A Nitto Tire with about 22,000 miles on it looks like most tires with about 50,000 miles on them.
Having bought a set of Nitto tires, I thought I would share some positives and negatives about them.
Positives:
They are black.
They are round.
Negatives:
They wear out as if made of some combination of vulcanized rubber and powdered sugar, leading you to return to Big-O Tires over on Colfax Ave. with the sales receipt from ~22,000 miles ago. On the sales receipt will be a fuchsia Post-It note upon which you have written down an 800 number for Nitto customer service. The Nitto Tire people have told you that a tire tech is to call that number with an explanation of the status of the tires. Using an interesting little tool, the tech will determine that the front treads are at 4/32nds and the rears at 3/32nds, the disparity having to do with rotation intervals (rotation which happened four times). This is, he will note, extraordinary wear for such mileage. Drive it another thou, the tech suggests, and come back, as the warranty doesn’t kick in until 2/32nds. The 60,000-mile warranty will then be prorated based on mileage, Nitto crediting you on some nebulous prorated basis for a brand-new set of tires Nitto made from a combination of vulcanized rubber and powdered sugar. Given that winter is approaching much more quickly than you will drive your car another thousand miles, and given that you’re not interested in dying on icy Colorado roads, you will to forego this “discount” and buy from another vendor a new set of tires, ideally ones produced by a company that employs competent material scientists.
