06 zx5 ford focus eats tires!!! beware!

jason43050 · 08-22-2008, 06:21 AM

205/50/r16 "H" (its a performance tire) rated tires. the focus came with perrellies (sp?) from factory. put 18,000 miles on them and there toast! I drive the speed limit and don't burn rubber. so I bought a different set of tires, they were I think bridgestone fuzion. got 26,000 on them and they were toast! Anyone got an answer for this problem? I had a shop tell me they here the focus had a problem with this, but i've never heard "ford" say anything about it. I now have a different size and tire rating. I went with a 205/55/r16 "T" rating which is a harder rubber compound. I know this will change the odometer by 5%. when i'm going 55 mph i'm actually going 57.5 mph so i'll see how long these last.

phantom_smack · 08-22-2008, 07:45 AM

How often do yor rotatr your tires? They sould be rotated at least every other oil change,every 5k-6k. Have you had the alignment checked by a compitant shop?

jason43050 · 08-25-2008, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phantom_smack

How often do yor rotatr your tires? They sould be rotated at least every other oil change,every 5k-6k. Have you had the alignment checked by a compitant shop?

they get rotated every 5k. don't seem to be out of alighnment, at least i can let go of steering wheel and it will go straight 4ever, no wobble or shake.
p.s. on a side note. when i changed the tires this last time, the inside half of the tread on the drivers side tire was considerably less than the outside?? wasnt like that in the previous tire rotation. is that an alignment problem?

crazyuke · 08-25-2008, 07:56 PM

short answer, yes.

Miler · 08-27-2008, 02:16 PM

crazyuke is 100% correct, you have an alignment problem. Just to make you feel better Pirelli P4, have a very soft compound, one of the reasons why the Focus grips the road so well. My 04 only lasted 37K miles (61K km) and I'm an old fuddy duddy

jason43050 · 08-27-2008, 02:32 PM

everytime i turn into a driveway or something, i feel and hear a clunk or something. like a shock or spring. could that have something to do with it?

Miler · 08-27-2008, 02:53 PM

You may have the dreaded broken shock spring!!! See the thread on this subject (don't want to repeat myself !!) Yes, it may be highly relevant. Jack up the car, pop off BOTH front wheels and have a look at the shock springs.
Let me know
Bon chance!

jason43050 · 08-28-2008, 05:01 PM

my drivers side tire was way out of alighnment. and the noise i'm hearing is the linkage spring. the rubber boot is broke they said. i deal with the noise. its expensive to fix that! thanks for the answers guys!!

theoldwizard · 09-03-2008, 06:31 AM

Tire model/brand does make a difference !

Go here and read the sections on tire rating.

Short answer, when buying tires look for one with a "high" treadwear rating. The higher the better. This number is stamped right on the tire.

Michelin X tires (sold at Sams Club and Costco) have a 80K mile limted warranty and a treadwear rating of 740 ! They aren't cheap and, yes, they probably have a bit less dry traction than the Pirellis.