Tyre Wear - How many miles on a set?

[istate75]

I know this has been discussed on the forum before, but thought a fresh post would be simpler.

I have a 2.0D S Line Avant Multitronic with S-Line suspension and 19" wheels that has just had it's 2nd service by Audi at 38,000 miles (it's 19 months old).

They have advised that the tyres are 3mm all round. I'm really confused by this as they are the original tyres (Pirellis). Shouldn't the front tyres wear out quicker that the back?

Almost all my mileage is on the motorway.

My last A6 managed around 25k on the front and 50k on the back when I changed them at around 2-2.5mm.

Any thoughts?

[Guest 2]

38,000 on 19" tyres is exceptionally good.

What was your last A6 in terms of engine, trans, tyre size etc?

[istate75]

My last one was an 56 2.0D S-Line Avant manual with S-Line suspension and 18" wheels. The tyres were continentals (I remember because I had to put 4 on it a couple of months before I sold it!)

[Guest 2]

The bigger the wheel the less miles you'll get, your older car would've been lighter too.

Did you check the wear ratings for both tyres? You'll probably find the Pirelli has a smaller treadwear rating compared to the Continentials.

[RickT]

There are so many factors, road surface type, pressure, compound,size, temps, tyre model (dot) etc etc..

[M1tchy]

Have you got quattro? Could be why they are all wearing at the same rate?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DB22]

The bigger the wheel the less miles you'll get, your older car would've been lighter too.

.I'm not convinced: a larger circumference will require far less rotations and therefore reduced contact per square inch of tire over a certain distance. Older cars are typically heavier than their modern counterparts too.

[Tripletrouble]

18k if I'm lucky. Mostly motorway miles.

[johnsimcox]

I changed the front 17" Pirellis on my 2.O Manual Avant SE at 26k, the rears are about 50% worn

[Scott K]

Good mileage and probably because you are doing mostly motorway. Not so many corners to scrub them on and pulling away and stopping at lights etc.

[Mike41]

I'm not convinced: a larger circumference will require far less rotations and therefore reduced contact per square inch of tire over a certain distance. Older cars are typically heavier than their modern counterparts too.

Yes that was what I was thinking too - certainly intuitive but is it correct? Perhaps smaller wheels use higher profile tyres meaning more rubber between wheel and road. Just a guess though maybe someone knows for sure?

[DB22]

Yes that was what I was thinking too - certainly intuitive but is it correct? Perhaps smaller wheels use higher profile tyres meaning more rubber between wheel and road. Just a guess though maybe someone knows for sure?I understand the variables, the A6 in the US comes with 18, 19 and 20's but the circumference is the same due to the changes in aspect ratio. My theory expounded on the fact that the original mini had 10 or 12's and because they rotated so often, they didn't last long. Another factor on the A6 is that 20's are typically for performance and have softer rubber so the 20's didn't last as long due to the assumed style of driving.
BTW - I have 20 PZero's and have 20K miles and they are about half gone but 80% of my driving is freeway.

[istate75]

No, it's a 2.0D FWD Multi. It did surprise me they all seem to wear at the same rate.

[Olio]

I've just had the car at Audi to check something and they reported on the tyres and brakepads.

The car has done just under 10k miles, and still with original tyres of course (I think they're P7)

Front tyres are at 4mm, rear tyres at 8mm
Pads are 10% worn.

I do a lot of short work commutes, and small roads, with a bit of motorway, so I'm quite suprised at how worn the front tyres are compared to the figures mentiones in this thread.

[Eshrules]

I've just had the car at Audi to check something and they reported on the tyres and brakepads.

The car has done just under 10k miles, and still with original tyres of course (I think they're P7)

Front tyres are at 4mm, rear tyres at 8mm
Pads are 10% worn.

I do a lot of short work commutes, and small roads, with a bit of motorway, so I'm quite suprised at how worn the front tyres are compared to the figures mentiones in this thread.

It's not unusual for a FWD to wear its front tyres quicker than its rears.

I did 62k on the same set of rears with my last car, they were still close to 5mm - I went through 2 sets of fronts.

