V70: Wheels/Brakes V70 2011 model front tyre wear

[Tigerseye]

Stupid me. Sorry folks - didn't mean to mislead anybody but after reading the other comments I thought I'd better check my records and I'm actually on my third set of fronts now, not the second! The first were replaced at 38,250, the second at 62,750, both Continental Sports.
Still only one set on the rear though!

[tommyweaves]

Originally Posted by Jay

I have done approx 9,500 miles in the V70 since new (delivered new in July and still with the original factory tires) and the tread on the front tyres is approximately 2-3 mm before it levels with the indicators.

Is this normal wear for a mixture of motorway and A & B road driving. The wear on both of the front are even so it is not worn on the edge.

I spoke to the dealership who advised that it is normal and i will probably get another 1-2k miles.

I am a bit disappointed with the wear and undecided whether to continue with the Continental brand or switch to a harder tyres i.e. dunlop

any comments appreciated.

Legal limit is of course 1.6mm. Assuming you had 8mm to start with and you have 2.5 mm left before it reaches the wear indicator that means you've used 3.9mm to cover 9,500 miles. This gives you 2435.9 miles per mm of tread. Assuming you have 2.5mm of useable tread left you can expect 6,090 miles before you're down to the limit. Adding this to your existing 9,500 miles gives you total miles from your front set of tyres of 15,590. Checking this against other comments on this thread, I'd suggest this is normal!

[tommyweaves]

Originally Posted by Tigerseye

Stupid me. Sorry folks - didn't mean to mislead anybody but after reading the other comments I thought I'd better check my records and I'm actually on my third set of fronts now, not the second! The first were replaced at 38,250, the second at 62,750, both Continental Sports.
Still only one set on the rear though!

Are you sure you're not actually on your 4th set of front tyres? i.e. you've had your tyres replaced 3 times - the first ones being replaced somewhere around 19,000

[Sanzomat]

I'll throw my tyre experiences into the pot too. My sept 09 (2010MY) 2.0d V70 RD now has 35,000 miles. The original fronts (245/40/18 Pirelli Pzero Rosso) lasted 25,000 miles and were replaced with Barum Bavurius (less than half the price) these have now done 10,000 miles but only have 4mm left (thus 4mm used) so are wearing at 2,500/mm so will need changing at around 15,000 miles, however as these are less than half the price of Pirelli (or other similar premium brands) this still represents good value as I'll get 30,000 miles for the price of 25,000 on premiums. Grip/noise about the same.
The rears are still the original pirellis and have about 4.5mm left so are wearing at 10,000 per mm so if changed at 2mm will see 60,000.

Thinking about it I've always found wear rate improves as you get less tread depth - anyone else found this? often the last couple of mm from 4mm to 2mm can last almost as long as the first 4mm from 8mm - not sure if there is any science behind this?

[tommyweaves]

Originally Posted by Sanzomat

I'll throw my tyre experiences into the pot too. My sept 09 (2010MY) 2.0d V70 RD now has 35,000 miles. The original fronts (245/40/18 Pirelli Pzero Rosso) lasted 25,000 miles and were replaced with Barum Bavurius (less than half the price) these have now done 10,000 miles but only have 4mm left (thus 4mm used) so are wearing at 2,500/mm so will need changing at around 15,000 miles, however as these are less than half the price of Pirelli (or other similar premium brands) this still represents good value as I'll get 30,000 miles for the price of 25,000 on premiums. Grip/noise about the same.
The rears are still the original pirellis and have about 4.5mm left so are wearing at 10,000 per mm so if changed at 2mm will see 60,000.

Thinking about it I've always found wear rate improves as you get less tread depth - anyone else found this? often the last couple of mm from 4mm to 2mm can last almost as long as the first 4mm from 8mm - not sure if there is any science behind this?

That's a good wear rate on the Pirellis to get 25k out of the fronts. Interesting comment on apparently improving wear the less tread you have. I can only imagine that there is less movement in the tread as it reduces, potentially lessening the amount of "scrub". Or does the rubber harden after time and with a number of heat cycles?

Tell me, does your V70 tramline with the 18" rims with the 55mm offset?

[Tigerseye]

Tommyweaves - I've just checked through the paperwork rammed into the handbook and it is definitely just the two changes to the front tyres.

It will be interesting to see how the new fronts last seeing as though they are Goodyear Efficientgrips compared to the Continentals (being honest, I can't hear any difference in road noise or levels of grip. Whether they are more fuel efficient I'll have to wait and see).

[tommyweaves]

Originally Posted by Tigerseye

Tommyweaves - I've just checked through the paperwork rammed into the handbook and it is definitely just the two changes to the front tyres.

It will be interesting to see how the new fronts last seeing as though they are Goodyear Efficientgrips compared to the Continentals (being honest, I can't hear any difference in road noise or levels of grip. Whether they are more fuel efficient I'll have to wait and see).

I'll take your word for it! Just seemed odd that you got 38k out of your first original fronts and only 24k from your next set. Either way it's exceptional and I'd love to get that kind of mileage from my tyres.

[Sanzomat]

Originally Posted by tommyweaves

Tell me, does your V70 tramline with the 18" rims with the 55mm offset?

In a word, yes! It has a bit of a tendency to follow white lines but (not sure if this is due to the tyre's low profile or general suspension geometry) it also has quite a strong tendency to follow the road's camber - as most roads have their high point in the centre of the road this tends to show up as a pull to the left but it is clearly a road camber thing as occasionaly the pull reverses to the right and at these times you can usually tell the road has a full right hand cross fall. On a "normal" road, if you straddle the white lines (obvioulsy when the road is empty!) it drives true as an arrow. I've now become used to this and don't really notice it anymore but when I drive other cars and come back I notice it again.

[tommyweaves]

Originally Posted by Sanzomat

In a word, yes! It has a bit of a tendency to follow white lines but (not sure if this is due to the tyre's low profile or general suspension geometry) it also has quite a strong tendency to follow the road's camber - as most roads have their high point in the centre of the road this tends to show up as a pull to the left but it is clearly a road camber thing as occasionaly the pull reverses to the right and at these times you can usually tell the road has a full right hand cross fall. On a "normal" road, if you straddle the white lines (obvioulsy when the road is empty!) it drives true as an arrow. I've now become used to this and don't really notice it anymore but when I drive other cars and come back I notice it again.

Interesting, mine does that with 17" x 8" rims (Njord) with a 55mm offset. I've now got my winter rims on (17" x 7" with 50mm offset) and the tramlining has mostly disappeared. The overall dimensions of your 18" wheel and tyre set up are the same as my summer 17" wheels and tyres.

[JB99]

I just got 11,000 miles out of some Continentals; I thought that it was abnormally low, but apparently not. I have the D4 and drive quite gently, but I live in a hilly region with twisty roads.