2004 Pontiac GTO tire blow out we purchased our 2004 Pontiac GTO new, and have had issues with rubbing sounds and vibrations since it was new. The car currently has 45,000 miles and we had a blow out. Apparently the tires on 2004 GTO's rub the spring pocket of the strut causing the inner side wall of the tires to fail prematurely. It is impossible to see the wear unless the tire is removed from the vehicle. Pontiac has replaced the tires once under warranty due to this issue, but when I returned to GM to announce that the previous "fix" did not work - they dismissed me stating the vehicle was out of warranty. This is our third set of tires within 45,000 miles and my wife feels that the car is unsafe to drive because of her blowout experience. I need GM to come up with a solution to this problem. I have researched and spoken to many GTO owners only to find that they all have the same issue, and some dealers have retrofitted GTO's with the appropriate 18" wheel and tire combination, but carl black in roswell ga and the district manager "rod" will do nothing to help us. Please - can you help?

- Cumming, GA, USA

1. my wife was complaining of a squeaking sound whenever she put on the brakes. When researching brake pads and rotors online I noticed numerous complaints for 2004 and 2005 GTO's regarding tires rubbing on the front struts. Since I was going to remove the tires to get a better look at the brake pads I also checked for the tire rub problem. Sure enough the right side tire and strut both showed signs of wear. The tires inside tread was worn and there were areas on the tires where small cracks had started and one 3 inch long crack through the sidewall. Left side tire tread was not worn yet there was evidence of tire rub on the strut. 2. since I was fortunate enough to run across the information online, I will be able to avoid a failure. The failure if I were to let it go would most certainly be eather a gradual loss of air pressure or if running freeway speeds a sudden blowout. Simply replacing the tires (with oem replacements) and adjusting the front end alignment will not prevent the problem from occurring again. 3. I'm currently in the process of researching options to correct the problem. We purchased the car used but with very low miles and got an extended warranty. Since other items contribute to the tire rub such as premature failure of bushings and brearngs I hope to get at least those replaced since they are covered. A formal recall has not yet been required, so any replacement parts would be the same as those that failed in the firstplace. I'm strongly looking at installing an aftermarket kit designed to correct all the problems.

- Everett, WA, USA

2004 Pontiac GTO, strut rub. The tires rub the front tires and were right threw the tires, went to the dealer, and said I need a alignment and that's what they did, know my tires are worn down on the out side of the tires, was told the bushings are all bad by other GTO owners.

- Shelton Ct, CT, USA

2004 Pontiac GTO, both front struts gouged front tires to the point steel belts were showing. 44,000 miles on car. Almost had a blow out!

- Graham, WA, USA

I own a 2004 Pontiac GTO and recently took all of the wheels off to paint the brake calipers and I noticed that my tires were rubbing on the struts really bad, and im about to have a few blowouts. I've been reading alot on the internet that this is a huge problem with the GTO's. is there anything that can be done before I have an accident?

- Norton, KS, USA

Pontiac GTO uneven tire ware. 16700 miles and the tires are shot. One went flat, luckily not on the highway.

- Seville, OH, USA

2 tires on the right rear have been shredded on the inside edge (perimeter) of the tire. The first time was blamed on alignment. I have since learned there is a design problem with my 2004 GTO.

- Glen Burnie, MD, USA

Contact owns a 2004 Pontiac GTO purchased new Oct 2004. The front tires are rubbing against the struts. The failure has curved out a groove approximately half inch deep for passenger side tire. The vehicle has not been inspected by a dealer or mechanic for this issue. The failure occurs at any speed. Current mileage is 19 500 and first front tire blown out occurred around 7000 miles while car was ~1 year old.

- Carlsbad, CA, USA

My 2004 Pontiac GTO needed new tires at just over 13,000 miles. There was extreme inner tire wear. I had the car for just a few months and had only put 5K miles on the car. The dealership claimed it was not a defect and that I would just have to buy tires ever 10-15K miles.

- Snellville, GA, USA

The inside of my tires were abnormally worn when I replaced them according to the mechanics at sam's club, one dangerously so. They showed me the old tires and indeed they were more worn on the inside than anywhere else. One had the steel belts coming out. My car is a 2004 Pontiac GTO with 33,000 miles.

- Frankenmuth, MI, USA

The contact owns a 2004 Pontiac GTO. The front passenger side tire is rubbing against the struts. The failure has curved out a groove approximately one inch deep. The vehicle has not been inspected by a dealer or mechcanic. The failure occurs at any speed. The failure mileage was 31,670 and current mileage was 31,683.

- Hampton, GA, USA

Last night, for the second time, the inside of my front left tire shredded while on the highway traveling at around 70mph. Both times this has happened, I was fortunate not to lose control of the vehicle. In researching the problem, I find that there are class action lawsuits already happening relating to a design flaw on my 2004 Pontiac GTO that causes the front tires to rub against the suspension struts. I have had to replace two sets of tires because of this problem, and the resale value of the GTO is also affected negatively.

- Austin, TX, USA

The contact owns a 2004 Pontiac GTO. Upon checking the vehicle, the contact discovered that the inner part of both front tires were rubbing on the struts. There were no recalls regarding this failure. The current mileage was 123,000 and failure mileage was 10,000.

