[williamsji]

I have a 2018 CR-V EX with almost 15,000 miles on it. It has Bridgestone tires on it and they already show considerable wear. I have friends who have 2017 CR-Vs and they had to replace the tires at 30,000 and they don't do any crazy driving. I had Honda Accords for years before I got the CR-V and I would get around 55,000 miles from a set of tires. They were Michelin MXV4+ on the Accords,
but I thought that Bridgestone was a good brand. I took it to a local tire place, and they are a trustworthy business. The owner said that it seems to be a problem with the later model CR-Vs. He said other brands of SUVs don't have that problem and get normal wear on their tires. Does anyone with a 2017 or newer CR-V not have this problem with tires wearing out? I live in New England.

You are not going to get 55K miles on OEM tires on any CRV... period. You can approach that with a set of Michelin Defenders... but those are not OEM for Honda.. those are good quality after market tires. Personally, the most I ever got off a set of OEM tires on a CRV was 21K miles.. and that was on my gen3.

As noted above in another post.. some gen5 CRVs have been reported to have abnormal tire wear on the rear wheels. I personally do not see this on mine, but there have been enough reports that Honda has an open investigation as to cause and corrective action.

Accords do better then a CRV in terms of tire life.. because they are completely different tires (wid profile sedan tires rather then general purpose SUV tires). I have Hankook tires on both my 2017 CRV and my wifes 2018 Accord. The Hankooks appear as though they will give 30K+ miles on the Accord, but on the CRV... it appears more like low 20K miles are to be expected. This is based on current tread wear on both vehicles. Now.. that said... I drive almost exlusively in town on short trips in my CRV and my wife does mostly freeway driving in her Accord.. so that is part of it... but also the profile and tread characteristics between the two sets of Hankooks are completely different as well.

 

[williamsji]

Threw some Michelin Defenders on the CRV because I know the tires wear like iron but they are not OEM and $$$$. And they're not gonna make it to their 70,000 mile guarantee either but thats ok - Discount Tire will prorate on them because they're good.

Consumer reports gives the Michelin Defenders very good marks.. but also notes that they do NOT obtain their stated full life miles (which is just a prorate gimmick by tire makers anyway). Honestly though.. I don't care about rated life in miles because said tires are very good in all other respects and also are only rated for 6 years of useful life.. and the fact is.. old tires, even with good tread remaining, are a hazard waiting to happen. Tire rubber simply does not age well. So that is what I look for 6 years of useful life.. NOT miles.

 

[williamsji]

My 2017 CR-V got 35000 miles with Hancook original tires. I've had better mileage with Michelin Defender tires. Also, the Hancook got noisy in their last 5-10000 miles. Michelin are way better, albeit expensive, with an 80,000 mile warranty. No more Hancook for me.

Yeah.. the Hankooks are OK, in my experience, but when it comes time to replace them.. it will be with Michelin Defenders.. which is what I have put on all my CRVs over the years. The Defenders just have consistently worked well for me over the years on two prior CRVs... though I don't expect the mileage warranty to pan out... CR says they will average about 70K miles in their long term testing.. but I wear tires out on age more so then miles anyway.. so getting six years of life on the Defenders is fine by me.

Thanks for the heads up about noise on the Hankooks when they get low on tread. I kind of expected that, having looked at the treads carefully when the vehicle is new.. but it's nice to have it confirmed.

 

[williamsji]

When they test for gas mileage ratings they have to use the tires that are sold on the car, so Honda uses a softer tire to increase the mileage rating.

A softer tire does not necessarily improve fuel economy. In fact the exact opposite is often true.

It is ALL about rolling resistance, and often a firmer tire will provide less rolling resistance, as will modest over inflation... but of course other driving factors in a tire can be negatively impacted (such as noise). Tire companies are innovating in this area with new rubber compounds for their tires and are actively marketing tires now days for improved fuel economy. But these are expensive tires generally, so unlikley you would see them as OEMs on a new car.

