Technical Tyre wear -vs- driving style

[chas379]

During my service visit today the agent did a health check and reported the tread depth on the 4 tyres.

2 x rear 6mm throughout.

2 x front 3mm throughout, no uneven wear.

I knew I was getting near to the 1.6mm legal limit, but was a little surprised considering mileage to be 7,600.

So it's 2 new front tyres very shortly, don't want to push it as we are heading into the winter months.

Originals are 195/45 R16 84V Continental Premium Contact 2

But suppose in hindsight a victim of my own driving style.:nutter:

 

[ahmett]

During my service visit today the agent did a health check and reported the tread depth on the 4 tyres.

2 x rear 6mm throughout.

2 x front 3mm throughout, no uneven wear.

I knew I was getting near to the 1.6mm legal limit, but was a little surprised considering mileage to be 7,600.

So it's 2 new front tyres very shortly, don't want to push it as we are heading into the winter months.

Originals are 195/45 R16 84V Continental Premium Contact 2

But suppose in hindsight a victim of my own driving style.:nutter:

Chas the contis are rubbish, so rubbish they maybe are wearing quicker as they have no ultimate grip and are suffering to cope with the increased power of the Abarth. I know it would cost more, but perhaps best to change all 4 tires to the Michelin Pilot Exalto 2's with much higher grip? I have so far not managed to lose grip with the Mitch Pilots, while with the Contis I have! Keep the 2 6 mm tires as emergency backup or something or try and sell them on ebay.

 

[306maxi]

Now go out with a depth gauge and check the tyres yourself My tyres once picked up tread from one month to another according to my dealer

 

[chas379]

Now go out with a depth gauge and check the tyres yourself My tyres once picked up tread from one month to another according to my dealer

Thanks Maxi, I go along with your sentiment of self checking. On this occasion they do check off at 3mm

 

[The Twins]

How about the bargain PS3's Ahmett spotted the other day?

 

[chas379]

Seeing that I have good tread on the rear tyres (Both Conti's) and requiring to renew the two front ones, is it acceptable to fit a different brand to the front which will have a completely different tread pattern?

Have always renewed using the same brand previously.

 

[ahmett]

Seeing that I have good tread on the rear tyres (Both Conti's) and requiring to renew the two front ones, is it acceptable to fit a different brand to the front which will have a completely different tread pattern?

Have always renewed using the same brand previously.

I personally prefer not to, but its not the end of the world and many people do it. So yes you can. Put the new tires in the back with the 2 old ones moving to the front and in a few months you can buy new front tires so you will have 4 tires of the same make again, preferably the Mitch Pilots!

 

[The Twins]

It's acceptable as long as they are the same across the axles. but if you push your 500 hard I'd stick to same all round.

You could sell your rears part worn if you want to change brand if tyre.

New tyres should always go in the rear.

 

[RobinPJ]

New tyres should always go in the rear.

Ooh err.

 

[306maxi]

6mm isn't too bad a tread depth and seeing as though you come across as someone not having a single digit IQ, you could chuck the new tyres on the front and hopefully end up needing to replace all 4 at the same time in the future. Best tyres on the rear is the safest if you're at all worried though

 

[chas379]

seeing as though you come across as someone not having a single digit IQ,

Thanks Maxi from IQ 10+

 

[RobW]

have you considered a set of winter wheels/tyres?

 

[Ulpian]

If your car has ESP and the other skid resisting acronyms the manufacturer strongly recommends fitting identical tyres on all wheels.

And as they say, new tyres should always go on the back wheels as in an emergency you want the car to understeer, not go into a tailspin. Especially not with such a short wheelbase.

 

[bluejohn125]

While it is generally accepted that NEW tyres should go on the back, unless you specifically want to run down your existing fronts and buy new tyres, you would be perfectly safe to swap your existing tyres front to rear now and get max mileage out of your original Contis. Then get a full set of 4 matching new when the time finally comes...

 

[UFI]

In my years of driving, I've never had to do a swerve and recover. I've had to do numerous emergency stops on the other hand. Ergo, I'd rather have the new tyres on the front.

Worn tyres front, you might not be able to stop OR swerve out of the way, you'll just go straight on.

If you swerve with worn rears, you way well loose control, but if you've avoided the obstacle, spinning is fairly harmless (certainly if you've learned to control a spinning car).

I'll take the oversteer, and if there's a wet slippery corner and I'm going (too) fast, I'll yank the steering wheel to force understeer.

 

[306maxi]

UFI, the reason why in the uk, they advise to put new tyres on the rear is more about everyday cornering in the wet.

Driving in Perth or even country WA is a completely different thing to driving in the UK.

I personally rotate my tyres so as to even the wear out. So a difference in tread depth is not a big issue for me.

 

[chas379]

have you considered a set of winter wheels/tyres?

In all the years I have been driving (since 1968) I have never considered winter tyres, but maybe something I will give thought to.

 

[The Twins]

When it's snowing the difference is really amazing. I was driving past stuck 4x4's in my 500 with 4 season tyres (not even full winter boots!)

 

[SixDegrees]

In all the years I have been driving (since 1968) I have never considered winter tyres, but maybe something I will give thought to.

Fully advocate winter tyres. I had to get them in 09/10 as I had the BMW. After being able to drive pretty much anywhere; snow, ice, slush,up hills, round corners, steer and brake whilst everyone else just slid wherever the momentum took them I'm a true convert. I also owned an A3 Quattro at the same time and the BMW on winters was better than the A3.

Since then I run them on all my cars. Qashqai is 4WD and it has winter boots (16" alloys, down from18") and the A500 runs 16" as well (summers are 17").

Its a personal choice though, and TBH on cold dry roads or damp/greasy roads the winters aren't as good (top brands mind) but once the icy, white stuff starts to appear they definitely excel !

 

[jimbro1000]

It is worth nothing that your owner manual advises NOT to rotate the tyres (ie fronts to rears and vice-versa). The reason is that your car has very different camber on the rear to the front and as a result your rear tyres will wear more on the inside edge and once this wear pattern starts it alters the way the tyre would sit, wear and handle if moved to the front. The front tyres tend to wear flat and this has a lot to do with where you actually loose rubber.

As for putting tyres on the rear - it all comes down to water displacement. A road tyre will only displace water up to a depth roughly equal to the tread depth and after that it aquaplanes which means no grip at all and your stability control can do nothing about it. An understeering car is much safer so you put the fresh tyres on the rear or the alternative is very messy.

In general driving in a straight line doesn't wear the tyres much at all, even hard acceleration and braking (with ABS and traction control especially) doesn't do much. The tyres need to get hot first and this only really happens when cornering. Lots of fast cornering preceded by heavy braking and/or followed by hard acceleration will wear the tyres. Get them hot enough and the rubber melts and the tyres will wear out in minutes, not 1000s of miles.

A lot of this depends on how smooth you are - the difference between smooth driver input and harsh driver input is amazing and it shows most on the tyres. Sharp, sudden input will heat the tyres more, much more and the result is immediate tyre wear. Smooth input helps to keep the tyres from overheating.

All of that said the steering geometry on the Abarth 500 does not lend itself to tyre longevity, the rear camber combined with a fairly pointy front end setup means you will wear the tyres out. 8000 miles for a front pair is fairly average...