At what rate do tyres wear?

[dave262]

Hi all,

I'm considering going for a drive up to Sydney for work fairly soon, but just noticed I only have maybe 1 - 1.5mm tread before the wear mark on the back wheels.

I'm curious how quickly this amount of tread would actually wear generally? They are the stock Dunlop 300E tyres, and I typically don't really drive it *too* hard (usually! ;) ).

btw - I know this topic has been mentioned before, but I couldn't find much on the actual wear rate.

[Djs]

Hi all,

I'm considering going for a drive up to Sydney for work fairly soon, but just noticed I only have maybe 1 - 1.5mm tread before the wear mark on the back wheels.

I'm curious how quickly this amount of tread would actually wear generally? They are the stock Dunlop 300E tyres, and I typically don't really drive it *too* hard (usually! ;) ).

btw - I know this topic has been mentioned before, but I couldn't find much on the actual wear rate.

Where are you driving from? I'm no expert on tyres but if drove from Canberra to Sydney with that much tread left I doubt I would notice any difference when I returned. Melbourne to Sydney and back you may notice a little difference but I would hazzard to guess you would still have at least 1mm left. Assuming normal driving and a short stay in Sydney of course.

Edited May 7, 2009 by Djs

[Blind Kid Seeks]

tyres wear out twice, half of the life span

[Guni]

They normally wear quicker when you notice and slower when you don't

Either way, 1mm - 2mm seems to be quite thin for my liking.

Suggest changing them as worn off tyres can often have dier consequences when emergencies strike! <_<

Cheers.

[Hiro]

They also wear out exponentially faster when rego is due.....

[Guni]

They also wear out exponentially faster when rego is due.....

Which always happens to be the same time as your insurance as well.

[DJKOR]

They normally wear quicker when you notice and slower when you don't

Tell me about it. After I got my new tires, I was looking as how meaty the tread was (photo below). Then every time I'd go on a bit of a hard drive, I would have a loook at them again, and swear they were just wasting away. Now I look at them and they seem so worn out, but still nowhere near half, but it just seems like way more than that. The mind plays tricks on you sometimes.

As for your tires dave262, when my Michelin's were like that and I was waiting for it to go just that little bit less before getting new tires, I found that it wore down to the tread wear indicator in about 3 weeks of my normal driving.

I'd suggest replacing them at this point though because once the tires are to about that point, they start to loose their grippy properties and if it happens to rain, they aren't going to do you much good.

[AurionFAN01]

I think you should drive to Sydney and grab some new tyres there! Places like Tempe Tyres do awesome deals!

Edited May 7, 2009 by AurionFAN01

[2008camrydriver]

I think you should drive to Sydney and grab some new tyres there! Places like Tempe Tyres do awesome deals!

Just took my 94 V6 Camry for it's 6 monthly warrant of fitness and the tyre tread on all tyres was about 4mm, the same as last time. In that time I've done about 9,000kms in that time.

[dave262]

Thanks for the replies all! I haven't had time all week until now to check this!

I'll be heading to Sydney in the next couple of weeks, and I guess I will check what the wear is like when I'm in Syd and replace if necessary. I might have to check out the deals at Tempe if I need some new tyres when I arrive.

The Dunlop 300E tyres actually seem to be quite soft, but it surprises me a little they have even lasted this long (over 20,000km now). It does only seem to be the rear ones that are wearing out however, as the front ones have a reasonable amount of tread on them still (they were rotated last service).

Although the Dunlop tyres seem to get a fairly decent review still, has anybody come across anything recently that might be a better substitute than these? I have no real qualms with them, but they do seem to struggle to keep traction during acceleration sometimes (I've had wheelspins going from 2nd to 3rd when overtaking before - which I have never seen happen in a FWD auto before! ).

[1stKill]

Thanks for the replies all! I haven't had time all week until now to check this!

I'll be heading to Sydney in the next couple of weeks, and I guess I will check what the wear is like when I'm in Syd and replace if necessary. I might have to check out the deals at Tempe if I need some new tyres when I arrive.

The Dunlop 300E tyres actually seem to be quite soft, but it surprises me a little they have even lasted this long (over 20,000km now). It does only seem to be the rear ones that are wearing out however, as the front ones have a reasonable amount of tread on them still (they were rotated last service).

Although the Dunlop tyres seem to get a fairly decent review still, has anybody come across anything recently that might be a better substitute than these? I have no real qualms with them, but they do seem to struggle to keep traction during acceleration sometimes (I've had wheelspins going from 2nd to 3rd when overtaking before - which I have never seen happen in a FWD auto before! ).

FWD 200KW hmmmm gotta be lovin that ;) ,i've got yokahamas and the grip in there advance 103 sport range is awesome but they are exspensive,but ya get what ya pay for especially in tyres. B)

p.s if ya drop into Tempe Tyres you might get tempted on some wheels,they have a great range available and i know my Aurion loved her new shoes when i got em.(then again what pretty little thing dosen't love new shoes)

[tekkyy]

my stock Dunlop 300E has just hit the indicator mark

front tyres

almost 14,000km

only rotated front tyres since I only had my first yearly service

(duno if the dealer did but thats written on the 15,000km service)

[WildfireATX]

If your getting less than 20,000 kays from a set of tyres you are driving hard or have incorrect tyre pressures. Average lifespan of a set of tyres should be between 30 and 40 thousand kays depending on driving style. As mentioned before you do get what you pay for with tyres. If in doubt "chuck it out" and get some new ones.

