I switched from Michelin Primacy 4s to Primacy 5s a week ago, only on the rear wheels, and now the car is behaving strangely…
In areas where I used to pass at X speed with all four Primacy 4 wheels without a problem, now with 2 and 2—I don’t know if it’s because of that or not—but when I take those same curves at that speed, the traction control kicks in… It sounds like a small thing, but it left me a bit stunned when it happened…
I don’t know if it’s because they still need breaking in, because the difference between the tires is apparently greater than I thought, or what it could be due to.
As I said, I’ve driven through those areas 1000 times, and the traction control only kicked in once during heavy rain in a different area in 2 and a half years.
And now, driving the same way as always, it happens to me once every 2 days.
Don’t tell me “well slow down man, don’t go so fast” because that’s not the point HAHA.
If you need more specifics to guess what might be happening, I’ll post them.
PS: The tires have the correct pressure at first glance, but I’ve had them at the wrong pressure other times and this never happened.
The same amount of time as the front ones, 2 years since I’ve had the car and about 40k km (but they’re in good shape, you know? checked at Honda 2 weeks ago and that’s why they told me the front ones were already due for a change)
From back to front, it was time to change the front ones and they put the new ones in the back (next month I’ll change the old ones, which didn’t have much life left anyway)
And sorry, I don’t understand the part about “in an X”, but I’d say it was straight
Yes, they have it, plus they are always inflated to their corresponding pressures
There’s your problem. Those tires are saw-toothed, with rubber that’s less flexible due to heating and cooling cycles, and set in a wear pattern from the rear axle. You never rotate them with that many kilometers; it’s done much earlier. Personally, I recommend leaving them as they were.
Another question: you say the traction control is kicking in, so I assume you’re accelerating, right? Is it at the exit of the corner? Or does it do it without throttle at another point?
Morrillu: this is just to split hairs with the diagnosis
At Costco, they literally wouldn’t let me not rotate them
And the tires were in good condition despite the age and mileage, but I won’t push my luck again… in fact, like I said, I’ll change the front ones and that way I’ll have all 4 Primacy 5s.
Well look, getting off the highway, in a deceleration zone, still going a bit fast in that slight curve, then in a 180° turn marked for 40, going 65/70 km/h, it kicked in again… and you’ll say it’s also because I was going fast… I was going fast but it had never kicked in before.
But for the sake of diagnosis, it’s like you guys say—instead of swapping them again, I’m going to wait a couple of weeks and I’ll start booking an appointment to change the other 2 I had left.
Once you change them, your problems will be over. Remember, if you want performance, never rotate them. That’s for people who just want to squeeze every last bit of life out of the tires at the expense of performance.
The reasons are the ones morillu mentioned, plus tires mold themselves to the weight, suspension, and so on. They take the shape of where they are mounted. If you rotate them, you’ll notice that incompatible deformity.
If you’re going to drive slowly and you don’t give a damn about vibrations and such, then go ahead, you’ll save some money for a while. But otherwise, it’s not worth it.
Look, it wasn’t about being poor, it was a lack of knowledge and the fact that where I had them done, they changed them no matter what even if you said no XD I didn’t understand that
But anyway, it’s clear that was it… as soon as I can afford it I’ll change the others and problem solved
I don’t want vibrations or anything XD
I didn’t do it to save money, simply because that’s how they put them on, I’m definitely not having them put on like that anymore
That idea that rotating tires is for poor people or hurts performance is complete nonsense… Your problem is simply that you waited too long to rotate them, because it’s something that, if you do it, should be every 10,000 km or so, or once a year.
I didn’t know you had to rotate them, like, every X km even while still using them. I remember that with the Astra, nothing like what’s happening with the Civic happened to me. But oh well, it’s clear now that I either rotate them sooner or I change them all at once XD
It depends on the car, the geometry, the settings, the tires themselves, etc. There are some that don’t develop uneven wear and let you rotate them without any issues, even if time has passed.
I still think it’s for poor people; otherwise, why on earth is it necessary to rotate them?
Do the ones on the drive axle wear out more? Well, you change them when necessary and that’s it.
Just because you notice the change less in other cars doesn’t mean the performance is the same. It’s a simple measure to try and wear them down evenly: rear axle, front axle.
To save money, I prefer to change the ones on the worn axle and that’s it. And those who have the cash just change all 4 without any fuss lol
Exactly. That’s why you’ll wear out the front tires while the rears start cracking and scalloping. By rotating them, you balance the wear and optimize their lifespan.
In any case, it’s especially worth it with this type of hard tire. For sportier tires—the ones that last 10-15,000 km—it’s not as important since they’ll wear out before those effects even show up.
No, there is no magic number, because someone whose tires last 50k can’t rotate them the same way as someone whose tires last 80k. And they aren’t rotated once, they are rotated 3 times. That way the tires wear evenly, the uneven wear is removed and everything works, more or less.
I explain it here:
Morrillu: I would only rotate them on all-wheel-drive cars to avoid damaging the power distribution.
Right, but saying that is like saying nothing at all; with people’s reading comprehension nowadays, it does more harm than good. They’ll think “I’ll change once a year and everything’s fine,” or every 10,000 km. If I rotated once a year or every 10,000 km, it’d be a joke.
There is a magic number, it’s 3 as I’ve argued, and it’s done by wear: neither by km nor by time, so it doesn’t depend on whether you wear them down at a 2:1/3:1 or even 4:1 ratio like I’ve had in other cars, and of course it doesn’t depend on what tires you’re running either.
Because as I say, in any car with all-wheel drive (this includes sports cars with sticky tires), you either rotate or you wreck the distribution system due to the difference in rotation speed from the diameters and/or grip. Opel systems are incredibly finicky about this.
But anyway, I know why now, I know how to proceed, and I know what to do so it doesn’t happen again.
Previous experiences with an Ibiza and an Astra haven’t helped in this case, so that’s that—time to adapt. Before long, I’ll change the front tires, which were due at almost the same time anyway, and that’s it.
Sure, but it’s only logical that if someone lands on this thread with the same problem, they should know how to proceed with a proper rotation, if they want to.
