tyre wear: nsr worn more than osr

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Tue 10 May 2005 20:25
tyre wear: nsr worn more than osr - dylan
My passenger side rear tyre has around 3mm of tread left. The driver side rear has around 4.5mm left. It's a very noticable difference to the naked eye. Both are Dunlop SP9000s that came new with the car (Yaris). The car's done 48k miles, and is approaching 4 years old.

On both tyres, the wear is pretty even across the width, and around the circumference.

What could cause this uneven wear? I assume it can't be pressures or tracking, as those would result in uneven wear within the tyre, not between the two tyres, right?
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Tue 10 May 2005 21:53
tyre wear: nsr worn more than osr - Dynamic Dave
The nearside tyre lives in the gutter and suffers more abuse from potholes, kerbs, drain covers, etc than the offside tyre does.
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Tue 10 May 2005 22:07
tyre wear: nsr worn more than osr - Dynamic Dave
Having re-read the subject header, it is the opposite of your question.

Can you confirm whether the osr is wearing more than the nsr, or the other way around?
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Tue 10 May 2005 22:25
tyre wear: nsr worn more than osr - dylan
Sorry the subject is wrong. It's the passenger side that is more worn, which fits with your explanation of gutter etc.

{Header corrected. DD}
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Tue 10 May 2005 22:36
tyre wear: nsr worn more than osr - El Dingo
Do you have a lot of roundabouts in your area?

El Dingo.
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Tue 10 May 2005 22:49
tyre wear: nsr worn more than osr - dylan
Do you have a lot of roundabouts in your area?


Yes, quite a few. I guess roundabouts cause weight to the thrown to the passenger side, but could this really explain 1.5mm difference? It would make sense if I drove aggressively, but I don't - I drive pretty conservatively compared to most.
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Wed 11 May 2005 08:55
tyre wear: nsr worn more than osr - brianrh
Besides having more load on it, the N/S wheel is going round more times than the O/S so it is travelling further when going round roundabouts.
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Wed 11 May 2005 09:24
tyre wear: nsr worn more than osr - Cliff Pope
Besides having more load on it, the N/S wheel is going
round more times than the O/S so it is travelling further
when going round roundabouts.

>>

I'm not sure that is true. If on average you go straight on at roundabouts (ie same number of left as right turns) then won't the extra revolutions on the roundabout be evened out by the two opposite turns as you enter and leave?

It sounds like a pretty convincing argument for swapping over wheels periodically.
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Sun 15 May 2005 22:47
tyre wear: nsr worn more than osr - kithmo
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
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