tyres.

[dave21478]

Its not just me is it? Tell me its not just me!

 

WTF is it with tyres wearing out quickly?

 

I know this forums motto is "Everything was better in 1986" but being serious for a moment, has anyone else noticed that over the last 5 years or so tyres have suddenly started wearing out much quicker than they did before?

 

One of my many tin-foil hat conspiracy theories is that garages deliberately dont do a good job when setting your wheel alignment as it is in their interest for tyres to wear out fast. I dont know if I am being proven right with this or if other factors are at work.

 

Example 1 - the Citroen. It had a bunch of mis-matched Wing Wongs on it when I bought it. In December last year I got 4 Uniroyal Rainsports fitted, and now, slightly less than a year later the fronts are buggered - worn badly on the outer edges and tread is down pretty low right across it. I dont do big mileage in it, so thats not a factor. When I had the accident Citroen checked the wheel alignment when they did the bodywork, and then when I changed the steering rack I got a garage to check it again, yet despite being assured it was "within spec" the tyres are goosed after only a couple of thousand miles.

 

Example two - the Gaylander. Its been to three garages over the years for alignment and its never right - either fronts or backs will wear abnormally.

 

Example three - The Mazda. A set of front tyres will last it a maximum of 4k miles.

 

 

And I am not the only one. My sister and brother in law live nearby and they go through tyres at the same rate - She runs a Scenic and it eats the fronts, needing a new set every 6k miles despite her driving like a pensioner and he runs the farm C15 which is worse, but he does drive it like Ken Block late for a shoe shine appointment. Despite that, it shouldnt need tyres every 4 months.

 

OK, I drive the Citroen pretty hard too, but I have been driving too fast since I passed my test and never wore tyres at this sort of rate and that includes the ultra cheapo tyres I used to run in my youth.

The road surfaces around here are gash - its bumpy and "repairs" consist of a quick squirt of wet tar then gravel dumped over it and patted down with the back of a shovel and the excess left on the surface for the traffic to dissipate and push onto the verge. 

 

Fuck this, man. Its costing a fortune and no matter how many times we get alignment checked at different garages each time, its not getting better.

[320touring]

Its a simple equation..

 

Grip level + spiritedness=wear rate.

 

Rainsports + fugutty= 5k miles for a set

 

Fato dichfinder + miss daisy= 25k miles a set

[skattrd]

I agree with him ^

No grip, hard rubber last ages. I prefer not to die regularly so usually buy grippy tyres that wear out quite quickly.

[dave21478]

If it were just fast driving wearing them out then obviously I wouldnt be complaining, but it is physically impossible to drive the landy or the mazda (especially the mazda) fast enough to cause excessive tyre wear.

[nigel bickle]

There may be something in this.

 

I'm doing my tax at the mo ( I know, I know) so I looked at my rubber expenditure over the past few years.

 

Mileage about the same, vehicles various, yet I've recorded around a 250% increased spend over 5 years. That would be worse but for my local used tyres outfit, that only opened around then , greatly lowering my initial outlay.

 

And even newbies aren't getting more expensive ( I buy quite a few new sets off t'internet, for the high mileage dailies) so that must surely equate to a lower mileage return per rim.

 

I'll have a closer look, but it's an interesting hypothesis.

[Matt]

Could it be linked to the ever expanding fatness of cars?

[Bren]

The roads are shit.

 

Cars are heavier and get even more so.

 

 

There is less rubber in a tyre now than years ago - which is why they crack.

 

Mk1 fiesta on cheng sing ditchfiders is the way to go.

[320touring]

If it were just fast driving wearing them out then obviously I wouldnt be complaining, but it is physically impossible to drive the landy or the mazda (especially the mazda) fast enough to cause excessive tyre wear.

Not a pressure issue is it?old alloys leak etc?

 

I tend to run my tyres slightly higher than manufacturers recommended pressures, and dont suffer high wear rates.

[AlabamaShrimp]

The roads are shit.

 

Cars are heavier and get even more so.

 

 

There is less rubber in a tyre now than years ago - which is why they crack.

 

Mk1 fiesta on cheng sing ditchfiders is the way to go.

I agree with all this this fiesta ST eats tyres (expensive stupid wide low profile one) but the mk2 has some nice random ones that have been on for years

[Junkman]

Everything was better in 1986.

