Nokian WRG2 tires falling apart?

[Tahoe12]

I was extremely happy with my last set of Nokians. I got 50,000 plus miles out of them.

This is my second set, they are the WRG2 with 26,000 miles. Mostly city and highway driving. Absolutely no off-roading on this set since day one.

Recently I noticed the front tire treads are ripping off on the edges.

1. Is this normal wear and tear?
2. 50,000 mile warranty, you think they will just set me up with 2 new tires? Required to replace all 4 at once because it is all-wheel drive correct?
3. Anyone else have warranty experiences with Nokian?

Thanks

2 bad tires







Rear tires still look ok since last rotation.

[Jxander]

Now that's some bad looking tires. I assume they sounded awful as well as rode poorly. There appears to be some uneven wear due to misalignment or deteriorated frontend parts but a tire should still not fall apart like those have. i think Nokian should surely replace them although I bet they won't warranty the new ones without a full alignment.

[VolksTrooper]

looks like you might have hit some road debris.

[Eugene-Dave-1]

Something relevant has been omitted from this story.

[RyanM]

Regardless of what happens they look wore out anyway. Need new tires.

[Tahoe12]

Something relevant has been omitted from this story.

Nope, nothing left out. I've been on these forums for 7 yrs. helping people out. These are purely the facts. I'm trying to figure out why these (expensive $1,100) and highly recommended tires are starting to fail for no apparent reason. Can't make it back to the tire shop for a weeks since its 1.5 hrs away.

[Tahoe12]

Regardless of what happens they look wore out anyway. Need new tires.

Perhaps deceiving photos, but lots of tread left on these tires. It's just the edges that are failing.

[Jimbuffalo]

Don't know what to add other than I've not had problems and have run on Nokians for almost 90k miles. I am on my second set of WRG2s, following my initial set of WRs that I bought to replace what I felt to be decidedly crappy OEM Pirelli Scorpion Zeros.

Have had no issues with mine and, like you, stayed with the Nokians. I think they're an ideal tire for the Touareg

The outer edge wear would indicate your alignment needs to be adjusted, but as far as chunks of tire block falling apart, I've never seen that before. Looks like road hazard...like you ran over a box of scalpels just right....

Anyway, sorry for the troubles...and good luck getting a new set. Sh+t happens. Hopefully Nokian can offer some insights....bad batch of rubber/compound perhaps?

90% of drivers out there probably would not have even noticed! So props for finding out before a blowout or worse.

[Tahoe12]

Thanks Jim. Was hoping to hear that my situation hasn't been the norm. I'm so surprised about these, bc the last set were so nice. Although I did get about 5 nails/screws on the last set. There was still tread left at 60K but after that many patches, they suggested new tires for safety. Something about the last 'sipped' pattern picks-up screws easily.

Definitely will be getting an alignment soon and heading back to the tire shop.

[vwbeaner]

I have WRG2's on three vehicles, '06 Passat (25k), '01 Tahoe (15k), '06 Accord (20k). They are all in great shape and none of them have any kind of wear like that. You may have had a bad batch of tires. I will certainly buy another set when mine all wear out.

[rlkeen]

Got 35k on my first set without any problems but had road force balancing when new and second set had 4 wheel alignment. Agree with others looks like alignment or front end issues or road hazzard. Pirellies were crap, only 19k coopers 11k cupping badly. Nokians have been the most trouble free. Good luck with replacements, will most likely pro-rate for the wear.

[Tahoe12]

They gave me a call back, apparently they talked to Nokian, who said it is normal and won't affect traction. And there is nothing further they can do.

The softer compound results in flaking when driven hard on dry ground. Just a tradeoff for a good all season/winter tire they said.

Sometimes you have to just let this stuff go. I don't have the time to deal with it. I rotated them and will get an alignment done. My last Nokian WRs never did this, but then again, these are a different model WRG2s.

[2areg2]

Having bought a set of WRG2s as all around tires for my V8, I was really disappointed that they really didn't perform at all where I live. I contacted Nokian and after a good exchange of e-mails they admitted that the WRG2 are different from the WRGs (which I was basing my choice on) given a different compound and asymmetrical tire tread design. I swapped them out for a set of Hakka 5s which are better but not any greater than the Blizzaks' that I have on the V6.

The WRG2s are now summer tires on my V8.

2areg2