Tyre Wear

[JamesA]

Just been looking at tyres and a question occured to me. Do all the tyres on a 4x4 wear at pretty much the same rate or do front still wear faster as they do on a regular front wheel drive car?

Trying to work out if im going to have to start replacing all my tyres at the same time, or if i can still do 2 and 2 as i did on the Celica.

Looks like Yokohama do some nice tyres in the right size for the Rav. Used them for my Celica so will probably stick with the brand. They got me through the 2007 floods without a slip or a scratch in the Celica so i consider that a pretty good test!

[DjRav]

The Rav is predominantly front wheel driven- apart from set off/low speeds and/or demands call for the four wheel drive. That combined with steering will cause much more wear on the front Tyres.

Re the Brand- the Yokohama Geolandar's came with mine (2007 2.2) from new and did very well winter before last (snow etc) with only 3mm of tread on! Therefore I replaced all four Tyres mid summer last year with the same ones.

I believe new they all had 8mm of tread. They now have 5.5mm front and 6.5mm back (probably done about 12k+ on them)

Dave

[pgp001]

I think you might be mistaken about front wheel drive.

It may be the case on your later model, but the 2002 is permanent four wheel drive as far as I know.

I have a 2004 model which has similar transmission, and am budgeting on replacing all four tyres at once when I need to.

Phil

[pgp001]

I think you might be mistaken about front wheel drive.

It may be the case on your later model, but the 2002 is permanent four wheel drive as far as I know.

I have a 2004 model which has similar transmission, and am budgeting on replacing all four tyres at once when I need to.

Phil

Not sure how I posted twice, must have pressed a wrong button !!

[DjRav]

It happens!

Yes, your right, I was talking about the 4.3 model. I suppose the 4.2 with permanent four wheel drive would be more even wear, but maybe too much low-speed steering would take more out the tyres?

I must admit, having four new tyres together is a great feeling though! Made my Rav 6mm taller as well!

Dave

[Hoovie]

The RAV4.2 is indeed permanent 4WD, but you will still find the front tyres wear out faster then the rears.

IMO it is best to carry out tyre rotation on a periodic basis (maybe every 5,000 miles or so?) front to rear to even out the wear pattern and so get a 4 tyres ready to be replaced in a oner (usually get a bit more money off per tyre as well if you do a complete set)

If you can incorporate the spare into the rotation, so much the better - no point in having a brand new spare just sitting on the rear door :)

[atkiman]

i have a 2002 NRG and the fronts definitely wear quicker than the rears. i dont do the 'replace all 4 at the same time' system though. Just the front 2 when needed. the rears on mine seem to go on forever.

[Manxrav]

Correct me if I,m wrong but shoudn,t new Tyres always go on the rears?

Regards Clare

[crofter]

Correct me if I,m wrong but shoudn,t new Tyres always go on the rears?

Regards Clare

Seem to have lost the first post,so if it pops up twice,apologies from me.

The way I look at it,Clare,I would sooner have the better grip tyres on the front so I go in the direction I want to go.

Tho' why anyone would want to risk a,what is it, £1000 a pop fine for each baldy is beyond me.

Del

[JamesA]

Thanks for the input peeps, will keep an eye on them and see how it goes for now.

[DominicPriestley]

Michelin would tell you to put new tyres on the rear. You don't want the rear stepping out, the more grip at the rear the better. I don't do that with Rav though.

I've had great service from my Geolanders. I put some new on the front a while ago and I will change the rears at 40k. They are on 38.5k now and still well above 3mm on each.

[firemac]

Clare & Dominic are right. The result of losing the rear is potential much worse than a front-wheel skid & that's why the normal recommendation is to put new tyres on the rear .

Hoovie's advice is sound in that regular swapping front to rear helps to even out the wear. If the tyres on one axle become significantly more worn that those on the other, it can damage the diff clutches (causes "wind-up", apparently - don't pretend to know the technicalities of it but it is serious & is something that I've been warned about ever since becoming involved with 4x4's). It may mean replacing all 4 tyres together but the frequency should be less than if you only do two at a time.

[crofter]

The point I was making was for my car which is a permanant 4 wheel drive.

Therefore surely it would like a front wheel drive,in effect, and you would need to put new on the driving wheels for drive and steering.

As for rear wheel skid this is usually down to overestimating the cars capabilities or bad driving.

Am I wrong on this?

Del

[Hoovie]

I think the recommendation for new tyres on rear first holds pretty well universally

Though having said that, I don't think it is a good idea anyway to be in a situation to have very mismatched tyres in terms of wear front to read whichever way round (which is why I personally like to rotate - which reminds me! Time to do that on mine! )

[DominicPriestley]

Not always bad driving.

If you have a new set of tyres on the front, giving confidence and lots of grip, you can push just a bit harder. The rear comes light, and the rear tyres having less grip lets the back come round. New tyres on the rear helps prevent such an occurrence.