[Stanky]

I managed to wring 27k miles out of my last set of Yokohamas on the Nissan and on track to get about the same from the current Kumhos. I do drive almost exclusively on motorways and A-roads so I imagine the wear is less than it could be if I was doing more back-road driving.

 

Try and find a set of late 90s Pirelli P6000s and fit them as winter tyres. You will never need to buy another set of tyres for the rest of your life*.

 

*no guarantees about the length of time referred to in the the statement 'rest of your life' being more than 15 seconds on a wet road

[Rocket88]

P6000s seem to be made out of cockroach hides .pretty much indestructible. I'm also convinced that "back in the day", when tyres were a lot taller, they lasted a lot longer.........

[andy18s]

Gaylanders are well known for eating tyres."they all do that sir.."

Can't really see a garage deliberately mis-aligning the tracking as who's to say where you will take it next time?

[Junkman]

Actually, it's a simple PHAKT that today's tyres wear out quicker, and not by a narrow margin. In order to meet noise reduction legislation,

they have to be made from a very soft compound. Add to this, that all those newfangled contraptions incorrectly referred to as "cars",

weigh about half a ton to a ton more, than real cars did way back in 1986, when real cars were still being made, and everything else also

was nicer and better.

[Cavcraft]

The conditions of the roads aren't helping. You can get your tracking done to the nth degree of spot onnny-ness, then promptly f*ck it all up with one decent pot hole on the way home.

Aside from that dropping on/off kerbs, bad road surfaces and speed bumps will all help premature wear and the tracking getting itself in a tizzy. 

 

Keep an eye on tyre pressures (at least once a week) and if FWD swap the fronts for the back after a few thousand miles.

[outlaw118]

My work van has just had a new pair of fronts after about 24k of ruthless hooning. Pirelli Cinturato in 175/70R14 (probably). 

But the idea that shit-grip tyres last longer is a factor, i never felt particularly happy with them, they squealed like a piggeh at the slightest provocation, and the understeer in the wet was something to behold.

 

When i was driving the Capri as a daily, I found that Firestone Firehawks were ok, both for wear rate and grip, Fuldas were shit for grip, but wore well, and Yokohamas were ace for grip, shit for wear.

 

You pays yer money etc.

[barefoot]

Cross piles FTW!

[forddeliveryboy]

1/ Tyres are less good than they used to be.

2/ Cars are almost twice the weight of the 80s

3/ Engines have twice the torque they had in the 80s.

4/ Cheapo suspension design - torsion beam rear axle and MacPh strut front - means the tyres are shuffling along on anything other than a perfect surface.

5/ Rubber bushes are everywhere to make a cheap design handle ok at medium speeds and flatter the driver, as well as make it less crashy on 50 profile tyres. These bushes allow the tyres to shuffle about too, which makes for more rapid wear.

 

My lightweight 80 TDi (just over a third of a metric tonne lighter than a modern A4) is a similar weight to a Douvrin-engined CX or four cylinder W124 Mercedes.

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

I agree with him ^

No grip, hard rubber last ages. I prefer not to die regularly so usually buy grippy tyres that wear out quite quickly.

Me too, having experienced the scary handling of a set of new Camacs, I bought six new Uniroyal Rain Experts for my Metro. The difference was amazing, quieter, lighter steering, better suspension and fantastic grip, wet or dry.

 

Downside was the wear, managed about 22000 miles on the set, but I'm still alive.

[dollywobbler]

The Uniroyal Rain tyres do seem rather soft, and so do wear quickly it seems. Mat the Cat has similar experiences. I rarely keep a car long enough for tyre wear to be an issue. The 2CV eats tyres, but then I thrash the absolute knackers off it almost constantly. 

[barefoot]

In the good old daze, tyres were always SR or HR rated & no-one had HR because no-one had cars that would go faster than about 80.

Low profile was 185/70X13, the bollocks. The tread was good in rain n snow n ice and everything.

Tyres have changed, the ZR rated hoops on the 944 are like grooved slicks, superb in 'normal' conditions but if I can manage to get it off the drive on a frosty morning, i stand not a chance of getting the bastard back on again. I am getting a couple of years / 20,000 out of Continental Conti Sports though. Khumo's managed about 7k.

