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Honda Fit Wheels and Tires

207 messages,  Last post on Apr 27, 2013 at 7:12 PM

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What is this discussion about? Honda Fit, Tires, Wheels

Messages Page 21 of 22

#192 of 207 Re: cupping/scalloping rear tires [coastofmaine] by capriracer

Mar 02, 2012 (11:56 am)

Replying to: coastofmaine (Mar 01, 2012 7:28 am)
A couple of thoughts:
 
First, unless the alignment is absolutely perfect, tires are going to wear unevenly. The further away from perfect the alignment is, the faster that occurs. There real problem here is that once a tire starts an uneven wear pattern, it is difficult to wear a different pattern into the tire. That's why the generalized 5K to 8K rotation.
 
Second, because most tire wear occurs in the cornering mode, even vehicles with perfect alignment COULD get uneven wear patterns. Again, the 5K to 8K rotation schedule prevents this.

#193 of 207 Re: cupping/scalloping rear tires [capriracer] by judymalone

Mar 02, 2012 (2:32 pm)

Replying to: capriracer (Mar 02, 2012 11:56 am)
I do keep my tires rotated and all, but if you look back on this forum, you will see that many of us had new tires and the problems started anyway. To have a new tire or tires and then the tire goes bad--that is our big issue and many of us have spent much money we never thought we would have to spend getting new tires.

#194 of 207 Re: cupping/scalloping rear tires [capriracer] by coastofmaine

Mar 02, 2012 (7:22 pm)

Replying to: capriracer (Mar 02, 2012 11:56 am)
If Honda makes the Fit without the provision for alignment (rear) than having the perfect alignment is "but a fleeting illusion". My beef is not only uneven wear, which may be masked by frequent rotations, but rapid wear, its evil twin. Uneven wear in the rear has a discrete cause, it is not caused by not rotating. Also, I do not accept your premise that uneven wear is practically unavoidable, especially on the rears. There are MANY cars on the road now which experience no uneven wear on the rears. Why do Fit owners have to put up with this? I just talked with a Ford engineer today who never rotates his Focus tires. He just replaces his fronts with his rears and buys 2 new ones for the rears. This is what I did for 40 years before I bought a Fit.

#195 of 207 Re: cupping/scalloping rear tires [judymalone] by coastofmaine

Apr 09, 2012 (3:02 pm)

Replying to: judymalone (Mar 02, 2012 2:32 pm)
Well, it's been over 3000 miles since I've had my rears aligned to -1/4 degree of camber (essentially vertical) and I can report that there is no cupping/scalloping whatsoever. I am becoming more convinced that this problem (excessive negative camber), seen with many light hatchbacks or SUVs is just a titanic mistake by engineers from many manufacturers. Amazingly, their first remedy is to blame the owners for not rotating. When that fails, they blame the tires. In some cases they have found tires which seem to resist the wear--this would work best if the tires were actually made with the inner diameter smaller than the outer, but fine, whatever works. The easiest remedy however, is to buck up and find a mechanic who is willing to do away with the negative camber by inserting shims in the case of the Fit (from Napa). Good luck to all, if I end up with the problem down the road I will post it here. As for rotating, I am trying to be scientific, which means I have to change only one variable at a time. That means no rotating for me until I get to at least 20,000 on these tires. By then I will know for sure if the cupping problem is solved.

#196 of 207 Re: cupping/scalloping rear tires [judymalone] by noone3

Sep 22, 2012 (7:49 am)

Replying to: judymalone (Mar 01, 2012 12:39 pm)
That don't sound very intelligent. All cars come with cheap tires and only good for about 25k when they are 36k warranty, only a moron would use that warranty to get the same cheap tires. Go spend $800 on a great set of all season all surface tires for the smoothest ride 80k warranty and the best traction even on icy snow covered roads. Done this with a 2003 eclipse, drove thru blizzards and snow storms for 4 consecutive days, rescued several people stranded in the ditch and lead many others to nearest town driving thru the night.
Distance between gas stations on the interstate, must be joking. I have never driven anywhere in this country I didn't see a gas stop along a interstate for more than 40 miles. That would be less than 1.5 gallons why worry. Have you ever driven thru Wyoming? that is probably the worst place for gas stops and still I seen one every 40 miles or less on their highways.

#197 of 207 New Set Of 205/50R-16 Tires on Honda Fit by pantsdontfit

Nov 08, 2012 (6:24 pm)

Hello, I went ahead and got rid of the factory original tires, & went with 1" wider Yokohama 205/50R-16 tires on my 2009 Honda Fit sport several days ago. It has made a very noticeable difference in the way the car feels. It just seems to hug the road better & the steering responds better. I would recommend these tires to anyone.

#198 of 207 Snow tires and wheels - help by liquidfire

Dec 02, 2012 (8:09 pm)

I got a Fit this spring but have a set of one season old snow tires on steel wheels from my prior vehicle. I'm wondering if they are compatible or how I can find out if they are. I believe my Fit still has the factory wheels/ tires = 175/65 R15. My snow tires are already mounted and balanced on steel wheels = 185/65 R14. They both have 4 lug nuts.
Can anyone please help?

#199 of 207 m1lp by m1lp

Dec 16, 2012 (10:01 am)

I just had my tires rotated at Walmart (not balanced) and was charged a $20.00 fee for resetting the TPMS. Is this necessary if the tires were not removed from the rims?

#200 of 207 Re: m1lp [m1lp] by pf_flyer HOST

Dec 16, 2012 (7:59 pm)

Replying to: m1lp (Dec 16, 2012 10:01 am)
I'm not sure if the Fit's TMPS is a basic one that rests itself or not. If the light comes on in my Versa (like it did on an extremely cold morning the other day), after getting the tires back up to proper pressure, the light goes off on its own after a mile or so. Some makes and models DO require a "procedure"to reset the light. I have a friend who operates a tire shop/garage and some they are able to reset (combinations of key turns and things like that) but some need to go to the dealer.
 
If they simply rotated the tires and didn't mess with pressures, I don't think the system would need to be reset. (Whether a "procedure" is required or not) $20 seems steep from my perspective as my friend's shop resets the light (as long as it's not a silly one that needs to go to the dealer) if it stays on after a tire change or pressure at no charge, at least no charge that I've ever seen. I'll check with him tomorrow and ask about the Fit and what he thinks about the $20 fee too.

#201 of 207 Re: m1lp [m1lp] by pf_flyer HOST

Dec 17, 2012 (2:56 pm)

Replying to: m1lp (Dec 16, 2012 10:01 am)
You didn't say what year your Fit was, but I asked my buddy about the 2009 Fit. There's no procedure to reset the TPMS light after you refill tires, just drive for a bit and it goes off. If you check your owner's manual, you should be able to confirm this if your Fit isn't a 2009. Sometimes manufacturers change how these things work, but I'd bet the Fit is a pretty basic TPMS.
 
As far as the $20 goes, if they drove your car to get the light to go off (something that you would have done anyway) I suppose they could justify charging for their time, but it still seems steep. And consider this story they told me. A customer came in who was comparison shopping for tires, and they had a quote from Walmart and a charge for resetting the TPMS light was part of the quote. Given that a lot of TPMS lights simply reset themselves, that $20 is a nice little bonus and sure feels like a ripoff to me.
 
Like I said, check your manual and you'll know for sure.

Messages Page 21 of 22

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