Tyre lifespan ?

[J4CKO]

Chap at work has a Passat 2.0 tdi, he said that he has just changed the front tyres at 48k, my question, is this possible, I never get anything like that ?

And, what are your best and worst lifespans from a tyre.

Managed 2000 from a pair of fronts on a Golf GTI when 19

Longest, er, never checked, usually sell the car before it gets that far, the wifes Galaxy has about 12,000 on the fronts and they are looking a bit tired, I suppose its a heavy car with a relatively torquey engine.

[HellDiver]

My housemate got 55k out of a pair of 15" Bridgestone Turanza ER300 on the front of his Mk4 Astra. Mostly motorway miles, and it was a 1.6 8v, so doesn't exactly wear tyres excessively either during acceleration or braking.

On the other hand, I had a similar car, was running 16" Bridgestone Potenza RE050 and did mostly city driving, and I was getting 10-12k out of a pair on the front. Again, mine was a 2.0DTI so not a high performance vehicle. Only got 40k out of the rears. The RE050 are like putty compared to the ER300.

Best wearing tyres that had decent grip were the Vredestein Ultrac that were on my Mk5 Astra. Were fitted at 19k by the previous owner, stayed on the front, and were still there with 4mm tread when I sold the car with 40k on the clock. That's with 200hp and 310lb-ft and 322mm VXR anchors trying to shred them.

So, I think it depends on use of the car and type of tyre.

Edited by HellDiver on Thursday 26th August 17:26

[cptsideways]

Best about 40k in the Tdi Golf & about 10 mins & half as many miles in the beast

[Rawwr]

900 miles out of a pair of Yokohama A048Rs

[sleep envy]

Rawwr said:

900 miles out of a pair of Yokohama A048Rs

good work

[MondeoMan1981]

A tyre chain whos name suggests your tyres would be fitted quite fast tried to tell me that the Michelin GT2s on my 52 plate 206 are original. Thats was with 61k on the clock at the time and 3.5mm tread !

Must have done most of its miles on a rolling road I guess...

[maniac0796]

5000 out of some Hankooks on the front...

The new ones have lasted 6000, so that's better

[Doniger]

Erm, about 30k mixed motorway and London driving on a Saab 93, and 150 or so from some Dunlop R soft compounds on a Prelude during a track day

[bazking69]

How long is a piece of string.

That said, modern tyres on the rear of a FWD can last seemingly forever, especially if you don't do big mileage.

[doodles19]

MondeoMan1981 said:

A tyre chain whos name suggests your tyres would be fitted quite fast tried to tell me that the Michelin GT2s on my 52 plate 206 are original. Thats was with 61k on the clock at the time and 3.5mm tread !

Must have done most of its miles on a rolling road I guess...

Dont rolling roads chew through tyres?

Oh and the walls of mine seem to go (cracks start appearing) before the tread depth gets to a point at which wet weather/breaking performance becomes an issue, anyone had experience of this?

[Jimmytno1]

[quote=MondeoMan1981]A tyre chain whos name suggests your tyres would be fitted quite fast tried to tell me that the Michelin GT2s on my 52 plate 206 are original. Thats was with 61k on the clock at the time and 3.5mm tread
Must have done most of its miles on arolling road I guess... [/quote

Do you mean Goodyear GT2s? Not uncommon to see rear Tyres on light hatchbacks with mega miles on them, saw a pug 205 last week with Tyres on that were 15 years old and had done something like 90k

[doodles19]

Jimmytno1 said:

MondeoMan1981 said:

A tyre chain whos name suggests your tyres would be fitted quite fast tried to tell me that the Michelin GT2s on my 52 plate 206 are original. Thats was with 61k on the clock at the time and 3.5mm tread
Must have done most of its miles on arolling road I guess...

Do you mean Goodyear GT2s? Not uncommon to see rear Tyres on light hatchbacks with mega miles on them, saw a pug 205 last week with Tyres on that were 15 years old and had done something like 90k

Wow! That someone has not been trying hard enough! , Still though, Impressive stuff!

[Pints]

doodles19 said:

Oh and the walls of mine seem to go (cracks start appearing) before the tread depth gets to a point at which wet weather/breaking performance becomes an issue, anyone had experience of this?

I've noticed this with the Michelin Energy Savers.

[Jimmytno1]

Yeah I see it all the time at work, usually old michelins that have always lived on the rear of the car, more often than not they still have decent tread when we change them and it's age/perishing that finishes them off

[spud989]

Just put a new pair of Falken FK452s on my Z4 (rear). Previous pair had done 16k and still had a couple of mm left ish, a decent bit above legal limit. Mostly a road and motorway, but enough blasts of enthusiasm in there.

[littleandy0410]

When I passed my test in 1997, my dad had an F reg 1.6 Cavalier. The rear tyres were the originals, and had done over 100k. Then I got put on his insurance, and the next set did about 10k! Must've been a dodgy batch or something!

[Chris_w666]

2500 miles out of a set of cheapo ditchfinders on an ST170 focus, the rears were probably good for 10k but the fronts were dead and I went nowhere near a track.

[Vidal Baboon]

HellDiver said:

My housemate got 55k out of a pair of 15" Bridgestone Turanza ER300 on the front of his Mk4 Astra. Mostly motorway miles, and it was a 1.6 8v, so doesn't exactly wear tyres excessively either during acceleration or braking.

On the other hand, I had a similar car, was running 16" Bridgestone Potenza RE050 and did mostly city driving, and I was getting 10-12k out of a pair on the front. Again, mine was a 2.0DTI so not a high performance vehicle. Only got 40k out of the rears. The RE050 are like putty compared to the ER300.

Best wearing tyres that had decent grip were the Vredestein Ultrac that were on my Mk5 Astra. Were fitted at 19k by the previous owner, stayed on the front, and were still there with 4mm tread when I sold the car with 40k on the clock. That's with 200hp and 310lb-ft and 322mm VXR anchors trying to shred them.

So, I think it depends on use of the car and type of tyre.

Edited by HellDiver on Thursday 26th August 17:26

There are many things we disagree on, but this isn't one of them.

ER300 & the Ultrac are THE best tyres i've ever used. The Ultrac pips the Bridgestone on grip & road noise, I had the Vresdstein on a Fiat Coupe with 270bhp & the grip was phenominal for a hardwearing tyre.

[doodles19]

Pints said:

doodles19 said:

Oh and the walls of mine seem to go (cracks start appearing) before the tread depth gets to a point at which wet weather/breaking performance becomes an issue, anyone had experience of this?

I've noticed this with the Michelin Energy Savers.

Those are the ones!

Time to change brand/style next time around I think!

[RDB]

HellDiver said:

Best wearing tyres that had decent grip were the Vredestein Ultrac that were on my Mk5 Astra. Were fitted at 19k by the previous owner, stayed on the front, and were still there with 4mm tread when I sold the car with 40k on the clock. That's with 200hp and 310lb-ft and 322mm VXR anchors trying to shred them.

So, I think it depends on use of the car and type of tyre.

I was amazed at how well the Ultracs wear. I had a set on my Mondeo (admittedly just a standard 2.0 petrol) that were less than half worn after 12k. I sold it to a guy at work who has done about another 7k or 8k on them and they've still got about 4mm tread left.

I've had hard wearing tyres before, but the Ultracs were also the best tyres I've ever had in terms of grip.

At the other end of the scale, I managed to go through a pair of Avon ZV3 on the front of my 1.6 Escort in about 7k. That was partly due to the wishbone bushes dying a death and causing uneven wear though.