- Fredricksburg, VA, USA

Tires rubbing strut causing premature tire wear. Had alignment under warranty after GM replaced tires due to excessive vibration at 15000. Was advised by GM that was alignment issue and took it to another manufactures dealer for alignment was advised in spec....

- Locust Grove, GA, USA

I was on the internet and I came across defects on the 2004-2006 Gtos and since I have one I investigated. The complaints were that the stock size tires were rubbing on the struts in front of the vehicle. So, I have a 2004 GTO with only 7,800 miles on it. I went out turned said vehicle on turned the wheel almost till it would stop and peeked under the car and low and behold contact with strut;on both sides. Called GM in detroit, they had no idea of the problem. Ignored me. Did not return my phone calls, they said they would. Took vechicle to dealership to fix car. Dealer said everything looked good except the camber in front of car. Dealer fixed camber, made me pay $100. Dollars. I call GM 10 times in detroit, have not received call back from my representitive. Also spent $400 on two new 235/45 for the front; because even after they "fixed it" the stock tires wre stll 1/4 inch away from the strut. So it has cost me $500 to hopefully fix the car I do not even own.

- Albuquerque, NM, USA

Problem with steering control and slow air leak out of front right tire, led me to bring my car to just tires in December 2005. The technicians removed the front right tire and found that the inner wall of the tire was shredded. I then took my car to the Pontiac dealer and paid over $700 for a faulty tire rod arm. On October 7, 2007 while driving 65 mph down a busy interstate, the steering became unsteady as a loud rumbling noise commenced. About 15 seconds later the rear passenger side tire exploded and I was driving on the rim with limited control of the car, trying to pull off to the side of the road. As I put a spare tire on the car, there was shredded rubber wrapped around the axle and brake linkage that was difficult to remove. With the spare tire in place, I slowly drove 8-10 miles to my local Pontiac dealer where I parked my car until the next business day, so I could cancel my lease early.

- Clarendon Hills, IL, USA

I purchused my 2004 Pontiac GTO in November of 2004 I was one of the first to owen this car in 2004. However about 9,000 miles of me driving my car I had rear tire problems the camber and toe was not straigh. I took my car back to the dealer ship and they told me not there problem. I took my car to a number of diffrent alinment places and they all checked alinment and said it was off a little but not enough to were only on the inside of the rear tiers. I replace the tires my self. About 1,000 miles later my steering was shaking and front end, the first thing I thought it was my rotoers I went to replace and relize it was my front tires. Again I took to dealer and again they turn me away. I contacted Pontiac and GM they said the will sent an inspector to look at car that never happen> the dealer ship did not want to set up with me. Pontiac told me they do not go to people houses for that it has to be done in dealership. I went to another dealer and they told me they never heard of anything like that. I replace my tires more then 3 times in front and 2 times in back and everytime had an alinment done. The first time I had fronts replaced they told me that the front tires are rubbing agenst the struts. I did not go to dealer to be turned away. I cant keep affording new tires everytime 6,000 comes. I purchused a new car to have no headachs but instead I have more and spend a lot of money. Also the gas cap gets stuck on when I get gas.

- Bay Shore, NY, USA

I have a 2004 Pontiac GTO with 47K miles on it now. December 2006 I was driving home from an out of town trip 4 hours away from home. I noticed that the front end was riding kind of low. I pulled over and checked the tires for a puncture but I did not see one. So I pulled over to the first gas station to get air. The tires looked like there was enough tread so I thought nothing of it. When I go home I pulled into the driveway and cut the wheels as far to the left as possible. I went inside an did not pay attention to the tires. When I came back out I noticed both tires on the front of the car had worn down to the belts on the inside tread only. I could not see the wear by just looking at the outside of the tires. I was lucky I did not have a blow out. I went to the tire dealer early the next morning and got new tires put on the front. They only had about 10K miles on them. I thought the tires may be defective and the manager at the tire store said they were rubbing against the strut on the car. I figured if GM had meant these tires to go on this car than maybe it is just in need of an alignment, so I had that done. That was 8 months ago and I check the tread all the time looking for any pre-mature wear. Then I see the channel 5 cleveland story on the internet just looking for recall information on my car. I have had numerous problems lately. I learned that I am not the only one with this problem so I decided to complain about the defect. I wish GM would just tell everyone what a better tire size would be rather than risk bad publicity. I also have to replace my rear tires as they wear in the middle. I think this may be another problem. Updated 02-28-08 updated

- Dallas, TX, USA

Car is 2004 Pontiac GTO. Noted that steering wheel was shaking rather violently and upon closer inspection of front tires, noted abnormal and acute wear of drive side front tire resulting in tire rubbing against strut of vehicle.

- Midlothian, VA, USA

GM service tech advised would need tires soon 1,500 miles ago. Car has 28,000 miles. Took in to have slow leak fixed only to be told steel belts showing through on inside of tires. Took to have 4 new tires put on, replaced with same tires that came from manufacturer and they rub the struts going down the road. How can Pontiac put tires that are too big on these cars and get away with it? ended up paying $532 for smaller tires 235's vs. 245's that the manufacturer put on. GM says need to do alignment and change camber adjustment. Not happy with that answer, its a bandaide and will cause new tires to wear on the outside prematurely. I still have the tires that came off the car. Also original australian car had 235's GM decided to put the bigger 245's on the GTO for the us.

- Cedar Lake, IN, USA