[David the Viking]

I got 45,000km out of the original 245/35/19 Dunlop Sport Maxx tyres on my TRD.

[WildfireATX]

In General the more you pay the better the tyre. And the the larger the diameter and lower the profile the harder the compound goes as well as the higher the inflation pressure i understand. I think you also get increased tread depth for the price of tyre as well. So its not surprising that something like a 19 will last longer but once again price for quality.

Check your tyres pressures often and DONT under any circumstances believe the pumps at service stations.

I inflated my tyres to 36psi at a servo and took the car to my brother at Automasters where he is a manager and his brand new (and very expensive) tyre pressure reader and inflation device had all four at 42psi!!!

If you can afford it find a reputable tyre dealer and get them to inflate your tyres to the reccommended pressure with NITROGEN you wont have nearly as many problems with pressure differences then.

[Hiro]

I inflated my tyres to 36psi at a servo and took the car to my brother at Automasters where he is a manager and his brand new (and very expensive) tyre pressure reader and inflation device had all four at 42psi!!!

Were the tyres cold when you inflated them at the servo? And warm when you got to the other place? Air pressure goes up as the tyres get warm you know, which is why you should always stick to either cold or warm pressures, and not mix the two

If you can afford it find a reputable tyre dealer and get them to inflate your tyres to the reccommended pressure with NITROGEN you wont have nearly as many problems with pressure differences then.

Nitrogen has got to be the biggest **** in tyres these days. One, when you top up the pressure at a servo/wherever you're putting normal air in anyway, Two normal air is 70% nitrogen anyway, and Three if nitrogen leaks so much less than air, all you have to do is fill with normal air and wait for the oxygen to leach out leaving you with nitrogen anyway.

For a race car, MAYBE it is worthwhile. For a road car, the extra $50 or whatever that the tyre place charges you for it is MUCH better spent on new spark plugs, oil change, or anything else which actually contributes to the health of your car.

[dave262]

Not too sure how much Nitrogen would really do in tyres... given natural air has quite a high content of Nitrogen anyway. I'd rather spend the money on an oil change or something I think.

Made it to and back from Sydney quite some time ago, but decided it wasn't worth replacing the tyres even after the long drives - and being led in a 300km circle by the GPS (TomTom really has no clue... sent me to Wollongong, then lost signal and sent me back to Sydney - ended up going the whole way back to Vic using the Melways instead!). Nearly time for the service I think though, as it's starting to run a bit rough - which is where my $50 will be going!

[DJKOR]

my stock Dunlop 300E has just hit the indicator mark

front tyres

almost 14,000km

only rotated front tyres since I only had my first yearly service

(duno if the dealer did but thats written on the 15,000km service)

I have heard stories where people that have gotten particular Dunlop tires with their new car only to have them last around 15,000km before reaching the treadwear indicators. There was a case where car manufactures were packaging new cars with these tires that wear out abnormally quick.

If your getting less than 20,000 kays from a set of tyres you are driving hard or have incorrect tyre pressures. Average lifespan of a set of tyres should be between 30 and 40 thousand kays depending on driving style. As mentioned before you do get what you pay for with tyres. If in doubt "chuck it out" and get some new ones.

Not always... if the above case I mentioned above is true. Life span of tires also comes down the properties of the tires you get as well.

[and1]

I inflated my tyres to 36psi at a servo and took the car to my brother at Automasters where he is a manager and his brand new (and very expensive) tyre pressure reader and inflation device had all four at 42psi!!!

Were the tyres cold when you inflated them at the servo? And warm when you got to the other place? Air pressure goes up as the tyres get warm you know, which is why you should always stick to either cold or warm pressures, and not mix the two

If you can afford it find a reputable tyre dealer and get them to inflate your tyres to the reccommended pressure with NITROGEN you wont have nearly as many problems with pressure differences then.

Nitrogen has got to be the biggest **** in tyres these days. One, when you top up the pressure at a servo/wherever you're putting normal air in anyway, Two normal air is 70% nitrogen anyway, and Three if nitrogen leaks so much less than air, all you have to do is fill with normal air and wait for the oxygen to leach out leaving you with nitrogen anyway.

For a race car, MAYBE it is worthwhile. For a road car, the extra $50 or whatever that the tyre place charges you for it is MUCH better spent on new spark plugs, oil change, or anything else which actually contributes to the health of your car.

I agree with what Hiro has said here. Servo tyre inflaters are a bit off, not that much. Pretty sure they had to be calibrated before being put to use like that. If it is overinflated like that and the tyre blew or damaged itself the servo would somewhat be liable, so I doubt they are that off.

Also theoretically nitrogen is a smaller molecule than oxygen, so therefore it would leak pressure at a faster rate.

Race cars would use pure nitrogen because then pressures can stay more stable at high temperatures. Much higher than what street driven cars would even reach.

Going abit off topic sorry.

If you are looking for a new tyre, you should ask yourself whether longevity or performance is more important..