I know tyre life depends of various factors, but what average life are people getting here?
Doing a search on the forum seems to show tyre life as low as 15K on fronts.
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or 10K on back of TVR's.
Variables that spring to mind are:-
Drive configuration of car,
driving style,
make of tyre,
tread pattern of tyre (e.g. new V-shape treads tend to have better wet-road grip, but at expense of wear).
Do not be surprised at a wide variety of numbers in the replies you get.
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My first front set of Pirelli P6000 did 14k, and the 2nd only 11k.
I am now on Michelin XV1 Energy, which are still going well at 10k, but definitely not as much grip (still enough for me!) I drive 'briskly' !
Most of my mileage is urban, and in Milton Keynes, where we have MANY roundabouts!
Roger
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Have we met rogerb? You beat me to it mate re: MK and it's abundance of roundabouts, so about 12-15K then! I'm a V10 man by the way...
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Front tyres on FWD cars:
I got 35,000 out of the P6000's on my 406 HDi and I've replaced them with the same. The Pirellis seem to have a reasonable compromise between grip and wear.
My last car, a 2.0 litre Mondeo, did 20,000 on its first set (Continental) and about 25,000 on the Michelin replacements. The tyre fitter said that all Fords had a suspension set-up that tended to wear tyres more quickly, but I have never seen that view repeated anywhere else. However, on any 'standard', i.e. non-sports, car I'd be disappointed with less than 30,000 and would expect more.
My son's Cavalier does over 40,000 on Michelins and I'd say that Michelin are probaby the best wearing tyres that I've used, but I feel that wet weather grip isn't as good as some.
It does depend on so many variables, though, particularly driving style and perhaps type of roads. I'm not a traffic-light-grand-prix person.
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On my old XM I reckoned on about 20k front 35k back on Michelin MZXs (or whatever they were called). That included about 5k caravan towing per year.
I've only done 11k in the G Cherokee so far and wear on the (directional) Goodyears is negligible.
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Peugeot 205 Dturbo - 50K miles on first Michelin set, looking like 50Kon the replacement set (now at 87K). Rotated every 15K so all wore out together.
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I've known one person who did 30k (from new, Michelin I think) and still had half the tread left, and another who wore out a pair in 10k (Avon), both on the front of fwd cars. The difference was speed and acceleration (and braking).
Without friction tyres would do nothing, harder acceleration means more friction, harder braking means more friction whether you use engine braking or the footbrake, harder cornering means more friction, higher speeds mean more friction (and higher temperatures too). Friction and heat wear tyres.
True, compounds, carcass design, pressure, tread pattern, alignment all matter too, but there's not much you can do about them except check pressure and alignment.
Basically, if you drive as though you're trying to save fuel, you'll save on tyres too. And if you're shelling out for P7000 or Pilot Sports watch those kerbs!
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For longevity, you'll be hard pressed to ever beat Michelin - but they cost.
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For an interesting comparison, a read of the April 2002 "Which" magazine is essential. There is an article were they have done their usual tests on a wide range of popular tyres in two sizes. 175/65/14 and 195/?? Firestone came out on top by the way.
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As you say, interesting.
But that introduces another variable - differing results for same brand in different size.
What's a Nakamichi brand? (I think that's what it says)
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On my A140 (continental) I estimate I will get 18K out of the front. The rears have a long way to go yet.
A friend who has got a Clio Diesel, is on 50K with origional rears, but just had the 4th sent of fronts fitted (which according to my maths is about 16500 miles a set)
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Two different makes on two different cars. On all my FWD cars, except the Mondeo, I've got over 30K on a set, sometimes over 40K. Maybe it's time to get a reading of tyre life from some of the long-term car tests.
Nobody yet has come back on the assertion that Fords generally get through tyres quickly. Was the fitter just pulling my leg?
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I bought my Mondeo with 23k miles and brand new from tyres, so I imagine the first set lasted about 23k. Which for a fwd car driven in a relatively spirited manner sounds completely reasonable to me. From the wear in the last 11k miles I reckon the current set will do about the same (Conti Eco contacts)
I used to get 12k miles from fronts (GT2's)on my company Primera, but I used to thrash it down twisty B-roads a lot. About the same from GT2's on my Mk2 Golf GTI prior to that. Also thrashed, I am now married and drive more sanely.
