Tires completely worn out at 10,000 km

[RedRaiderRivian]

I am a 63 year old grandmother. I do not drive off road. If the alignment was off, it was off from the factory. Not my fault but now I have had to replace the 21” tires and will have to purchase new wheels and snow tires. Rivian told me it wouldn’t be a problem dealing with the tires until the loaner I was using had a 12v battery malfunction at which point, suddenly there were no options available.

I do agree that is was off from the factory and not your fault. Others have had similar issues and Pirelli has not been any more forgiving on the tire replacement. I don't plan to replace mine with Pirelli tires since the Michelin 21" tires are $100 per tire less expensive.

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[CrazyOne]

Conserve tire wear is well documented for R1's that have misalignment. Properly aligned R1's can drive in conserve and all purpose in low setting with no problem. I keep the setting in Auto and have normal wear for a tire that is this soft. I used to drive a sedan with low profile soft tires and was lucky to get 30k miles.

I have never launched mine. Used sport mode twice maybe. On track to new tires at around 20k miles. Performed tire alignment once and will get it checked again in a month. My driving is mostly city though. That's with 5 tire rotation btw.

 

[AllInev]

My slightly meaningless data point: ~28k miles on my first set of OEM 21" wheels/tires. I probably could have safely made it to 30k. I never use Conserve mode, tow occasionally, off-road occasionally, send-it occasionally, etc. In other words, I don't baby the thing.

I've been happy with the OEM 21" wheels/tires. I know they're not as macho as some would prefer, but they're very quiet and pretty efficient. I had an R1T loaner with 20" wheels/tires from Rivian for 6 weeks and was surprised how loud they were compared to the OEM 20" tires/wheels.

 

[Myrna Pearce]

I have never launched mine. Used sport mode twice maybe. On track to new tires at around 20k miles. Performed tire alignment once and will get it checked again in a month. My driving is mostly city though. That's with 5 tire rotation btw.

 

[Myrna Pearce]

Are there any Canadians who have found after market wheels that fit the R1S? Our two local tire dealers in North Vancouver say they cannot source appropriate wheels and yet folks on the forum mention all sorts of alternatives. I am wondering if the only options available are only available in the States.

 

[RivAW]

We have a R1S purchased in March 2024. I started noticing problems driving in the rain in the summer. The vehicle would seem to slide around a lot. My husband noted the tires looked worn at 7,000 km and we made an appointment to have this checked out. We couldn’t get in until late Oct for a service check initially. We then had a water leak from the HVAC system and they toed the vehicle in Oct 1.

Eventually the leak was fixed and the looked at the tires and pronounced them unsafe to drive with. We were expecting a new set of tires and we wanted All Weather tires not All Seasons which are not legal on some of the roads here after Oct 1.

Apparently, there are no snow rated tires for 21” wheels and Rivian doesn’t warranty the existing tires. They said that is through Pirelli but Pirelli says they don’t warranty tires on new vehicles, Rivian has to initiate the warranty claim.

So far, I am very disheartened by this whole experience. I really liked my vehicle but the thought of having to replace my tires every 5,000 km is horrifying.

Generally speaking you don’t get a warranty on OEM tires that come with your vehicle. Your wear is due to the weight of the vehicle and your driving habits (most likely).

 

[RivAW]

Imagine selling an outdoor adventure vehicle where the default wheel size, with the most range, has no winter tire option. Oh noes, don’t have to imagine it, it’s screwed many people over. I, like the OP, had faith Rivian would eventually produce a winter tire for 21” rims. They’re an outdoor adventure company, right? But no, that went the way of the Dual Max Pack, camp kitchen, 12V adapters, good sound, and tank mode.

This is ridiculous. They aren’t a tire company. Manage your own expectations ….it is well known there aren’t lots of options at that size. If it’s a concern for you as a consumer (off road, snow, mud etc), then the bare minimum of research would have revealed you need the 20” wheels because of the various options available for tires.

 

[Hillbilly]

I'm over 45k miles on most of my 21" factory tires, albeit one of them is looking rather unsafe. I have a full set of Michelins ready to swap out but morbid curiosity has made me unwilling to do it until one of the pirelli gives up the ghost.

 

[electruck]

Conserve tire wear is also well documented.it affects toe and scrubs tires. Using conserve only on the freeway isn't as bad as using it around town.

