P1000 Advice: Tire and 4WD issues, told Pioneer is never to be driven on road, invalidates warranty?

[anovastat]

Need some advice from the forum experts here. I purchased a new Honda Pioneer 1000-5. It's been in the shop for 5 of the 8 months I've owned it. Mostly for 4WD and dif lock issues that the dealer has been unable to fix. It has about 1000 miles on it and the tires started wearing rapidly the last 100 miles on our last ride to the point where the front tires are probably 90% worn in spots. I initially thought it was faulty tires but was recently told by the dealer the vehicle had a faulty neutral indicator and wasn't displaying the engagement of 4WD or diff lock correctly. I think this may have also been a cause of the excessive tire wear.

I called Honda and asked for a replacement under warranty for the tires. However, here's what I was told by both the dealer and Honda: That the Honda Pioneer is not meant to be driven on pavement at all. Has anyone heard this? According to them the Pioneer is an off road only vehicle and, because I drove it at all on the pavement to get to the dirt trails I've invalidated the warranty on the tires. On road use on it would only be a small fraction of the total miles on my Pioneer but they are saying that any miles on pavement invalidates the warranty for this issue.

I've filed a Better Business Complaint and gone to their Facebook and Twitter pages, but has anyone heard this from Honda? Anyone know an executive complaint line to address this, completely BS, response from Honda? I opened a case on Honda's website but this was the response I was given so not sure where to proceed next. They are also not responding to my Facebook or Twitter complaints.

I've talked to other Pioneer owners in my area and checked the forum and found that most are getting 4-5000 miles from these tires so something is off here.

What do you think I should do?

Thanks,

Luke

 

[CID]

The tires are the least of your worries, being in the shop for 5 of 8 months could qualify for a Lemon Law replacement. But that lawsuit could suck the life out of you, get it fixed and get on with your life.

 

[HondaTech]

The tires do say Not For Highway use on the sidewall.

The placard on the dash also says not to operate on public roads. Since they know the machine has been used on road they cant validate the actual mileage used on pavement and have been given an excuse to not replace the tires.

If you purchased the base model 5 seater then those tires suck and will not last on pavement at all. But then again neither will any offroad tire.

The 4wd not indicating on the dash wouldn't have caused undue wear on the tires. Tires are considered a wear item anyway. Unless the tire failed my coming apart or blowing out a sidewall, you won't get anyone to over tires.

 

[Vikes79]

To add to what has already been said, the front alignment from the factory has been well documented to have excessive toe out. Okay for off road, but the minute you hit the pavement the fronts melt like butter.

 

[bigshoe]

So u think a faulty neutral indicator is causing uneven tire wear?

 

[Vikes79]

So u think a faulty neutral indicator is causing uneven tire wear?

Not if all of the wear is on the front tires.

 

[anovastat]

To clarify, I think there's more than just a neutral indictor going out. I'd find the vehicle in 4WD when set to turf mode and it would constantly drop out of 4WD into turf mode. Being in 4WD, and not knowing it, could cause excessive wear at the wrong times which I wondered if may be a better claim to make.

The front tires are completely worn down at 1000 miles. The back tires are better only moderately beyond normal wear, in my opinion. Neither my dealer nor Honda asked how much pavement miles I've driven on it. When I pointed that out they said any miles, even a single mile on pavement, would be enough to invalidate the tire warranty. I thought that was unfair and not representative of the use of a typical SXS owner or their advertisements of the vehicles capabilities. I think a lot of SXS owners would be surprised to know that, as far as tires go at least, any pavement driven on a Honda Pioneer apparently immediately voids any claims on the tires.

Again, how is this being measured? I've made no statements about the number miles driven on pavement just a "yes I did do it on pavement" which is true. Just seems like Honda isn't able to measure this and it's an automatic denial based on no evidence. Just seems unfair and not right to me considering the investment. My dirt bike has none of these issues and can do pavement and dirt...

Based on this wear I'm going to need new front tires yearly...would have been nice to know when I bought it.

 

[Hondasxs]

Never knew there was much of a warranty on tires anyway being a wear item.
Definitely not a tire with 1000 miles on them.
If there was a major issue with the tire, it should have been brought up before the first service.

Not saying you shouldn't have gotten 1000 miles...
But I am surprised you got 1000 miles on a factory 4ply bighorn without any major flats.

My suggestion is to adjust the toe and buy a tire with a harder compound.
Next, fix the 4x4 sensor/cable adjustment so it's working correctly.
Then fix the turf/2x4/park cables and sensor.

 

[russknight]

Buy some SATV A-Arms. They have adjustable camber and toe in. I have them on my 1000-3 and am running 15" truck tires. I had the front end machine aligned and tires machine balanced and they are wearing perfectly. I have about 5000 miles on them, with most of those miles on pavement (street legal) with no issues.

 

[tdhanses]

Yeah doubt you would get any tire warranty other then manufacture defect issues. Sounds like your cables just need adjusting.

 

[anovastat]

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies and info provided. I’m going to work on some adjustments and new tires and just move on. I like the idea of truck tires and will explore that option too.

 

[Cuoutdoors]

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies and info provided. I’m going to work on some adjustments and new tires and just move on. I like the idea of truck tires and will explore that option too.

Post pics of the worn tires

 

[P1K5Dave]

Yeah, go with a DOT tire that is designed like an all-terrain truck tire, and definitely get your front end to toe in just about 3/16", I believe, is good.

The stock tire is really soft and gets eaten up on pavement.

I have about 4 miles of pavement to get to our trails, riding on Maxxis Liberties it does just fine.

Regarding the shifting, it shouldn't take that dealership this multuple visits and time to get that right.

 

[anovastat]

Post pics of the worn tires

Here's a photo of the tires just before getting them to the dealer.

 

[NTCPrezJB]

lmfao .... You have zero chance of getting anything for your tire wear.

 

[TripleB]

Here's a photo of the tires just before getting them to the dealer. View attachment 249665View attachment 249666View attachment 249667

Most likely the alignment. Ive went through 4 sets of those and I got somewhere between 1200-1400 miles out of each set. Those tires go pretty good for what they are but wear out fast.

 

[Ridinfool]

Never knew there was much of a warranty on tires anyway being a wear item.
Definitely not a tire with 1000 miles on them.
If there was a major issue with the tire, it should have been brought up before the first service.

Not saying you shouldn't have gotten 1000 miles...
But I am surprised you got 1000 miles on a factory 4ply bighorn without any major flats.

My suggestion is to adjust the toe and buy a tire with a harder compound.
Next, fix the 4x4 sensor/cable adjustment so it's working correctly.
Then fix the turf/2x4/park cables and sensor.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
and maybe find a dealer that will take better care of their customers.

 

[Cuoutdoors]

Here's a photo of the tires just before getting them to the dealer. View attachment 249665View attachment 249666View attachment 249667

Well I hate to tell you this but those tires are junk from the factory. Probably need to fix your alignment.

 

[Cuoutdoors]

Most likely the alignment. Ive went through 4 sets of those and I got somewhere between 1200-1400 miles out of each set. Those tires go pretty good for what they are but wear out fast.

😳😳😬😬 you actually bought more?

 

[Vikes79]

😳😳😬😬 you actually bought more?

I didn’t mind my base model tires...they were pretty decent for most of what I do.

I still have them..the rears are in good shape, fronts are scrubbed pretty hard as I waited too long before correcting the toe out.

They definitely ride softer than the deluxe rim and tire factory takeoffs I replaced them with!