but according to him that is not sufficient. Maybe he was just overzealous?

Either way, I walked out with what I expected and am happy. It will be interesting to see what happens when I go back when all 4 need replacing.

 

Michelin also cuts the warranteed mileage in half for staggered tires. It's in the fine print on their warranty page. I had a real hassle with them when two tires on my wife's car wore out prematurely, but with the help of a friendly GM dealer, got them to honor the warranty.

 

Run your new rear tires at 28 to 29 psi. While the rear tires will never go the full warranty distance for these YK580s regardless of the tactics you deploy, you should get at least an extra 10,000 to 12,000 miles out of them compared to your first pair. I was not accustomed to running tires at such low pressures but on these cars, you have to do it if you want to get reasonable treadlife out of them....