Other wheel or tire problem on the 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse
When other wheel or tire problem gets reported
Owners of the 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse report other wheel or tire problem at a median of 30,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 50,000 miles, from 15 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 60,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 50,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 46,400 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
60% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6,000 miles | 12,865 miles | 30,100 miles | 47,970 miles | 52,400 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $200–$1,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 9 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2003, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 1997 at 90,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 carries the most reports, with 140; the 2001 has 72. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Consumer stated the alloy rims are made of extremely soft metal that bends easily which occurs during ordinary driving conditions and are a safety hazard. The dealer refused to replace the defective rims. Scc *jb
I was driving my 2001 mitsubishi eclipse equipped with 17 inch alloy wheels, going about 30 miles per hour, when I heard a loud bang from the right front area. It was after dark and the car seemed to handle okay so I proceeded on but after a short distance I heard a similar bang. I pulled over and found that the right front wheel rim was greatly deformed and the tire knocked off the bead. I changed the tire and proceeded home without further incident. I inspected the road the following day in another vehicle and drove over the same rough spots and barely noticed them. There were no signifigant pot holes in the road. I believe that a wheel that will fail so easily is a hazard. If I had been traveling at highway speeds and struck a hole in the road I believe the tire would have gone flat immediately and control of the vehicle would have been lost.
I own a 2001 mitsubishi eclipse. I have 54000 miles on this car. On april 16, 2003, I had my third flat tire (2 of them have been blow outs). All three (as told by goodyear) were caused by bent rims. Two of the bends were very noticeable and each occurred with regular driving. I feel like I am driving on a time bomb. Even with minor bends, air releases from the tire. I check my pressure every week, but still to no avail. From other complaints I have read, this is a major problem that mitsubishi appears to be ignoring. *jb
Also reported on the 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse
Other body or interior problem
Strut, shock or spring failure
Headlight failure or clouding
Other powertrain problem
Wiring harness or short circuit
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 72 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other wheel or tire problem happen on the 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse?
Across 15 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 30,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 15,000 miles and a quarter after 50,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other wheel or tire problem on the 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse?
72 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.6 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed