The Sport tires are a unique size (185/55 R16), and no other car uses this size, so I assume Honda must have had them developed for this car. That said, I am used to getting about 40,000 miles from a set of tires, and at 23,000, I can already feel a drop in wet road performance on the stock Bridgestones, so I'm going to have to replace them soon.

Not only that, but the OEM tires are expensive for the short life.

 

Yeah, but remember I said that they told me the tech could not feel the alignment being off and they did say the toe was out but not by that much.

After countless suspension problems with my previous car (a Volvo) I'm pretty paranoid about tire wear. The $$$ for OEM tires for my old car were (no pun intended) highway robbery.

However with the Fit I find it tough to believe that a car that has gone just over 5,000 miles since sold with 3 miles on it in November of 2009 was pushed out of alignment that badly driving less than 15 miles per day and never by anyone but me. That's give or take 800 miles per month.
I'd know if I hit something - and I know I haven't...ever.

I just wasn't going to fight with them about it. If I notice it happening again I will take it back. The car should still be under the 12/12,000 portion of the warranty by the time I'd start seeing it again if there was something chronic going on.

I guess I'm just posting my experiences so that if you have a base with the stock tires you might take a a careful look at them periodically while you're still warranteed - as you might not notice because the car is kind of loud anyway. I'm sorry if I bothered anyone.

 

Thanks for anyone who has advise. This one is now eating at my brain.

Dan

 

I just got home and looked at my tires. The Dun's on my 2010 Sport seem to be asymmetric only. All four are clearly marked "OUTSIDE" on the side I can easily see. There's no directional arrow or rotation marking of any sort. They also seem to be a "generic" Dunlop tire in that I can't see any model designation, only the typical tire stuff.

Shockwave the arrow you see, does it have a "D" circled inside it?? I see that as well, but I'm inclined to think it's a logo.

Soon after I picked up my ride I was confused by the "ink stamps" on the sidewalls. I stopped at a MAVIS tire place and asked them about it, thinking those little marks should not be seen. He said they would scrub off and that the tires appeared to be mounted correctly - I thought they might be backasswards.

Kinda like the 9000 mile oil change - ya gotts have faith brother. I'm thinking if I see outside on all four everythings okay.

K_C_

 

I have a friend with an 08 Sport, not a hard driver... she needed new tires at 27k miles. They were the stock Dunlops. My 08 Sport Dunlop tires will be lucky if they make it safely to 30k miles.

I also have an 09 Sport with Dunlops which are very different in tread than the 08's. These tires handle rain and snow better. I'm hoping they last longer, as well.

 

Thanks for taking the time. Yes, the arrow does have a D inside it, but it's clearly an arrow. I think it's denoting direction. The outer lines of the treads on my stock Dunlops on my 09 sport tail off in a direction. When the arrow is facing properly, that direction is going forwards. When the arrow is facing the wrong way, that direction is going backwards. The tread direction is clearly different on the drivers side compared to the passenger side. My passenger side front and back is correct if that arrow really is a directional arrow. My drivers sides are backwards. I also do not know if BOTH side of the Dunlops are labled 'outside' with only that arrow denoting proper direction.

And all this leads to me another question. When roting normal tires, you swap them around. For directional tires what must you do, remount the tires when they go on the opposite side to keep the treads all facing the same direction?

I hate to gnaw at this, but two out of four tires with the treads facing the wrong way seems to me like major suck, including greatly reduced performance, handling, and longevity.

We have a number of mechanics here. Set me straight please so I can let go of this. Thanks!

Dan

 

DIRECTIONAL AND ASYMMETRIC TIRES

Look for "Side Facing Outwards" branding and "rotation arrow" to determine side of vehicle.



Tire lettering highlight in yellow for illustrative purposes only.

This is what I think the dulops are, although I could be wrong. In fact, I'd like to be wrong! But there's that arrow on them, far as I can see....

Dan

 

Here's the OEM tire: Dunlop SP Sport 7000 A/S

Nothing about directional or symmetry... The ones on my ride are labeled "outside" and I see no rotation markings.

Somewhere I read that "low profile" tires are often asymmetrical. It's all in the tread design.

Swing by a MAVIS or your dealer to confirm but my thought is you're okay.

K_C_

 

I just crossed over 50k on my Bridgestones today. I'm hoping to hold off on new tires til the end of summer. I don't hydroplane if I'm not speeding yet.