The biggest issue with Conserve mode is the impact of being fwd only which more heavily wears the front tires under acceleration (which is why Conserve mode on the highway doesn't cause excess tire wear like it can with stop and go driving).

Yes, changing the ride height does impact the alignment. However, from what I have seen of actual alignment specs, the lowest and low ride heights are closer to zero toe which is actually great for tire wear and leaning toward sportier steering. As the ride height increases, you increase toe-in which increases stability but results in slight additional wear. If properly aligned, the additional wear is minimal and worth the trade-off for most. At the lower ride heights, there is also increased camber (1.0-1.5 deg so not at all crazy) which can result in greater inside edge wear relative to the outer edge. But excessive toe is what really eats tires. With a proper alignment, I drive primarily in Sport/Low and have even wear across the tread. I'm also on track to get far more life out of my current set of tires than I got out of those from the factory (which only lasted about 10k miles due to the bad factory alignment).

Rivian's factory alignments can be massively out of spec. They have hopefully improved the factory alignment process since I took delivery in March 2023 but, if I were taking delivery of a new R1 today, first thing I would do would be to get it on an alignment rack just in case.

 

[NY_Rob]

This is a lovely photo but when you order a vehicle online without someone to talk to and the tire options only discuss range, you don’t have the option of looking at the tread design.

That is just incorrect..
Go to Rivian.com and configure a vehicle.. they show you the actual tire you will get with the actual tread pattern which is very visible for your examination including a short description with more than "only discuss range" info.

And, you can speak with a guide pre-purchase if you have questions, via email, chat or phone call. There is no excuse for being uninformed on any aspect of the vehicle.

Again, this falls under the heading of due diligence before purchase.

 

[NY_Rob]

Are there any Canadians who have found after market wheels that fit the R1S? Our two local tire dealers in North Vancouver say they cannot source appropriate wheels and yet folks on the forum mention all sorts of alternatives. I am wondering if the only options available are only available in the States.

You can order the 20" steel wheels here:
https://evsportline.com/products/r1...TnFhYW7KbJSEmdZI1-5BPmCtggkFec0epwOaL_2IP5md2

 

[joesmith315]

I do agree that is was off from the factory and not your fault. Others have had similar issues and Pirelli has not been any more forgiving on the tire replacement. I don't plan to replace mine with Pirelli tires since the Michelin 21" tires are $100 per tire less expensive.

I want to chime in on my similar situation. I took delivery on my DM+ R1S in May, and it pulled to the right on day 1. The first alignment didn't resolve it, and I finally brought it to the Shelton SC (awesome service there, BTW). They swapped the right side tires with the left, and says now it pulls slightly to the left, and the way to resolve it is to replace the left tires (not under warranty). I'm hoping because I documented the alignment issues on day 1 they will offer me something.

 

[TyeeMike]

Myrna, while my R1T is a year older with about 25K on it, am close to having to replace the 21s and am looking at going to 20" wheels and tires when i do this. having priced 20s from Kal Tire, as $1700 for 4 installed balanced etc, I just need to find suitable wheels to go with. this is for all weather tires Nokian Outpost tires. $ 377 per tire, there are cheaper options also all weather from less known brands $ 289.00 per.
these have the snowflake symbol so are kinda sorta wintery tires.

 

[Myrna Pearce]

Myrna, while my R1T is a year older with about 25K on it, am close to having to replace the 21s and am looking at going to 20" wheels and tires when i do this. having priced 20s from Kal Tire, as $1700 for 4 installed balanced etc, I just need to find suitable wheels to go with. this is for all weather tires Nokian Outpost tires. $ 377 per tire, there are cheaper options also all weather from less known brands $ 289.00 per.
these have the snowflake symbol so are kinda sorta wintery tires.

It is the after market wheels that I can’t find though.

 

[aAlpine]

Are there any Canadians who have found after market wheels that fit the R1S? Our two local tire dealers in North Vancouver say they cannot source appropriate wheels and yet folks on the forum mention all sorts of alternatives. I am wondering if the only options available are only available in the States.

I've ordered MSW Type 52 wheels. TireRack ships to Canada, but consider using a shipping service in Blaine, WA to take advantage of free shipping:

https://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Whe...initialPartNumber=W19428001GGMF&selectedRear=

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