I'm assuming this is why it's a common suggestion to rotate tyres, to evenly wear them all.

[johnsimcox]

I've just had the car at Audi to check something and they reported on the tyres and brakepads.

The car has done just under 10k miles, and still with original tyres of course (I think they're P7)

Front tyres are at 4mm, rear tyres at 8mm
Pads are 10% worn.

I do a lot of short work commutes, and small roads, with a bit of motorway, so I'm quite suprised at how worn the front tyres are compared to the figures mentiones in this thread.
4mm after 10k miles seems quite rapid as I got 26k out of my front P7s. Couple of thoughts, what are your tyre pressures set to? If you are set to the higher pressures then with the car lightly laden the centre of the tyre will be taking all of the load and this will cause it to ware faster. Secondly it may be that the multitronic box causes faster wear than cars with manuals either due to weight or that it encourages/forces a driving style that accelerates weigh. Finally I would check the depth yourself. Believe it or not but garages have been known to get it wrong :D

[ukgroucho]

It does seem odd.. the last FWD Audi I had (an A4 1.9 Tdi) used to do 20K or maybe 25K on the front and 60k on the rears - and I did a LOT of motorway miles in that car in the first 2 years (40k a year).

Having said that your C7 is doing better than your C6 did based on average wear (and this might be a stretch so bear with me :) ).
You've averaged 38k on all four tyres on the C7 - at 3mm wear.
You averaged only 32.5k on the C6 to 2 - 2.5mm wear.

My question to you is "did the wheels get rotated (front to rear) at some point - maybe by the dealer during a service?"
That would explain it.

[Cadja]

It does seem odd.. the last FWD Audi I had (an A4 1.9 Tdi) used to do 20K or maybe 25K on the front and 60k on the rears - and I did a LOT of motorway miles in that car in the first 2 years (40k a year).Having said that your C7 is doing better than your C6 did based on average wear (and this might be a stretch so bear with me :) ).You've averaged 38k on all four tyres on the C7 - at 3mm wear.You averaged only 32.5k on the C6 to 2 - 2.5mm wear.My question to you is "did the wheels get rotated (front to rear) at some point - maybe by the dealer during a service?"That would explain it.Normal rule of thumb on fwd is 2 sets of front to one rear and you would only ever wear them down together if indeed they were rotated, the biggest factor effecting mileage is driving charateristics and MAKE.....the dearest doesn't always deliver mileage you are paying for all the other properties wet grip stopping distance noise etc for example you could buy a Nankang (budget) but is possible to get more mileage than branded.....but try stopping hard in the wet.....GOOD LUCK..

[mark86]

I've just had the car at Audi to check something and they reported on the tyres and brakepads.
The car has done just under 10k miles, and still with original tyres of course (I think they're P7)
Front tyres are at 4mm, rear tyres at 8mm
Pads are 10% worn.
I do a lot of short work commutes, and small roads, with a bit of motorway, so I'm quite suprised at how worn the front tyres are compared to the figures mentiones in this thread.

Took my car in for service at 18.8k miles, 2.0 TDI Multitronic, 255/35/20 Pirelli tyres and they reported:
4.8mm - front left
5.1mm - front right
5.4mm - rear left
5.7mm - rear right (besides most tread out of the 4 it also had one nail and one screw in it:()
I do short commutes and six 1.2k mile trips across Europe a year.

[Olio]

4mm after 10k miles seems quite rapid as I got 26k out of my front P7s. Couple of thoughts, what are your tyre pressures set to? If you are set to the higher pressures then with the car lightly laden the centre of the tyre will be taking all of the load and this will cause it to ware faster. Secondly it may be that the multitronic box causes faster wear than cars with manuals either due to weight or that it encourages/forces a driving style that accelerates weigh. Finally I would check the depth yourself. Believe it or not but garages have been known to get it wrong :D


Took my car in for service at 18.8k miles, 2.0 TDI Multitronic, 255/35/20 Pirelli tyres and they reported:
4.8mm - front left
5.1mm - front right
5.4mm - rear left
5.7mm - rear right (besides most tread out of the 4 it also had one nail and one screw in it:()
I do short commutes and six 1.2k mile trips across Europe a year.