I'll downsize and next time go back to something with 13 inch rims and the world will be a better place.

[Uncle Jimmy]

 

Go tyreless.

[gordonbennet]

I'm a tyre fetishist, they have to be right and of decent quality, often have feel round the read to check everything is tracking OK, oh and i believe if tracking is out an experienced driver will be able to tell, signs like when one wheel is running on the slippery white line and other is on grippy tarmac and the car starts to veer, or its wanders over road undulations, it's obvious something is amiss, so fix it pronto.

 

Lots of reasons why they don't last any more and most of them have been posted.

Heavy cars and FWD mainly so the fronts are doing everything, with RWD the work is dished out more fairly....i hate FWD, its shit.

Lots more power and people use it all the time trying to outdo each other.

Lack of proper maintenance, tyre pressures, brakes sticking, ball joint wear/seizure, dampers knackered, bearings worn.

Look at the state of peoples tyres and wheels, some of them must wear the sidewalls out quicker than the tread with all the kerb strikes and managing to drop in every pot hole they can find.

There's a massive number of people drive like twats, under full power right up to the junction or queue, then massive braking session, rinse and repeat.

 

 

If you've drive lorries as long as i have you'll have seen these changes, just try and get going on a roundabout loaded now its a bloody nightmare, cars and vans come round at bloody breakneck speed tyres nearly off the frigging rims, and just to help nearly all the modern lorries have wanky little engines with umpteen turbochargers, but zero bloody guts to get the sod going from rest, plus automated manual shit gearboxes just to make sure you don't have a hope in hell....years ago if you had a Cummins or CAT and a proper constant mesh box the lorry could outaccelerate good cars.

 

Then there's the rep types in their turbo Diesels, which are far too big for them (watch them trying to park its criminal), hooning round roundabouts then floor it, think they're Gods gift to driving but it's only the traction systems stopping them folding the bastard up like they would have in an 80's Beemer driven like that, if they switched the traction off half of 'em would end up in the dyke, but the single reason all these traction systems are lighting up is the tyres have started to lose grip, therefore scrubbing.

 

 

I've tracked my own cars for years, have bought a proper laser tracker now, but had excellent results with two thin bore copper pipes, one a sliding fit inside the other, lie under car, measure both ends of inside of wheel at half mast, it might sound heath robinson but no worse than the most fancy equipment in the hands of a boy who doesn't give a fuck.

 

I don't mind the tyre wear i get, the winter set have just gone on for their 5th or 6th winter and now down to 4/5mm so this is the last one, but i rotate regularly and if there are signs of feathering i fix the problem.

 

Worse tyres i ever had were Michelin ZX's on the Ventora, felt like it had 4 wheel steering, terrifying in the wet, couldn't wear 'em out so slung 'em, but then old Michelins were always hopeless in the wet.

[gordonbennet]

attachment-1.jpeg

 

Go tyreless.

 

Is that Herr Lt Gruber with his little tank.

[The Moog]

Are remoulds any good? Or to be avoided? Need some tyres for civic and dont want to spend the earth.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Guy Siner ooo err missus.

I do like armoured vehicles (including Ovlovs). Hoping to go to 'Tankfest' at Bovington next summer.

I tend to drive rather slowly round those sort of roundabouts to piss the f*****s in their A4s off, must be a nightmare driving HGVs with all the twats trying to undertake on roundabouts.

[Uncle Jimmy]

I have some el cheapo Nexens on the Ovlov, hard as tyres on a pre war Dinky, done about 10k and look like new.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Are remoulds any good? Or to be avoided? Need some tyres for civic and dont want to spend the earth.

Get some Toyo proxes, cheap as chips, stick like shit to the proverbial, do wear though...

[The Moog]

Love proxes but live up a farm track just on the snow line. That and they are massive 185 60 14s

[skattrd]

Are remoulds any good? Or to be avoided? Need some tyres for civic and dont want to spend the earth.

 

I've got winter remoulds and cheapy all seasons on at the moment, no complaints about either, plus added winter goodness when OMGSNO hits.

 

If I was you I'd look at some cheap all season tyres, mine are Maloya, fuck knows who makes 'em but they seem pretty good, I've probably done around 10k on them so far and no complaints