Front Tyre Wear

[YarisHybrid2016]

Hi,

I had my car serviced yesterday, and everything was fine except for the front tyres which were "advisory" for tread depth.

Both fronts were down to 3.0 mm, whereas the rear were at 5.0 mm.

They advised that I replace the front tyres before winter.

The car has barely 20000 miles on it, and while I occassionally like to put my foot down, that isn't a normal state of affairs and I normally drive sedately (no "handbrake turns" or other nonsense).

When I last had the tyre tread depth checked, I figured they would be good for at least 30000 miles, so I'm rather surprised to hear they have worn so quickly.

Is this normal??? I have the tracking done every couple of thousand miles (the roads are not the best, with the tracking becoming "knocked out" despite my best efforts to avoid hitting anything).

I'm just wondering why they might have worn as quickly as they have. They were all previously wearing fairly evenly together.

Am I correct in thinking the new tyres should go on the rear, and move the rears to the front?

Thanks!

[fordulike]

2 minutes ago, YarisHybrid2016 said:

When I last had the tyre tread depth checked, I figured they would be good for at least 30000 miles, so I'm rather surprised to hear they have worn so quickly.

Wow 30k miles, I'll have a set of those tyres please

[craggle]

Had the same thing on my iQ with the fronts wearing faster than the rears. Think it's perfectly normal for tyre that have to do the driving and the steering.

I swapped them around to put the front's on the rear and the rear's on the front to wear them out to get all 4 to an equal level. I then replaced all 4 at the same time and now swap them around once a year. 

Craig.

[Madasafish]

Your wear figures seem normal to me...

[FROSTYBALLS]

Tyre industry recommendations do recommend new tyres are fitted to the rear, with the used rear tyres being rotated to the front.

Few tyres nowadays have a 30K mile life - as an example see http://www.michelin.co.uk/longevity-comparator 

[mickburkesnr]

Front wheel drive cars will wear through the front tyres quicker than the rears, especially if there's just the driver and no other weight. The driving wheels are needing to grip the road surface, which is harder to do when the wheels are then turning. The tyres gripping the asphalt also leave behind rubber as part of the grip.

If you want something that's going to last longer than 20,000 miles then you should opt for cheaper harder rubber tyres. Be warned though that the harder wearing tyres won't grip as well as normal softer tyres. It can be especially scary going around a roundabout in the wet with cheap harder tyres at the front and you're wondering why the car is still going in a straight line when you're steering to the right!

20,000 miles for tyres, I think, is reasonable for good quality tyres. If the car was a 4x4 then you would expect all 4 tyres to be worn (as drive is applied to all tyres) and the rear tyres would be more worn than the front if it were a rear wheel drive motor.

[monkeydave]

i got 30000 miles from mitchelin energy savers on my jazz and they had more than 3 mm left i only replaced them as the inside edges were getting thin as i drive over a lot of square speed bumps

they grip well too and about the same price as the dunlops i got on my yaris. i will see how long these last and if they dont do too well i will switch to mitchelin energy savers next time

i also change my tires at about 3mm anyway as on the wet motorway sometimes get twitchy at speed under 3mm or so

ask yourself a question, is it worth damaging your car for the price of two tires (about £150)?

[Cyker]

It's tricky to get to the 30k's with small narrow tyres like ours!

I think the most I've gotten was 20k too (Continental Premium Contact 2E), but my all-time record was something like 7000 miles (That prize goes to the Continental Premium Contact 5 - Great grip but apparently made of grape jelly...)

 

Current tyres are Dunlop/Goodyear Efficientgrip/Streetresponse2 and they've lasted pretty well so far despite me thrashing the crap out of them.

 

[YarisHybrid2016]

Hmm! The basis for my estimate was actual wear vs. mileage and extrapolating it to the minimum tread depth. I must have screwed up somewhere...

If 20k is about to be expected then I'll roll with it!

I have the stock Continental Premium Contact 2 on it. I've been very happy with them so will replace with same.

@FROSTY: Thanks for the chart! Interesting.

@monkeydave: I agree entirely! That £150 keeps an £18k car in one piece along with keeping its owner alive  - I have no issues at all replacing them - it's just that I expected longer life from them. :)

[Madasafish]

Like monkeydave I have a Jazz (2012) with Michelin Energy Savers. The tyres were rotated at 20k miles. The fronts are now at 5mm with 27k miles and the rears at 6mm so I expect to see 45-50k miles from the set.. I will replace at 3mm depth.  Wear is totally even so far except slight scrubbing of outer edges on fronts- tight reversing when entering garage.

[Cyker]

The PremiumContact 2E is a good tyre - Solid wet performance, decent predictable grip, good tread life, not too expensive. (Well for me... last time I looked they were £40-50 each for us 14"ers )

(I'm not sure if there is a big difference between the 2 and 2E... Think the 2E might be a slightly harder compound?)

I think hybrid and diesel FWD cars do wear the tyres faster tho', due to the extra weight and torque vs  a straight petrol car.

 

 

[YarisHybrid2016]

Quote

I think hybrid and diesel FWD cars do wear the tyres faster tho', due to the extra weight and torque vs  a straight petrol car.

My heavy foot doesn't help. BMW and Merc owners hate me...

I'm not sure if mine is the 2E - I don't recall seeing it - it just says "Continental Premium Contact 2". The tyre size is 195/50 R16.

[nielshm]

I rotate tyres when I change for winter tyres and back again to summer tyres. I've done 30.000 miles and I think there's 5 mm left. My old Octavia did 70.000 miles on combined summer /winter tyres. Beeing a rather heavy diesel with high torque, I find that pretty impressive. My Auris wont last that long, maybe Toyota sets up their cars different than others? 

[mrpj]

I'm definitely expecting 30k miles from the Dunlop factory fit tyres on my Yaris.

At 20k miles they were at 5.5mm front and 6.5mm rear. Even wear accross the full width. I will probably change at about 2.5mm