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Looking into a Toyota Matrix but have read some problems about early wear on tires.  Would love to hear from anyone who has had problem and those who haven't to get there feel of the vehicle over all.  Have a Sienna AWD and dealt with run flat tires with it, don't want another vehicle and have similar problems.  Thanks for any help.  

Got NEW Matrix May 10/06, at 3,000 km tire wear is bad.. at 8,000 was told by toyota mechanic (service manager) need to replace tires on front.. wait for warranty guy..away that *** will replace at 16,000 km service.. set this up for when both were to be there.. of course day comes and they are not there.  On phone conversation was told to take to tire specialist to see why tires were wearing (goodyear tires).  Found out in 3 months small tire dealer had 4 other Matrix with same wear problem.  Now at 16,950 km wore to 3mm even across (so not because of balancing)  moved back to front and now the "new" fronts are down to 7.5mm of tread.  What is the deal?  Tried to blame son (who resides in Calgary.. while I am in Ontario)  great comfort when was sold on extended warranty on the condition it would cover everything except wipers for a safety throughout the 4 years!  not impressed with Toyota right now  

Got a Matrix in 04 brand new and tires made funny noise when I took it to the dealer was told there was water in them, funny, noise stopped for a while but has come back, any suggestion on what it could be?  

i have an 05 XR , havent had the tire problem. overall i am happy with the car but not with toyota.
i found out that matrix has a starting problem (not serious) it doesnt start on the first try and smells like gas, but always starts on the second. it happened about 4-5 times in the first year. still not a problem.
I was annoyed so i took it to the dealer that sold me the car and the mechanics told me that this was an isolated incident and that they have fixed this "minor" detail. a month goes by and again it happens, so i go online and sure enough. others are having the same problem, mostly in the US. i went back to the dealer and this time armed with this info.
the CSR comes back with an email from the head office stating that the issue has been understood but not to do anything.
I wrote to toyota head office in canada...no response. I wrote to japan...no response. so I started to email city tv, ctv any media outlet and CC toyota HO canada and japan.
and sure enough, they called and fixed the problem. now it starts on the first try everytime.

I suggest you do the same. grab them by thier balls.
we paid for something that is not 100% so we should get a full refund or get it fixed.
I hope this helps  

The Matrix comes with Goodyear rs/a tires that wear out fast. I plan on buying B F Goodrich Traction T/A tires when mine wear out.....  

We recently bought a 2006 Matrix. Front tires cupped on the inside at 5-8000 miles. Had alignment reset and tires rotated. Now the tires in front are already cupping at about 3000 miles. Dealer doesn't want to admit of any problem saying that it must be our fault somehow.  

has anyone found the fix yet for matrix tire wear problem?  

I'm having the same issue with a 2006 Matrix.  I rotate the tires regularly, and my mechanic (not the dealer) noticed at about 10,000 miles, the tires were cupping.  I rotated them, and now all 4 are cupped.   I had an alignment done today, the mechanic said that while the alignment was slightly off, it was not the cause of the cupping.  He said to go back at the dealer and push him on looking at replacing the struts.  I'll try that next week.  If anyone else is seeing this issue, please post.  Or, if there are other forums on the internet discussing this, please post a link.

Tom K  

06 toyota matrix xr 28k miles all four tires are worn and being replaced inner third of tire is bald. I blame cheep factory tires.  

We have a Matrix in Upstate NY with tire wear problems and unfortunately we didn't rotate ever 5,000 miles at the beginning with our all-seasons, and it shouldn't matter because every tire expert we've gone to says the chopping of our tires has nothing to do with rotation (for one thing, it happened on all four tires before we rotated it the first time!).

BUT we did rotate our snow tires on time, and they're all worn badly just like the all seasons ("cupping" "chopped" "uneven" were a few of the words used to describe this wear).

Same as everyone else, a horrible loud noise accompanied the tire wear, and Toyota has been a *** to deal with.  Had the alignment checked, alignment is officially fine.

Summary: This is NOT a tire problem, this is NOT an alignment problem, this is a CAR problem.  Has anyone had any success with Toyota on this?

Thanks,
Alison  

I have a 97 Toyota Camry Le 4cyl.  At 110,000 miles, I started having weird tire wear problems that turned out to be due to worn struts and warped rotors.  One symptom was car sat lower and started scraping at the end of my driveway.  This was the worn struts.  Rotating tires made no difference, just spread the weird wear.  

Rotor problem also caused pulsating brake pedal and tire tapping sound.  Brakes were unbelievably smooth after I replaced the rotors.  Handling was similarly great with the new struts.

Replaced both struts and rotors and the tires at the same time.  Did the work myself.  Tire problems went away and did not re-occur.  

One or both of the problems I had may be the cause of your tire wear problems, but if so, it is obviously NOT due to worn equipment, but RATHER defective new equipment or design or both.

Come on Toyota and Toyota dealers...Give your loyal customers a break.  Show some quality and ----s.  Own up to the problem, recall the cars, and fix them.  

I have a 2006 Matrix with 25K miles. The tire noise began at about 10K miles. The car was taken to the dealer for all of the schedule maintenance,
what I found interesting is that the dealer after road testing the car never mention the noise. The tire noise became so bad that today I replaced all 4 tires. This is not a tire promblem it is a design problem with the Matrix, and something that Toyota needs to address.  

I'm having the same issue with my 06 Matrix XRS.  At 10,000 miles, the rear tires were choppy on the outside.  They tried to blame a bent axle & it was my fault.  But, they paid for 3 new tires, and put shims in to align it.  At 25k, tires choppy again.  They couldn't hear it due to rain, right!  Now they say a lot of Matrix's have a problem with the positioning of the rear axle & they will replace 2 if I buy the other 2.  I know someone who has a 2004 Matrix XRS & didn't have to replace tires until 60k.  I think this is a problem that needs to be corrected.  

.. just joining in a little late.  Same problem with my 04 Matrix with now only 25K; problem started at about 15K when front end began to sound like a bad wheel bearing.  Dealer said tires out of alignment and to buy new tires. I said BS!.. Other service issues produced poor results w/dealer so they promised to align for free after I bought new tires.  Still haven't done that but another friend with an '04 has same problem.

I am not an attorney but wondered if a suit against Toyota might produce a recall?  Anyone interested?  

weird.. i did a google search. I'm on my second set of tires with my matrix (75,000) miles so far. I'm a little frustrated on the fact that they keep wearing down. I'm also buying high-end Goodyear and Michelin tires... it seems like the back right wheel is the worst one -- it always goes first. If you buy a Matrix, make sure you get warrenties on your tires!