D-cat / T180 Tyre Wear

[RavCat]

Hi, I'm new to this forum - or ANY forum for that matter but I've read through it with great interest. I am English but live in France and in July 2007 bought a new RAV4 D-CAT (Pretty much a T180 in the UK as far as I can make out) with "Pack Techno" (only in France!) so it's top-of-the range and I expected a lot from the car. To be fair it drives beautifully, is comfortable and feels very safe but I have a few issues with it, ranging from the way the interior plastic marks as soon as you touch it to the high fuel consumption (8.5L per 100 km on straight traffic-free country roads) and an apparently unfixable rattle from the passenger door - hopefully to be fixed with a tip from this forum about the door mirror. (Pleeasse...)

But my biggest issue is with the tyres. Not only the "run-flat / no spare" debate that rages here but with their longevity. My car has done 18,000 kilometres and the front tyres are about worn. The backs are OK.

The front tyres have always looked to me to be under-inflated but they are and always have been at the correct pressure. This was confirmed by the Toyota garage I purchased the car from at the time of its service in July. The edges of the tread are wearing much more rapidly than the centres. I accept that most of my driving is on French country roads which have notoriously rough verges but the wear is on the outside and inside edges (15-20%) of both front tyres.

Has anyone any experience of this problem or suggestions as to the cause? Surely I should get more than 20k km out of them (that's just over 12,000 miles). I've never owned a 4x4 before but this problem doesn't seem to be related to that... as I say, it looks as though the front tyres are under-inflated, except they are not, according to the handbook, sticker on the door panel and the dealer! I'm loath to just pump them up for reasons of safety.

[stuck in dubs]

Hi, I'm new to this forum - or ANY forum for that matter but I've read through it with great interest. I am English but live in France and in July 2007 bought a new RAV4 D-CAT (Pretty much a T180 in the UK as far as I can make out) with "Pack Techno" (only in France!) so it's top-of-the range and I expected a lot from the car. To be fair it drives beautifully, is comfortable and feels very safe but I have a few issues with it, ranging from the way the interior plastic marks as soon as you touch it to the high fuel consumption (8.5L per 100 km on straight traffic-free country roads) and an apparently unfixable rattle from the passenger door - hopefully to be fixed with a tip from this forum about the door mirror. (Pleeasse...)

But my biggest issue is with the tyres. Not only the "run-flat / no spare" debate that rages here but with their longevity. My car has done 18,000 kilometres and the front tyres are about worn. The backs are OK.

The front tyres have always looked to me to be under-inflated but they are and always have been at the correct pressure. This was confirmed by the Toyota garage I purchased the car from at the time of its service in July. The edges of the tread are wearing much more rapidly than the centres. I accept that most of my driving is on French country roads which have notoriously rough verges but the wear is on the outside and inside edges (15-20%) of both front tyres.

Has anyone any experience of this problem or suggestions as to the cause? Surely I should get more than 20k km out of them (that's just over 12,000 miles). I've never owned a 4x4 before but this problem doesn't seem to be related to that... as I say, it looks as though the front tyres are under-inflated, except they are not, according to the handbook, sticker on the door panel and the dealer! I'm loath to just pump them up for reasons of safety.

Interesting to hear your problems, generally I've been getting 25K out of the front tyres and 32K out of the back. Are you running on bridgestones? Going by previous posts on this site there must be a problem either with the wheel alignment or tyre pressure. What pressure are your tyres at? mine are at 32 psi as recommended

As far as fuel consumption goes I am getting virtually identical figures (31.5 mpg) from mainly country road driving, a bit different from what Toyota would suggest!!

[moonstone mart]

If your pressures are at the recommended pressure then the front tyres will always look like they are under inflated compared to the rears as the weight of the engine/gearbox etc will put more pressure on them than the rear tyres have.

Mart.

[anchorman]

Here the law says that you must have 1.6mm for the whole circumference on the central 75%. The law recognises that it is very very difficult to avoid shoulder wear with very wide tyres and for that reason the requirement for the remainder of tread (12.5% either side) is that it only needs to be structurally sound - nothing regarding depth;

You need to check exactly how much the shoulder wear is. I have read an article that says this law extends to all EEC countries but just double check for yourself.