That's what I meant. 4mm left for <10k miles is a lot of wear. I know that front tyres get worn faster than back on FWD.

I do run with a slightly higher than recommended pressure (always have done, on every car), generally using a value close to laden recommended psi for each axle.

I will check current pressure and thread depth myself this week end.

[Cadja]

[QUOTE=Olio;940283]That's what I meant. 4mm left for

[nevbadger99]

I do run with a slightly higher than recommended pressure (always have done, on every car), generally using a value close to laden recommended psi for each axle.



Why just out of interest? I was always told that overinflated tyres meant they wore out in the middle faster than normal as you are effectively reducing the contact patch.

[Olio]

They're not so overinflated that they're round like innertubes!

Just a bit more PSI because I prefer the ride, I noticed better economy on my previous cars, and regularly have passengers and / or some stuff in the boot...

I never had to change tyres because they were more worn in the middle than on the side. I hope they can last 20k, but of there's really only 4mm left, I could change them before next winter sets. Winter is a bad time to have "just above legal" tyres.

[istate75]

It does seem odd.. the last FWD Audi I had (an A4 1.9 Tdi) used to do 20K or maybe 25K on the front and 60k on the rears - and I did a LOT of motorway miles in that car in the first 2 years (40k a year).

Having said that your C7 is doing better than your C6 did based on average wear (and this might be a stretch so bear with me :) ).
You've averaged 38k on all four tyres on the C7 - at 3mm wear.
You averaged only 32.5k on the C6 to 2 - 2.5mm wear.

My question to you is "did the wheels get rotated (front to rear) at some point - maybe by the dealer during a service?"
That would explain it.

I'm not sure if the wheels have been rotated. If Audi did it then they didn't tell me. The car has been in twice for servicing since new. Reports were:

at 19k mile service
Front tyres - 5mm
Rear Tyres - 6mm
Brake pads - Front 30% worn, Rear 10% worn

at 38k mile service
Front tyres - 3mm
Rear tyres - 3mm
Brake pads - Front 50% worn, Rear 30% worn

The car is FWD Multi 2.0D running 255/40 x 19 tyres on S line suspension.

The brake pads are wearing quicker than my previous manual C6, but I expected that with the lower engine braking of an automatic. Isn't the C7 slightly lighter than the C6 because they used some aluminium in construction?

[Whippy53]

I think if you've got 38k out of a set you've done damn well.

[ukgroucho]

Interesting, so in 19k miles (since last service) either
- The rears wore MUCH faster than the fronts bringing them down 3mm vs 2mm for the fronts.. unlikely (very unlikely) unless you have binding rear brakes - easy to check, just go for a short drive and try to primarily use engine braking. Stop and see if rear disks are warm / hot (esp compared to fronts).
- or the tyres were rotated at first service, which would fit nicely. Rears would have worn 2mm (from 8mm to 6mm) in first 19k, fronts 3mm (8mm to 5mm). Second 19k after rotation they also wore 2mm rear / 3mm front - both ending at 3mm.

[nevbadger99]

They're not so overinflated that they're round like innertubes!


:D

[Bloater]

I know I drive my car hard, and have numerous roundabouts in Milton Keynes, but I destroyed my fronts in 8000 miles-ish. There was no quibble from the maintenance plan I have with the car. It isn't the car either, as a Passat I had previously did about 7k on the fronts and my A4 wasn't much better.

If only I did loads of motorway miles instead of roundabouts, fortunately I don't pay :)

[Audrius]

Do you do tire rotation offen? I couldn't find info about distance for tires for rotation in audi manual only the rotation directions.

So I do rotation like Lexus car manual recomends: every 10.000km for front wheel drive and every 5.000km for all wheel drive.

I do this, and so far, my summer 20" (Oem goodyear)tires with something around 30.000km looks half way. It wears evenly with higher tire pressure rate (as recomended by the book), though my winter 18" tires definetaly don't like to be inflated mich, because they start to wear out in the middle more then outside parts of tread. Have driven winter tires for almost 30.000km and they are around 6,5mm (michelin latitude alpin2).

