Car Tyre Wear

[bertieboy1]

Just before the onset of winter the car was due for it's first service,part of the service is checking the tyres.
The dealer reported front tyres near or on the legal limit (front wheel drive car),car had covered 20000 miles of mixed driving - towing and solo.
I don't drive hard or fast only accelerating hard or braking hard when I have to.
Our last car got as far as 30000 miles before front tyres needed replacing.
The present car is more powerful than the last car and has increased torque and it is this that I put down to the increased wearing of the tyres.
Pricing replacement tyres of the same make and model was three times the cost of budget tyres in my mind it's a no brainer and opted for the budget tyres.
Speaking to the dealer he was surprised that I got 20000 miles out of the tyres and said the average mileage people changed tyres at was around 12000 to 15000 miles.
I realise we all drive cars differently but what mileage do others get out of their tyres.

 

[otherclive]

My XC70 (auto 205ps) generally gets 15k from the fronts although its 4wd with a normal 10% to the back wheels unless it needs more, so I dont suffer any slippage. Our Pajero tyres just dont seem to wear out but it mostly runs in RWD unless off road. I dont buy budget tyres as the reviews and tests clearly show them to be inferior in most test categories such as dry braking, wet braking and handling. Also QC has not been the best on some budget brands leading to carcass failures. One caravan maker, Swift, hit problems a while back, and now most makes come with decent branded tyres as OEM. As the four patches of rubber are what keeps me, my passengers and other road users safe it an area where I dont economise. There are some well respected mid range brands such as Falken, Hankook, Kuhmo which would bridge the gap between top range (Michelin/Bridgestone) and the Star Performers of this world. If you search around you can generally buy a good quality tyre from a decent maker.

 

[woodsieboy]

Hi

I agree with a lot of what other Clive says,and we have Falkens on our Shogun, and so far they have proved OK.For works vans we specify budget tyres,and we have had no problems with them,both Peugeot Partners have done over 100k miles and we assume they will be kerbed etc so do not see the point in paying for expensive branded tyres,most sets of fronts give 20--25k regardless of make. All new tyres have to display the labels relating to performance,noise,stopping distance etc.By looking on an internet tyre suppliers site you can see the ratings for all their tyres and in some cases the budgets score a better or as good as rating as the more expensive brands

 

[otherclive]

Its when things go wrong when you will appreciate the performance of the better brands. The EU test figures for wet braking are done in a straight line on a test rig. They take no account of the fact that you may have to swerve to avoid an impact. Nor do the EU tests show how a tyre performs at the limit. Is its grip progressive or does it just let go? The link below shows the results of a test between Continental and Triangle, I know which one I would rather have on my car. I dont even fit budget to the caravan. Numerous other sites such as Autoexpress and the German sites show similar results.
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Premium-VS-Budget-Tyres-Real-World-Performance.htm

 

[Dustydog]

50% of the Sorento's life has been towing. Amazingly all four tyres wear out at the same time. The original Hankooks and subsequent BF Goodrich All Terrains have lasted 40k .miles.
I realise budget tyres make economic sense on the wallet but in the long run are they any good never mind the overall grip performance.

 

[woodsieboy]

I agree that there is a case to be made for the branded tyres,but nobody can be certain how a tyre or vehicle will react in extreme circumstances,the OP was asking about milesge and for other peoples experiences. It is a bit like buying insurance,we will only find out how good it is when a claim is made.
On Tyretrader website I looked for 265 70 16 which is the size for our Shogun,Dunlop Grandtrek were rated EF76 and cost £121.43,the budget Accelera brand were rated CC74 at £74.51 on a like for like basis, which is what I understand the ratings to be, it would look as if the budget brand out performs the Dunlop in every area.Ultimately it is like a lot of things, it comes down to individual choice, and whatever gives each individual peace of mind.

 

[JonnyG]

I agree that there is a case to be made for the branded tyres,but nobody can be certain how a tyre or vehicle will react in extreme circumstances,the OP was asking about milesge and for other peoples experiences. It is a bit like buying insurance,we will only find out how good it is when a claim is made.
On Tyretrader website I looked for 265 70 16 which is the size for our Shogun,Dunlop Grandtrek were rated EF76 and cost £121.43,the budget Accelera brand were rated CC74 at £74.51 on a like for like basis, which is what I understand the ratings to be, it would look as if the budget brand out performs the Dunlop in every area.Ultimately it is like a lot of things, it comes down to individual choice, and whatever gives each individual peace of mind.

indeed. except the OP asked about mileage although in his own comparison he did not mention any tyre makes, and as we all know different tyre makes do not wear at the same rate. nor does the rating you show cover either dry grip, or wear rate.