Rear tyres on all my fwd cars have lasted 30-40k plus, even driven hard.
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It looks like you are getting about the same on your Mondeo as I was. Most of my mileage was motorway and dual carriageway. Perhaps that makes a difference? While I don't hang about, I doubt my driving style could be described as 'spirited' any more.
My point about the Mondeo is that it is the only car which has done only a half or two thirds the mileage on a set of fronts, compared to anything else my family has driven in the past 15 years (2 x Cavalier, 405 petrol, 405 TD, 406 HDi). I'd say that most of the time we were on Michelins. Not necessarily my choice, either it was the lease company's edict or the best deal going at the time.
That's why I think the Mondeo was heavy on rubber. It would be interesting to hear what mileages other owners of these types have had.
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I have an si mondeo205/55. Get 12k only on the front and until they perish on the back mainly urban miles. uniroyal rallee
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Nobody has mentioned the fact that new tyres now have less tread depth. A recently new P6000 i bought measured 7/7/7.5/7/7 across the tyre. Some years ago a new trye would have been 8mm.
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Could this just be a manufacturing variance? When I had two new P6000's fitted, one measured 8mm and the other about 7.5mm. I didn't complain because the leasing company had given special dispensation to fit the Pirellis instead of its preferred Dunlops.
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It's not the first P6000 i've tested new with 7mm , ever since my old primera scrubbed the front tyres in 8k (tracking 5 degrees out) i alawys do a monthly check to catch a problem early on , a good idea with £100 tyres, but also gives a indication of projected tyre life , i expect to get a max of 28.5k on my A4 quattro with a 1.75mm depth. Just checked my records the new spare reads 6.8/7/7.5/6.5/7
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Interesting. I did not know that.
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Had four new budget tyres (not remoulds) fitted to my ZX when I bought it at a cost of only £100. Fronts have done nearly 20k, probably good for 25k, rears look almost brand new, will simply rotate at next MOT. Can't comment on grip because I don't throw it round corners! Perfectly adequate for the job, beats paying £50+ each for branded tyres.
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Like the man says - any old "black, round" thing will do if you drive gently.
The big difference with the latest Whizzy's is in wet-road grip (usually offset by reduced life - you can't have everything).
(says he with 225/45 YR17 Dunlop SP9000)
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Not sure what ZX you got (i.e have you got 165/70R13 or 175/65R4), but assuming 165/70 mytires.net have:
165/70 R13 Budget Tyres @ 18.70 each i.e £94.80 fitted (at £5 tyres for fitting)
165/70 R13 Uniroyal Rallye 580 @ 23.70 i.e £114.80 fitted for branded tyres
So you could get branded tyres for only £15 more than you paid (less than £4 extra a tyre)
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Have a 1.6 Ford Focus Zetec which eats front tyres. Can't get more than 10k out of them. They are 195 width and 55 section (I think) which may make a difference as other Focus models are not so low profile? I blame dear wife and daughter, who drive it most. Would appreciate hearing from other Focus drivers.
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That sort of confirms something I was about to say earlier on re Fords, although in different context.
Which was that many Fords on the road are not driven by their owners, or at least by those who pay the bills. I believe owner/drivers would, to some degree, always have in mind their consumables and repair bills and drive accordingly, whereas non-owner drivers do not have those costs.
I am not trying to slight any group of drivers, just speaking from personal experience (i.e. when I had a company car it was fine to try to burn everyone off at the lights and corner on two wheels, now at £130 a tyre I think twice...)
Also, with the prevelance of speed cameras....no, forget that....LMAO
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Avons on the front of a 24 valve mondeo less than 10K.
Dunlops on the back of the Blackbird 4K
Bill
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If your tyres are designed for maximum grip, 15k would be pretty good. I use Michelin Pilots which have plenty of grip on 17 inch powered front wheels and get 18k. But they're not cheap. I once used Bridgestones which had awesome grip (especially in the wet) but can't afford to change them every 8-10k!
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