[ukgroucho]

I rotate once a year ... as part of the swap from summer to winter tyres, so maybe every 8000 -10000 KM

[Olio]

I've not had as much time as I hoped this week end. Just put my hand on (and in!) the tyre threads to see the difference in wear.

It appears that for all 4 tyres they are slightly more used on the outside, with a little bit of "fish scale effect" (i.e. it your hand goes the same direction as the wheel turns forward, it's smooth, while if you go the other direction you can feel ridges)

Wondering whether I should talk to Audi, or get the alignment / geometry checked? Any thoughts?

[Whippy53]

Bump!!

Any one out there used these ?

Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymetrical 2, good reviews but just wondered if any of you had them on. Looks like my Turanzas wont last much after June so I'me doing a little research before I shell out some spondoolicks.

[Guest 2]

Had them on mine, lasted 12k-ish!

Michelins lasted double that.

[Whippy53]

Cheers Chris.

[Guest 2]

They were 255/35/19 but also on a quattro, so fwd might see a slight difference.

[Sauron]

I've got the Asymetrical 1 and really like them, after 12.5k still had (winters currently on the car) over 4mm on all tyres even though Quattro. Tyres will go back on in March and would expect a minimum of 20k miles total - mix of town, country and motorway. Tyres are 255/40/19.

[Whippy53]

They were 255/35/19 but also on a quattro, so fwd might see a slight difference.

Are you on thr primacy ??

[Whippy53]

I'me on the Turanzas, FWD, but yearly rotation and it looks like I'll get around about 19 - 20k.

[Olio]

Well, I've taken the car in for another look at the driver's mirror (Audi changed the motor this time), and got the same "warning" message about tyre thread, 3 and 4 mm resp for the 2 front tyres.

I guess it's partly because the miles I drive are full of start stop and roundabouts.

So my plan is to ride these OEM (P7 Cinturato 225/55 R17 97Y AO) until August, and then change them for a new set of front tyres. The car should be on 13/14k by then I think. Still low mileage to need new tyres in theory, but in practice they'll need changing!

I'm thinking of getting all season tyres (while the back will remain on summer tyres until they're worn).

Question 1 - is that legal?
Question 2 - which ones? I've seen Pirelli P6 4 seasons, Goodyear Vector 4 seasons, Pirelli P7 Cinturato A/S, Dunlop SP Sport 01 A/S (all are AO), all around the same price (http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?search_tool=standard&tyre_for=PKW&ranzahl=4&dsco=110&with_bootstrap_flag=1&s_p_=&cart_id=46250560.110.32210&suchen=Show+tyres&m_s=3&x_tyre_for=&rsmFahrzeugart=PKW&sowigan=GAN&Breite=225&Quer=55&Felge=17&Speed=&Load=&Marke=&kategorie=6&filter_preis_von=&filter_preis_bis=&homologation=Audi)

The 2014 AutoBild test seems to rate the Cinturato A/S highly. Any first hand experience?

TIA

[istate75]

I know this is quite an old thread now, but I thought I'd give you guys an update on my tyre life.

I noticed that my car started to follow tramlines a little and didn't feel as planted as before so thought I'd check my tyres again (I have been every 2 weeks or so).

They were still well away from the wear indicators, but as I was unhappy with the feel of them and KwikFit had 25% off Pirelli's I decided to change them.

I ordered and paid for a set of 4 255/40 x 19 P Zeros as originally fitted online last week and took the car in today. Before they started work, I asked them to double-check the tyre treads.

The fronts were at 2.5mm and rears at 3mm. The car is now just under 2 years old, has covered 47k miles and they are still the original tyres.

On the drive home, it's back to how it felt when new, so it was the right time to change them.

FYI - The full set, fitted etc came to £623.88 which I didn't think was too bad. They should now last until well after I have changed the car!

[Splash]

Are you on thr primacy ??

Never let it be said that Primacy got beaten by a Chinese budget: Landsail beats Michelin – surprise result in Finnish tyre test : Tyrepress (http://www.tyrepress.com/2015/03/landsail-beats-michelin-surprise-result-in-finnish-tyre-test/)

Shhhhhh!:o