 

[RobKnapp2]

My previous car was an Octavia VRS with budget-ish tyres on - used to get 20k on the fronts before getting to circa 2mm (i generally replace between 2 and 3 mm)
The Passat 140ps I have now i barely get 14k from the fronts. I dont drive it particularly hard, doing approx 30k a year with probably 1k of towing. This is on the original fit non-budget tyres. I presume where the wheels are larger, and its a premium tyre the compound is simply softer. ?

 

[otherclive]

I agree that there is a case to be made for the branded tyres,but nobody can be certain how a tyre or vehicle will react in extreme circumstances,the OP was asking about milesge and for other peoples experiences. It is a bit like buying insurance,we will only find out how good it is when a claim is made.
On Tyretrader website I looked for 265 70 16 which is the size for our Shogun,Dunlop Grandtrek were rated EF76 and cost £121.43,the budget Accelera brand were rated CC74 at £74.51 on a like for like basis, which is what I understand the ratings to be, it would look as if the budget brand out performs the Dunlop in every area.Ultimately it is like a lot of things, it comes down to individual choice, and whatever gives each individual peace of mind.

Yes but the EU tests don't show how a tyre will perform in other than a simulated straight line test. If you hav ego swerve to avoid an accident do budget brands let go their grip in a controlled manner. The German and Autoexpress tests would lead me to conclude a No on that one. Thats when you want some confidence in your tyres.

 

[ProfJohnL]

I have done a little research into the criteria applied to the EU tyre testing. It does seem quite limited, and whilst it is a valid way of comparing new tyres for Rolling Resistance, Wet Grip, and Noise Emission, it biggest achilles heel is it only looks at NEW tyres. It gives no indication of how well a tyre will wear, and what it performance will be like when its done for example 10K miles.

What I haven't done is look at the league table of how different makes and models perform, basically I'd expect the best performers are most likely to be well known classic brands, but I'm also pretty certain there'll be some surprise cheaper brands popping up in places, so don't necessarily eliminate them without checking first.

Now I'll come back to the point I made in my first paragraph. Basically the design and manufacture of a tyre is always going to be a compromise between the grippiness of the tread, the strength (Resistance to wear) of the tread. Good grip requires a more compliant (softer) compound, but the softer it is the quicker it will wear away. Tyre wear reduces the tread depth which in turn adversely affects the tyres ability to shift water in the wet.

So its possible to have branded tyre with a good set of performance figures when its new, but if it looses compound more quickly, a cheaper tyre may out perform it at 10K miles.

You only have to look at the tyre issues Formula 1 teams have to juggle to see how important tyre wear life is.

The EU tests don't look for this so I have no data to back it up, but it is an entirely possible scenario.

 

[MichaelE]

Tyre manufactures vary the compound depending on whats in fashion ie grip , or long life so you may get the same set set and they wear more quickly than the last lot.
I like my tyres to last as long as possible at £275 a corner!! but 22k for the fronts isnt bad.

 

[otherclive]

Prof,
I would agree with your supposition, and also add that some budget brands are compounded for lower wear, but their compound is biased towards use in warmer climates and as such if used in a colder climate such as UK they can have inferior roadholding compared to European compounds. Even the premium brands will compound their tyres dependent on the sales region, hence a Bridgestone for western Europe may look identical to one sold in the US but its compound is different.

As a aside I have just returned from a tour of India and noticed that Vredstein is marketed over there asa premium luxury tyre, and is owned by the Indian tyre maker Apollo! Such is the global market eh?

 

[FrintonMike]

I,m crying all the way to the bank. Just paid £520 for a set of Pirelli Scorpion STR tyres.
Although I have only driven about 30 miles on them this afternoon I have noticed a difference in road holding so must not complain too much as you cannot put a price on safety

 

[otherclive]

My son had them on his CRV and really rated them in the wet and darn good in snow too. I know how you feel on the price but its better than Pirelli Scorpion Assimetricos on the XC70 (£640) and the 33 inch BF Goodriches that I plan to fit onto the Pajero with new 10.5 steel wheels too; ouch!

 

[woodsieboy]

Seems to me the tyre market is like so many others,I suspect some of the budget brands are possibly made in the same factories as the big brand names,much like own label goods in supermarkets,of course the larger names probably have higher overheads in R&D,advertising sales forces etc, so the mid ranges could well be the best bet with regard to quality versus price, as soon as a new tyre is fitted it is no longer new and starts to wear.On some vehicles this may well be more critical, but in other lower performance vehicles I suspect lower spec tyres will be acceptable, i understand that some commercial vehicles run on retreads or remoulds,It is down to personal choice in the end,although I confess that I have never considered the cost of tyres when buying a car,a lapse that will cost me when OH needs tyres on her car as it seems only Continental make the size.