Thread: OEM tyres are not fit for purpose

Originally Posted by TB.

on rocky surfaces a soft city tyre is probably more susceptible to chipping.

Actually the compound will be too hard.

BFG had the same issue about ten or so years agowith the then new MT's, as did Cooper with their first ST, and quite a few other manufacturers.
At the time I saw some relatively new BFG MT's on a Hilux in Scone that had lived near Ellerston in the hills east of there and the tyres were destroyed. I had a similar issue although not as bad with Bridgestone MT's and Michelin XZL's on those same shale roads.
The next batch of Mt's that came into the country used a modified, softer compound.
Less life on the bitumen, but much better on gravel/dirt. I had two sets and they worked well on those same roads.

A softer compound complies better to the small, sharp stones without nicking and cutting. The harder compound slightly slips/skids more, hence the chipping and cutting.

Noticed similar but not quite as bad chipping on my front tyres. On mine it's limited to the outer tread section, and no cuts between the tread pattern. I've done 23,000 on them since new.

Anyway, got the dealer to check them when I went in for service and he said it's typically caused by driving on gravel and that dropping the pressures to about 28 on gravel roads helps. I don't do much if any gravel so it wasn't that, but I have been a bit lax checking tyre pressures lately and all were under 30 so that could have been a factor.

Anyway, he rotated them front to back and did a wheel alignment under warranty. He kind of hinted that the factory fitted Goodyear Wranglers weren't very good, though obviously he couldn't say those exact words, and his advice was just to run these into the ground and replace with a different brand next time around.

I agree that this tyre wear is typical of a hard tyre that has done rocky track work. There isnt a fault in the tyre there that I can see. What I would be worried about more is the cut in the tread groove (which is not a manufacturers fault), but it wouldn't worry me enough to do anything about it, just keep an eye on the tyre pressures.

I really would not expect anything from LR regarding this.

I have this issue on my MY17 DS. The chipping is quite bad for 17,000km. Front tyres only - rears look new.
Can’t be due to rock/gravel roads as the vehicle has only done city and motorway driving. (I take the FL2 when I go off-road as the DS has too many issues)