When I get new ones, I'm really thinking about going with a slightly different size to pick up a few more options. Does anyone have info on what the allowances are for that? Like what range of sizes still work ok? (I have an '09 sport)

 

Truth,

205/50/16 is the size so that you'll be maintaining the OE diameter as close as possible.

Your gas mileage may decrease slightly but at least wiht this size, you"ll have tons of choices and maybe some slight grip with the wider tire.

 

I've put almost 10k miles on the dunlops on my 09 SSM Sport MT, I keep them @ 40psi, had them rotated at 8k, fronts are 9/32, rears are 8/32. So 1/32 of wear every 8k miles when on the front. At this rate, by the time they get down to 2/32's, i'll have over 70k miles on these tires.... but then again i've only had one rotation, another 6k miles and a second rotation, I might have to re-evaluate my previous statement.

Only problems i've had, is in the first 1-2k miles, one tire (right rear) got a nail in it, dealer plugged the tire, and its held up fine so far. Dealer offered to replace it, for $93 with complimentary mounting and balancing.

Ride is a little bit harsher @ 40psi, but tolerable, roads are still going to be crappy; and the fits suspension reminds me of my FB Rx7, you could feel the profile of a dime in that car (on 13" rims none-the-less).

 

The Dunlop arrow is their logo...



It will likely be on all Dunlop tires.

In my experience, directional tires will have an arrow accompanied by the word "rotation" as shown in that picture a few posts up.

 

Thanks so much for that! I'll rest easier now. And thank you KC as well.

Dan

 

my stock dunlops have been absolutely terrible. a bit of a shock since i used dunlop SP sport on my previous integra and i was perfectly happy with them. i haven't been driving too spirited w/ them since i don't really have any confidence that they won't give if i push it hard and i really, really never trusted them in the rain.

here is one of the front tires at a touch over 11,000 miles. my car is modestly lowered with tanabe DF210 springs. i don't beat on the car at all and i'm by no means an aggressive driver so the wear is a bit surprising.







i'll be getting new tires ASAP for a set of wider wheels that i have sitting around and definitely getting an alignment since there is obvious negative camber wear.

 

If you've read through this thread you know I'm not a big fan of Dunlop's.

It looks like a front camber issue to me. You're carving those bad boys... After doing the drop did you have the alignment checked?

I'm admittedly not familiar with the process, but as a rule after any suspension work it's adviced to recked the geometry.

K_C_ EDIT: oops - just saw last line of your post_

 

OMG- that's terrible wear. I'm 4,000 miles behind you and mine are wearing fine. I can't believe I'll somehow catch up within 4,000 miles. That is abnormal wear. Somethin' ain't right, whether it's what you did or just a bad set of tires. But as bad as they are, I don't believe that automatically condemns the dunlops as shit.

Dan

 

i haven't had wear this bad with any other tire i've had. be it cheap kumhos to some pretty grippy bridgestones and falkens.

i've had cars that were much lower and with more negative camber and they didn't wear out this fast...and that was when i was a bit younger with a much more aggressive driving style.

i'd describe my current driving style as "tame". i shift pretty religiously around 3k and my shifting has an emphasis on smooth rather than fast and hard.

i'm not sure what it could be. i'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with sticky brakes since my MPGs are where it's supposed to be and there are tons of brake pad left in the front discs.

on another note, my rear tires look brand new and don't show any wear indicative of obvious negative camber.

 

Only way to find out is get the alignment numbers. Post back when you do - a reputable shop should give you a before/after printout to show what's going on. I would be interested in seeing them.

And Shock you're correct - not a fault of the tire.

K_C

 

Stock Dunlop SP 30/31s.

At 5192 mi (FL FR, RL RR):
0.1977 0.1898
0.2478 0.2467 in
Or about 6/32 in front, 8/32 in rear. Those are averages of outer, center, and inner measurements:

Outer Center Inner Inner Center Outer
0.1850 0.2040 0.2040 0.1960 0.1980 0.1755 Front
0.2460 0.2545 0.2430 0.2540 0.2405 0.2455 Rear (in)

Cold (~50F) PSI was 41.5 front and 35.0 PSI rear at 5192 mi when tires were cross rotated. Current setup should be down to 6/32 in up front at 8.2 to 8.5K mi.

Before rotating, front tires started slipping noticeably in sandy pebbly roads at around 6.3/32 in.

 

Unbelievable!!! I've never seen street tires that bad until, at least, 30k miles. I've bought hundreds of tires in my life and those are absolutely horrendous. Are you sure you're not rubbing somewhere and just peeling the tread off constantly?