YACT: Which tires on a car wear down the fastest?

[Antoneo]

Which tires on a car wear down the fastest? Is it different for different types of cars (minivan, sedan, etc.)? I see pick up trucks (and trucks in general) with their rear set of wheels doubled and was wondering if those wore down faster than the front.

 

[Ryan]

The ones that do the driving.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Its more of what it is being used for and how often than a question of what kind of car it is

 

[liquidblue]

If playing Gran Turismo taught me anything... front wheel drive cars wear down the front the fastest (traction, steering and braking), as for rear wheel drive... am I right to assume the rears wear down faster? I'm not quite sure about that one. All wheel drive - no idea.

 

[Antoneo]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Its more of what it is being used for and how often than a question of what kind of car it is

Mmm, daily driver with 70/30 city/highway use. I guess the load is being distributed on double rear tires of a truck for safety?

liquidblue, good point. Anyone know?

 

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: Antoneo

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Its more of what it is being used for and how often than a question of what kind of car it is

Mmm, daily driver with 70/30 city/highway use. I guess the load is being distributed on double rear tires of a truck for safety?

Double tires is used to carry more load.

 

[Antoneo]

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser

Originally posted by: Antoneo

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Its more of what it is being used for and how often than a question of what kind of car it is

Mmm, daily driver with 70/30 city/highway use. I guess the load is being distributed on double rear tires of a truck for safety?

Double tires is used to carry more load.

Yeah, that's what I meant.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

RWD - Rear tires

FWD - Front Tires

AWD (cars)- Front tires as most AWD systems use the front wheels as the primary drive axle s its usualy a 70-30 drive split Front to Rear

 

[dirtboy]

Ones that don't have a treadwear warranty, like the ones on my car.

 

[NutBucket]

Fronts on mine especially with my hard corner and negative camber

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: FrustratedUser

Originally posted by: Antoneo

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Its more of what it is being used for and how often than a question of what kind of car it is

Mmm, daily driver with 70/30 city/highway use. I guess the load is being distributed on double rear tires of a truck for safety?

Double tires is used to carry more load.

Actually, most duallys have a slightly lower tow rating than their non-dual rear wheel counterparts. The dual rear wheels makes for a much more stable towing platform though and that is why people buy them.

 

[lozina]

Which tires on a car wear down the fastest?

The improperly inflated ones

 

[JulesMaximus]

To answer your question though it depends on the car, the tires, the driving conditions, how frequently you rotate the tires and inflation of the tires.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Actually, most duallys have a slightly lower tow rating than their non-dual rear wheel counterparts. The dual rear wheels makes for a much more stable towing platform though and that is why people buy them.

They typically do have a higher payload. It used to be that all of the 1 ton trucks (well, the real ones, not the spec-cheating Toyotas) had dually axles. I think tire tech's come far enough that the load range needed for a SRA to be a 1 ton safely is around now where it didn't used to be.

As far as towing stability, when you got twice as much tire touching the ground, and a wider wheelbase, convincing that 10,000+ LB trailer to slow down and change direction as you're heading down a steep slope (ie: Tahoe basin over US-50) becomes a bit easier to do. You gotta drive them like you're always towing though, it's easy to forget about the extra width.

 

[Preyhunter]

I think it's more a question of the steering characteristics of the vehicle. Understeer (the majority of factory vehicles) creates more load on the front of a vehicle, causing it to "plow" through a corner. Oversteer puts more stress on the traction of the rear tires, causing a spinout with the rear coming around on you in instances where the applied force is greater than the traction provided by the tires. Either of these conditions may exist regardless of whether the vehicle is a FWD or RWD. Don't forget that proper tire inflation is also a factor.