Tires affect vehicle fuel efficiency primarily through rolling resistance. Rolling resistance is defined as the measure of “force at the axle in the direction of travel required to make a loaded tire roll,” according to a report by the National Research Council (NRC). “As a tire rolls under the vehicle’s weight, its shape changes repeatedly as it experiences recurring cycles of deformation and recovery. In the process, mechanical energy otherwise available to turn the wheels is converted into heat and dissipated from the tire. More fuel must be expended to replace this lost energy. Combinations of differences in tire dimensions, design, materials, and construction features will cause tires to differ in rolling resistance as well as in many other attributes such as traction, handling, noise, wear resistance, and appearance. Once they are placed in service, tires must be properly maintained to perform as intended with respect to all attributes. The maintenance of proper inflation pressure is especially important.” - source: https://www.dunntire.com/blog/How-do-tires-affect-gas-mileage

 

[williamsji]

I wish this was true, but tire tech isn't there yet. You'll have uneven wear leading to early replacement if you don't. Also, modern AWD systems may be less tolerant to differences in wear, potentially causing damage.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

Yep. On on a properly aligned CRV (really almost all Hondas) ... the front tires are toe-in sleightly and the rear tires are toe-out sleightly (you can actually see this if you observe the vehicle closely from the rear and just to one side). Which means you will get a bit more gradual wear on the outside on the front and the inside on the rear... and regular rotation will easily make that a non-issue and even out the treadwear and maximize miles on the tires. Been this way on all three of my CRVs over the years.

 

[williamsji]

Truism: just like "your mileage may vary" where driver to driver mpg is concerned.. the same applies to tires in terms of miles vs treadlife.

How you drive, and what you drive on in terms of road surface, as well as speed, level of aggressive cornering, turns, starts and stops, etc... ALL have an impact on tire life.

Which is NOT to say that there are not some bad tires right from the tire factory and installed at the vehicle factory.. hence tires have warranties from the tire manufacturers.

Nor is it impossible that some CRVs ship from the factory with some form of alignment issue, though not in great numbers based on reports in our forum here. It's just that the biggest variable is the actual driver and how they drive. Hence Honda, like most manufacturers sells them with a 3/36 bumper to bumper warranty.

All that said.. you generally get what you pay for, and car manufacturers do NOT put the best of the best tires on as OEMs at the factory. The first real chance to assess your tires is when you put some excellent quality tires on your vehicle (and you will of course pay more for them too).

 

[williamsji]

I agree with everything you said, including the quotes I neglected to add. But I fear that I may be one of those CRV owners with a rear tire alignment issue, given my local serivce manager's honesty to me about seeing that issue even though corporate Honda disavowed all knowledge of it to us, given 2 alignments in the 1st 13K miles of ownership which showed way out of spec rear tires each time, and replacing factory tires last week which were down to 4/32 tread depth in just 14K miles 24 months after buying the car. Much to my wife's angst (she loves the CRV), I told her if we have a repeat of the alignment issues and tire wear again in the next 2 years, the CRV is history. I've been driving cars for 50 years and with the exception of a Chevy Vega (yeah, I'm that old), have never owned one worse than this particular Honda. Sorry for the rant.

Note: Honda acknowledged the problem quite a while ago, but had not yet determined root cause and ordering of a TSB to address the issue in the field.

Honda DOES now have detailed TSB to address this issue of bad alignment right from the factory. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10181080-0001.pdf

 

[williamsji]

I replaced the junky, OEM Hankook tires a couple weeks back with a set of Michelin Defenders and would wholeheartedly recommend anyone with a newer CR-V and the original stock tires from the dealership do the same. I'd say with the Michelins, the CR-V rides like it was meant to. It soaks up bumps better so the ride quality is improved, there's less road noise audible in the cabin when you're driving on the highway, and even the steering feels more fluid. If you can afford the ~$900 hit to the checking account, it is well worth it!

Yeah.. a lot of owners seem to want to look for low cost tires at replacement time. But I am with you on this one... spend the money to get top tier tires, and in particular ones confirmed to be great on CRVs. Good tires is absolutely the best maintenance money you can spend on your vehicle in my view.

I typically go with Defenders too.. but when the time comes, I will also look into some of the newer Michelins.. like the Cross Climate series. Since I literally only buy new tires every 4-5 years... I always check out and research what is new... but I will definitely stick with the Michelin brand.

Now.. on my wife's Accord... which came with Hankook Kinergys too.... it is actually a beautiful and excellent handling tire in a Sedan tire size. Low noise, high performance handling, and great treadwear (6/32 tread on all 4 tires at 24K miles). It just does not appear to scale up as well on SUV sized tires. That said.. I just saw a brand new Hyundai Santa Fe with Hankooks on it.. so it appears Hankook is continuing to proliferate with car manufacturers... probably because they are very aggressively priced (about half the cost of Michelins on my wife's Accord when I had to have a road hazard replaced.