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I have a 2006 Matrix with the same issues. Does anyone know a dealer who will state that there is a design issue? There are too many of us with the exact same problem for this not to be a recall. Let's ban together.  

I have a 2005 Matrix XR that was purchased brand new. I'm also having the same problems with tire wear. At 33,000 miles I am forced to have all 4 tires replaced. Engine light came on a few months ago and I took the Matrix to the dealer who told me that my tire treads were worn out and that I needed to replace 2 or 4 tires. I listened to the advice but still drove it for a few months knowing that the tires needed to be replaced (hey, I'm a broke college student and tires are expensive). I shouldn't  have to replace my tires period. I am a very light driver. The only places I drive to are work and school and to run errands. My sister has a 1999 Honda Accord and still has the original tires that came with the car! What's up with that, Toyota?

I also had issues with start-up as someone else mentioned. The car would occasionally not start on the first try but would start on the 2nd try (this usually occurs about once a month or every other month). I love my Toyota Matrix but will probably never purchase a vehicle from Toyota ever again. Sorry Toyota, you lose.  

Legal action may be the only way to go.  My Toyota service people don't hear the tire noise either.  It started around 12K.  It's not a tire  quality problem although the tires are not top quality.  It's the way the car is made--ie.it's a Toyota problem.  I quite like the car, but won't buy Toyata cars again since I've had better luck and service from Honda.  

I just spent $500 on new tires after 20,000 miles on the original Continentals that came with my 2006 Matrix. The car has 31,000 miles but I had snow tires on in the winters. The dealer gave me a lot of BS about how an alignment would have prevented the problem. Not so, says my trustworthy mechanic and my common sense. I am alarmed to read that it is perhaps a rim problem and will look into having them checked out. I would be more than happy to join a class action suit on this issue. I owned a Honda for years and got much better service from them.  

I too have, what seems to be a common problem. My dealer said tires were worn due to lack of rotation. All four are worn on the inside. Alignment was checked and found to be in spec.
On a properly designed and aligned car the wear should be even all the way around! Lets go ahead with that suit! Front tires will wear out due to steering but should wear evenly across the tread.  

I have a 2004 Toyota Matrix purchased in May '04. It has 84,000 miles and we are on our 4th set of tires in 4 years. Granted, yes we drive a lot, but the first three years we only put 14K on a year. Tried goodyear traction T/A's, tried every tire suggested. I have experienced not only poor tire wear but also a grinding sort of noise that accompanies them when driving at highway speeds. Dealer has repeatedly attributed this to tire wear and the choppy sound after rotating the tires.

Only tires I have been able to get to last longer than 9 months I purchased from tirerack . com. They are goodyear assurance triple treads. They were more expensive than your typical all seasons, but living in upstate NY I wanted a more agressive all season for snow and ice. These tires worked great. I had them almost a year with no tire noises until recently. Seems to coincide with the fact that they were just rotated and balanced. I have met several people with the same tire wear problem on their Matrix. This is getting too expensive! I am hoping to get another 6 months at least out of these tires, and so far the future looks promising... so until this law suit gets underway I highly recommend buying those tires to last.  

I have a 2003 Matrix with 94,000 miles on it and the third set of tires.  This set has about 25,000 on them. The road noise is getting nasty.  I took it to a reputable tire dealer, and he told me that the tires were cupping--worse on the right side because I rotate the tires frequent. The right rear wheel is out of alignment, but with these types of cars, you can't align the rear end. I am stuck with the problem.  The only solution is to put on new tires and have them wear out prematurely.  

I was just informed my Continental tires on my 2006 Toyota Matrix are worn out. I only have 28K miles on them and I DO NOT do any unusual driving, mostly highway miles since we live in a small town. I let the service manager do WHATEVER is necessary when I take it in for oil changes and rotation. I had noticed increased "noise" after about my third oil change (all service WAS done at the dealer that sold me the car) and asked the service guy, but he said it was "normal". I shrugged it off to small car noise. I am so angry I will send this to every website I can find and think it is a problem with the MATRIX as well as the lousy tires.  Ed  

I have Matrix XR 2006 and I am having the same problem . The car makes too much noise on the freeway. Also the Tires are gone out and I have been asked to replace them.  

I have a Matrix 2006, the original tires were replaced when the car had around 25,000 miles. Now, the car has about 65,000 miles, the tires have plenty tread in the outside, but almost nothing inside. I was also told that an alignment will make things better. The sad truth is that I may have to buy new tires..  

While driving North on Interstate 65, the intire stell belt exploded off the Matrix tire, but the tire had plenty of tread still on it. The car I was driving was a 1997 Toyota Avalon. Has anyone else had this problem?  

I have a 2006 Toyota Matrix with 32194 miles and I am now on my 3rd set of tires. Dealer claims problem not with car with driver. I drive mostly in town surface streets and am not a driver who is constantly braking or burning rubber. I love the car but am very frustrated with constantly replacing tires. Wish Toyota would admit something is wrong with car and fix the problem.  

I'm taking my '03 Matrix in for it's 4th set of tires at 81,000 miles that is ridiculous!  I will gladly join a class action suit!  

Just to add another data point. We had just to replace the OEM Continental tires at around 22K. Reguarly balanced and aligned. Seems Toyota just puts on OEM crap tires. We replaced them with Bridgestone Turanza EL400 tires, which supposedly have a 60K warranty.  

I have a 2004 Matrix.  It has 105,000 miles on it.  I have had to replace the tires several times and do feel that the wear has been excessive.  However, be forewarned - I've just had to replace the wheel bearings on both sides of the front of the car.  $900+ !!  I'm going to talk to the dealer about problems with the struts.  Something does seem to be wrong with the front end.  I've owned two other Toyotas and drove them both until they had 150,000+ miles on them.  All I had to do was keep the oil changed.