We have a 2023 Defender 130 with the 19 inch tires. The tires have been rotated regularly. We have 20,000 miles on the truck, and I just took it in for another tire rotation. I was told that the tires were down to 3/32 and needed to be replaced. I have never heard of tires only lasting 20,000 miles? Is that the experience that others are having? To add insult to injury I was told that there is no warranty on these tires for mileage, which is also not something I have ever heard of. Would love to hear the experience of others and also if they have found replacement tires with better warranties? Thank you.

 

Tire warranties don't cover normal wear. That's very much a user dependent factor. Someone driving like a maniac on gravel won't get the same tire life as someone pootling along the highway at 60mph day after day. Bad alignment, rotating 4 not 5, driving style, road surface, braking habits, fully loaded vehicle, towing etc. All factors to consider.

The warranty is typically prorated with it being offset for wear. Ie: 50% tread remaining will give you a 50% value toward a new replacement tire, if indicated based on a warranty issue.

The warranty from the big shops like Costco/Discount etc will cover things like punctures and other road related damage. It doesn't kick in because you have not got as long as you thought out of your 5 tires.

I assume you're using all 5. Many folks keep the spare out of rotation. Can't imagine why they do this but that will of course reduce your tires' lifespan by 20%

 

Inflation Inflation Inflation.

And Alignment. Do you drive in an area that is prone to potholes that can throw off the alignment of the car?

I agree that 20k on the tires is crap. My 22 110 has 30k on it and still has its original tires that are about 50% worn.

Hell I've got over 70k on my FJ's tires and the tread is still fine - but they're starting to dry rot/crack.

 

We do not have any irregular wear or alignment issues. Other tires customarily have a pro-rated wear warranty of 40k - 70k miles - astounding to me that Land Rover would install tires with zero tread wear warranty!

 

I never seem to get past 30k on tires around here. I think winters are a bit tougher on tires, with iced surfaces there's inevitably wheelspin so over the course of months of winter driving I don't think anyone is getting 40k around here (not sure where you are) Then as someone else mentioned there are potholes and inflation which factor in. Inflation varies wildly by the time of the year around here, you can be down fully 8 psi simply going from summer to winter temperatures in my area. I no longer have my Defender but I can tell you my own experience is that the 2022 Defender was delivered very much over-inflated and I wouldn't be surprised if that takes a toll on a lot of unwary owners out there who (by the time they realize it) will have some premature wear just from that alone.

My current vehicle has the Firestone Destinations on it, and at my recent scheduled maintenance they said I'm close to needing new tires already. I'm at just 27k and I half-expected as much. This is even with me being very tuned into the inflation status, I go so far as to drive around with the PSI for the four tires on my screen as the default view. Winter is on the way so I should have a fresh set put on but I'm going to see how it goes, I might be able to hold off until spring and by then these will be toast with maybe about 32k on them. If anyone has had any luck with tire warranty claims I'd be interested to hear it. I see 60k and even higher tire warranties but have never come close to that so I've always assumed it was BS false advertising of some sort and that they'd highly question it if I ever tried to file a warranty claim. There are a lot of factors which could affect the rate of wear, I'm not sure how anyone could prove even the inflation was set properly for that length of time.

 

I know of no car maker or tire supplier that offers a tread wear warranty. Not in the USA anyway. Perhaps its different where you're at. Seems like a bizarre thing to offer.

The OEM tires are all junk on the Defenders. highway tires or highway tires with an A/T badge. I used mine for 10k and got rid of them. They were about 85% tread depth remaining at that stage. If indeed it's accurate that your tread is down that low after 20k miles something is definitely rotten in the state of Denmark. Either that or your tire guy is spouting BS to sell you a new set of rubber.

What do your own measures of tread depth tell you?

 

yeah. They do. with a full size spare on a “looks like the others rim” you should rotate all 5 from the get go.

That way you will always have a spare with comparable wear to the others

You will get 20% more miles on a set

you're paying for 5 tires. Using 4 is less than wise.

A five tire rotation pattern is the norm. Not using all 5 makes no sense whatsoever unless you are a tire shop.

rotating 5 takes a few minutes longer and means selling fewer tires.

Standard rotation pattern for a set of 5 on a 4WD

 

+1 on @GavinC ’s great breakdown. I agree with and follow the 5 tire rotation model: obviously presuming full size, matching wheel and rubber, etc. which is commonplace on our Defenders and similar vehicles. I’d add it’s peace of mind to know there’s no dry rot or other issues and the spare is fully functional in time of need. That’s a slightly less issue with rear vs under mount spares as rear mounted units on our Defenders are easier to casually inspect.

In terms of tread wear depth and uniformity of handling and/or comfort of ride, I’d rather have the spare “in rotation” to equalize tread wear. Sticking on a ‘new’ spare tire and potentially (varies with mileage) having to put up with handling or ride issues resulting from larger difference in tread wear depth from a single tire, then wanting or needing to replace tires to correct that nuance is avoided.

I paid for 5 why not average out the tire wear and max out the mileage on that investment. It also allows an opportunity (on a +5000 mile-ish rotation interval) to inspect for odd tire wear patterns that can be corrected by tweaking inflation pressure, an alignment, or similar TLC earlier rather than later (had that picked up early on an modern Toyota FJ that I had banged around quite a bit that was in need of a re-alignment)

Tire rotation shops these days don’t even charge. I recall being the tire rotation shop of choice in our driveway in my youth where dad and uncles would take advantage of “labour they’ve already paid for” and they could teach me a few obviously helpful life skills :-D LOL

To each their own (as has been discussed in other treads here in forum) - but I bought 5 and might and figure I may get my mileage outta all of’ ‘em

 

We're at 45,000 miles on the original Goodyear 19" tires. Did 5-tire rotation on them and they're nearing their end-of-life now. I have a slightly different conundrum: I've blown out 2 of these tires, the first at 5,000 miles - so that doesn't count - just adjusted the rotation a bit to keep the newer tire out of the spare position till it's wear caught up with the others. The second blow out was at 40,000 miles. The new tire is still in the spare position and unless I buy 4 more Goodyears, I don't know if I'll ever use it because it is so much different from the others.

 

Bear in mind the 5 tire pattern shown is not for directional tires.