[chillyjeff]

I have a T180 and have just changed all four of my tyres for the first time at 40,500 miles, mainly because I had my first puncture but they were down to 2.5 to 3mm each.

Diesel consumption still averaging 38.6 mpg (1049 gallons used over 40,504 miles).

Just had the steering rack replaced under warranty, it has been knocking for the last 10,000 miles but it took persistence with the dealer until they found the problem. If anyone else has this problem, it is a known fault.

[bothwell_buyer]

bonjour Monsewer RAVCAT, et le welcome a la forumne

Vous etes un problem mais oiu??

Just nick a set of wheels from a passing horse and cart?? :lol:

[snowjoke]

How about rotating the tyres if the front ones are wearing more quickly than the back ones? The manual suggests you do this every 3000 miles / 5000 km.

[RavCat]

bonjour Monsewer RAVCAT, et le welcome a la forumne

Vous etes un problem mais oiu??

Just nick a set of wheels from a passing horse and cart?? :lol:

At least they'd be run-flat still! But seriously though, would I still get a good grip on the cow-dung covered roads?

[bothwell_buyer]

bonjour Monsewer RAVCAT, et le welcome a la forumne

Vous etes un problem mais oiu??

Just nick a set of wheels from a passing horse and cart?? :lol:

At least they'd be run-flat still! But seriously though, would I still get a good grip on the cow-dung covered roads?

I captured these beauties on a website today and posted it up on another post..... plenty grip!!

[RavCat]

Hi, I'm new to this forum - or ANY forum for that matter but I've read through it with great interest. I am English but live in France and in July 2007 bought a new RAV4 D-CAT (Pretty much a T180 in the UK as far as I can make out) with "Pack Techno" (only in France!) so it's top-of-the range and I expected a lot from the car. To be fair it drives beautifully, is comfortable and feels very safe but I have a few issues with it, ranging from the way the interior plastic marks as soon as you touch it to the high fuel consumption (8.5L per 100 km on straight traffic-free country roads) and an apparently unfixable rattle from the passenger door - hopefully to be fixed with a tip from this forum about the door mirror. (Pleeasse...)

But my biggest issue is with the tyres. Not only the "run-flat / no spare" debate that rages here but with their longevity. My car has done 18,000 kilometres and the front tyres are about worn. The backs are OK.

The front tyres have always looked to me to be under-inflated but they are and always have been at the correct pressure. This was confirmed by the Toyota garage I purchased the car from at the time of its service in July. The edges of the tread are wearing much more rapidly than the centres. I accept that most of my driving is on French country roads which have notoriously rough verges but the wear is on the outside and inside edges (15-20%) of both front tyres.

Has anyone any experience of this problem or suggestions as to the cause? Surely I should get more than 20k km out of them (that's just over 12,000 miles). I've never owned a 4x4 before but this problem doesn't seem to be related to that... as I say, it looks as though the front tyres are under-inflated, except they are not, according to the handbook, sticker on the door panel and the dealer! I'm loath to just pump them up for reasons of safety.

Interesting to hear your problems, generally I've been getting 25K out of the front tyres and 32K out of the back. Are you running on bridgestones? Going by previous posts on this site there must be a problem either with the wheel alignment or tyre pressure. What pressure are your tyres at? mine are at 32 psi as recommended

As far as fuel consumption goes I am getting virtually identical figures (31.5 mpg) from mainly country road driving, a bit different from what Toyota would suggest!!

Thanks for your reply... Yes Bridgestones and 32 psi. I assume your 25K is miles and I'd be happy with that - it's about double what I've got.

I got a quote today. 379 € each plus 121 € each for what I assume is fitting or maybe it's just to make it up to a round number - over £450 each at the current distressed exchange rate. I think I need to get a few glasses of vin rouge inside me and compose a friendly letter to Mr T.

[RavCat]

bonjour Monsewer RAVCAT, et le welcome a la forumne

Vous etes un problem mais oiu??

Just nick a set of wheels from a passing horse and cart?? :lol:

At least they'd be run-flat still! But seriously though, would I still get a good grip on the cow-dung covered roads?

I captured these beauties on a website today and posted it up on another post..... plenty grip!!

Perfect - and plenty of holes for the mice to live in so they don't have to take up residence in the engine bay and eat the wiring.