To answer the OP's question, the front tires wear faster the majority of the time.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Back to the OP, I find that in most cars, the drive wheels wear first. In my case the rear wheels.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: Preyhunter
I think it's more a question of the steering characteristics of the vehicle. Understeer (the majority of factory vehicles) creates more load on the front of a vehicle, causing it to "plow" through a corner. Oversteer puts more stress on the traction of the rear tires, causing a spinout with the rear coming around on you in instances where the applied force is greater than the traction provided by the tires. Either of these conditions may exist regardless of whether the vehicle is a FWD or RWD. Don't forget that proper tire inflation is also a factor.

To answer the OP's question, the front tires wear faster the majority of the time.

Actually, the second post in this thread summed it up quite accurately.

I have 2 cars, one is FWD, one is RWD. They both have understeer. The drive tires wear out fastest by far.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Actually, most duallys have a slightly lower tow rating than their non-dual rear wheel counterparts. The dual rear wheels makes for a much more stable towing platform though and that is why people buy them.

They typically do have a higher payload. It used to be that all of the 1 ton trucks (well, the real ones, not the spec-cheating Toyotas) had dually axles. I think tire tech's come far enough that the load range needed for a SRA to be a 1 ton safely is around now where it didn't used to be.

As far as towing stability, when you got twice as much tire touching the ground, and a wider wheelbase, convincing that 10,000+ LB trailer to slow down and change direction as you're heading down a steep slope (ie: Tahoe basin over US-50) becomes a bit easier to do. You gotta drive them like you're always towing though, it's easy to forget about the extra width.

That's more dependant on the suspension though isn't it? I didn't comment on payload because I wasn't sure about that. I have researched the 1 ton trucks though for towing capacity so I decided to comment on that.

I've never driven a dual axle truck. I've driven a 26' single axle moving van and a couple 3/4 ton pickup trucks but that's about it.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
That's more dependant on the suspension though isn't it? I didn't comment on payload because I wasn't sure about that. I have researched the 1 ton trucks though for towing capacity so I decided to comment on that.

I've never driven a dual axle truck. I've driven a 26' single axle moving van and a couple 3/4 ton pickup trucks but that's about it.

Tires have a load rating. iirc, the standard for the D load range is 2400 for singles, 2000 for duals. So the axle weight for a SRA would be around 4800LBs max, while duals could be 8000.

 

[Preyhunter]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: Preyhunter
I think it's more a question of the steering characteristics of the vehicle. Understeer (the majority of factory vehicles) creates more load on the front of a vehicle, causing it to "plow" through a corner. Oversteer puts more stress on the traction of the rear tires, causing a spinout with the rear coming around on you in instances where the applied force is greater than the traction provided by the tires. Either of these conditions may exist regardless of whether the vehicle is a FWD or RWD. Don't forget that proper tire inflation is also a factor.

To answer the OP's question, the front tires wear faster the majority of the time.

Actually, the second post in this thread summed it up quite accurately.

I have 2 cars, one is FWD, one is RWD. They both have understeer. The drive tires wear out fastest by far.

Summed it up quite accurately for you, perhaps. I currently have a FWD and a RWD, both have understeer, and front tires wear faster on both. I drive conservatively and the tires never get spun. Yes, driving habits will factor in as well.

If you take what would be considered "normal", such as not shooting off the line at lights and stop signs, following proper braking distance recommendations, having a properly adjusted brake system, properly inflated tires, etc, physics will take care of the rest. Even with oversteer, your front tires are also being worked over by braking (brake system is biased toward the front) and steering at low to no speed (ever get black spots on a driveway just by turning the steering wheel?).

 

[Vic]

The ones you neglect to properly rotate.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: Preyhunter

If you take what would be considered "normal", such as not shooting off the line at lights and stop signs, following proper braking distance recommendations, having a properly adjusted brake system, properly inflated tires, etc, physics will take care of the rest.

What the hell is that crap? I live my life 10 seconds at a time, yo.

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: Fmr12B
RWD - Rear tires

FWD - Front Tires

AWD (cars)- Front tires as most AWD systems use the front wheels as the primary drive axle s its usualy a 70-30 drive split Front to Rear