Wear while towing - low profile tyres

[RayS]

My Merc. E220cdi has covered about 14,000 miles in two year with towing representing about 65%. At the recent service I had the roadwheels changed front to rear and was surprised to find those that had been on the rear were down to about 2mm remaining safe tread whie those which had been on the front show between 5 and 6 mm. They start life at 8mm.
I have been very careful to keep the van noseweight down to the 75kg 'book' limit and to inclrease the pressures in the rear tyres again as recommended in the book. The car has tyre pressure warning system which I reset after each change. The 'van is 1500 kg again well within the car towing limit.
Tyres are the original fit Continental 225/55R 16 95V. The dealer says that the expected life of the tyres is between 13,000 and 20,000 miles which I find very low, and that there is nothing wrong with vehicle suspension etc.
On my previous ML270 I got over 40,000 miles from Continental M+S on 16" rims with about the same towing ratio. I am long past the 'boy racer' stage and have always been able to get a good to excellent mileage from the tyres on whichever vehicle I had.
Has anyone had similar or much better experience with these tyres ?
Has anyone any suggestions as to tyres which may have a longer life - e.g. Michelin or Pirelli ?

 

[mcghee]

Empty post (likely not intentional - probably an Internet Explorer issue!)

 

[mullsy1]

My Merc. E220cdi has covered about 14,000 miles in two year with towing representing about 65%. At the recent service I had the roadwheels changed front to rear and was surprised to find those that had been on the rear were down to about 2mm remaining safe tread whie those which had been on the front show between 5 and 6 mm. They start life at 8mm.
I have been very careful to keep the van noseweight down to the 75kg 'book' limit and to inclrease the pressures in the rear tyres again as recommended in the book. The car has tyre pressure warning system which I reset after each change. The 'van is 1500 kg again well within the car towing limit.
Tyres are the original fit Continental 225/55R 16 95V. The dealer says that the expected life of the tyres is between 13,000 and 20,000 miles which I find very low, and that there is nothing wrong with vehicle suspension etc.
On my previous ML270 I got over 40,000 miles from Continental M+S on 16" rims with about the same towing ratio. I am long past the 'boy racer' stage and have always been able to get a good to excellent mileage from the tyres on whichever vehicle I had.
Has anyone had similar or much better experience with these tyres ?
Has anyone any suggestions as to tyres which may have a longer life - e.g. Michelin or Pirelli ?

I'm no tyre expert but always found Michelin longer lasting but the Pirelli a better wet tyre.We have 225/40/18 on our mondeo and would love to get 15-20k to be honest

 

[NigelHutson]

The reason that low profile tyres wear more quickly is because the sidewalls are stiffer than higher profile ones, and therefore don't "give" as much, especially when cornering. This obviously causes an increase in wear, which in your case is accelerated by both your car being rear wheel drive and towing for a large amount of time.
We have a Mazda MX-5 which has low profile tyres, and we have found that we need approximately two sets on the rear to one on the front. We've just replaced the rears again, which is the third set in 64,000 miles, whilst the fronts still have plenty of tread depth left, and are the second set.
Our Discovery, which has "lower" profile tyres (on LR 19" rims) has done 20,000 miles in our custody and probably has as much left again on the tread, like your ML.

 

[RogerB]

Our quattro goes through tyres incredibly quickly.Continentals last around 13k and Pirellis a little less.Size is 235/40 R18 95Y Going off the point --.Check the load rating on yours .- represented by the "95" in my case.For towing its more important than the speed rating (Y in my case)

 

[Steve L]

Tyres are always in a "trade off" position, where you have to look at what you need very carefully. For instance a rear wheel drive drive car with high power to the wheels output will be harsh on rear tyres. Also you have to think about tyre compound build up. Soft tyre compound may give better wet weather grip where as, a hard compound tyre will last longer but could spin due to a more limited traction. Low profile tyres are prone to spinout's as there is very little flexability in the side walls, but they grip well on corners in the dry.

Driving styles also reflect upon tyre wear. Constant hard acceleration peals off the edges of the trad grooves, as does hard cornering. Sharp late braking also wears tyres out prematurely.
It is wise to get the load ratings checked and matched to the weight of the car, but usually the manufacturers have already calculated what tyre rating is required to run the vehicle under all possable circumstances.

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

"Low profile tyres are prone to spinout's as there is very little flexability in the side walls, but they grip well on corners in the dry"

Bit of o contradictory statement there Steve, or am I reading it wrong?

 

[Steve L]

Yep, reading it wrong cookies.
Low profile tyres due to the low sidewall height, do not flex in the rotational direction, thus more likely to squeal on harsh accereration. But when cornering the down force reistance of the sidewall's helps adheasion to the road. Also you get more "bump steer" transmitted back to the steering wheel.

I try to "Keep It Simple Stupid" (process technician terminology) so that any idiot could understand the basics.

If I went into how many ply's of rayon, nylon, braid belting and then into compound chemical make up and tread patterns, speed ratings etc etc, it would confuse the hell out of 90% of car drivers.

Can anyone recall the days of "Bandag remould truck tyres"? Brilliant for the rear drive tyres as they were hard as nails, but not allowed on the steering axles because they were not considered safe due to a low steering grip.

 

[ProfAlGoogle]

Yep, reading it wrong cookies.
Low profile tyres due to the low sidewall height, do not flex in the rotational direction, thus more likely to squeal on harsh acceleration. But when cornering the down force Resistance of the sidewall's helps adhesion to the road. Also you get more "bump steer" transmitted back to the steering wheel.

I try to "Keep It Simple Stupid" (process technician terminology) so that any idiot could understand the basics.

If I went into how many ply's of rayon, nylon, braid belting and then into compound chemical make up and tread patterns, speed ratings etc etc, it would confuse the hell out of 90% of car drivers.

Can anyone recall the days of "Bandag remould truck tyres"? Brilliant for the rear drive tyres as they were hard as nails, but not allowed on the steering axles because they were not considered safe due to a low steering grip.

"
Yep, reading it wrong cookies.
Low profile tyres due to the low sidewall height, do not flex in the rotational direction, thus more likely to squeal on harsh acceleration. But when cornering the down force Resistance of the sidewall's helps adhesion to the road."

No, I think you will find I am reading it correctly stevinleo, squealing or spinning whilst accelerating from standstill is completely different from spin out that you quote "Low profile tyres are prone to spinout's as there is very little flexibility in the side walls, but they grip well on corners in the dry" spin out is a completely different scenario to wheel spin that is encountered under hard acceleration, spin out is total loss of control of the vehicle normally encountered whilst cornering to hard.

In either case both down to poor driver technique, you should always drive within the capabilities of both vehicle and yourself.

 

[seth1]

Bandag retreads are still about as is a lot of other makes.There was absolutely nothing to stop people putting them on what ever axle they felt like,no laws,nothing.It was at their discretion.But certain operators had/have a bit of thought for the driver when the tyre capping decides to part with the case.Being on the front axle makes it a bit more interesting i suppose.