purchased a new S60 - Premier Plus - 15 months ago, my tires are already cupped - and are 90% worn --- is this common?

within the first 10K miles I have complained to the dealer that the car pulls, 4 inspections later they stated it does not pull - road un-even...

now all 4 tires are cupped and 90% worn

they state new TIRES and 4 wheel alignment, this is a bit goofy if you ask me

BTW, I visited a dealer yesterday - he stated since VOLVO covers alignment within the first 12K miles he would have aligned the wheels and charged VOLVO for it...

to be told 4x times it does not pull it really making me not like VOLVO

 

How many miles on the car now?

 

only 25,600

 

The only thing you can really argue about is the dealer likely screwing up on an alignment issue that has been well evident for much of the cars short life so far. There is no arguing the current condition of the tires demands the alignment be checked and corrected and new tires installed. Actually, that should occur in reverse order as the alignment should be done with the new tires already in place. I would highly recommend a 3rd party for this service. First for the reason that the dealer is at least suspect in this situation, and second because the dealer is always the most expensive option with regard to purchasing tires. As for the alignment issue, the factory covering an alignment in the first 12K miles is usually just a courtesy issue. The vast majority of cars will not experience an alignment issue in the first 12K, and the vast majority that do are due to a customer caused issue. Give me a freshly aligned car and 5 minutes in a parking lot with concrete bumper blocks and I can have the alignment out far enough to cause the issue you have experienced, and it would have nothing to do with the quality of the car or of the preciseness of the alignment.

Now for a few other factors. A soft rubber compound meant to give superior performance for a sporty car, your personal driving style, and your local climate. I regularly get 60K+ out of an 80K tire and that is changing the tire at 5/32 because I simply don't like the wet and snow performance beyond that point, so an 80K tire is pretty much lasting me 80K, but friends of mine run similar tires and they are shot at 60K, so in that case the difference is most likely personal driving style. When I was much younger the same tires (and brakes) never made it past 50K. This is in central Ohio where summers are relatively short and rarely above 85f. My buddy who lives in Albuquerque, NM where the climate is quite different struggles to get 30K out of a set of tires and our driving styles have become very similar. Of course city/highway driving mix plays a big part too. So as you might see, there are many factors that play into tire life. I don't see anything goofy about the dealer recommending 4 new tires and an alignment, but considering your experience with them not properly addressing the pulling issue I wouldn't reward them with my tire and alignment business.

 

I agree with what you are saying, however, after speaking to Volvo NA, they stated they cover all alignments issue for first 12month or 12K miles, had this been resolved by dealer, the tires would have not been cupped and lasted another 10-15K

Thanks

 

You very well may be right. When you get it aligned ask the shop if it was out significantly enough to cause extreme tire wear. Also, the only way you will know for sure that a soft tire compound didn't contribute to the issue is to put the same tire back on, but you can normally find a better tire option than what was put on at the factory.