Tyre wear & suggestions

[throttle]

Hi All,

My front tyre is approaching replacement. The odd thing is that both of my front wears out a lot quicker than the rear. Does anyone know why this would be the case? I have never tracked my car.

Does it make sense to just replace the front and not the rear? Possibly with a different brand?

I have been suggested Michelin PSS and Continental ExtremeContact been the best options. what do you think?


Thanks.
Allan

[flinchy]

Originally Posted by throttle

Hi All,

My front tyre is approaching replacement. The odd thing is that both of my front wears out a lot quicker than the rear. Does anyone know why this would be the case? I have never tracked my car.

Does it make sense to just replace the front and not the rear? Possibly with a different brand?

I have been suggested Michelin PSS and Continental ExtremeContact been the best options. what do you think?


Thanks.
Allan

pics of the wear?

can work out if anything is wrong from that

it is a little strange having the fronts wear first haha

it's never a good idea to totally change grip type front>rear.

[John_01]

City driving can be hard on the front tyres. Braking and cornering tends to wear the outside edges. Its really normal to wear the front tires first if you are not doing burnouts . The problem is made worse by 0 degree stock camber and 32PSI front tire pressure (too low for even tyre wear).

[froop]

The fronts definitely wear faster than the rears unless you're always lighting up the rears lol. As John_01 says, it's most likely due to the braking and cornering forces but also due to the inherent understeer that this car has when stock which also accelerates wear when cornering hard.

It's definitely possible to have a different pair of tyres on the front and rear axles as long as the tyres on either side of each axle are the same however it can lead to some change in the way the vehicle handles which could cause an issue if you're not expecting it.

When I was running OEM Bridgestone RE050A RFTs I noticed a lot of understeer. When my fronts wore bald I swapped them to the Pirelli P-Zero RFTs and immediately noticed that the behaviour of the car changed to a tendency to oversteer due to the increased grip of the Pirelli's.

I have heard thought that it's definitely not a good thing to have RFTs on only 1 axle. If you're running non-RFTs all round I don't think it will be a huge issue but just be careful when pushing it because the car won't necessarily behave the way you have been used to it behaving when you're on the limits.

[John_01]

If tyre are non-staggered (4 tires of the same size) I would buy 2 new matching tires to put on the rear, and move the older tires to the fronts. If your rears are getting close to the end, it might be better and safer to just get 4 new tyres at the same time.

For staggered sizes, its a bit harder and I guess you just have to weigh up how much life is left on the rears are vs the cost and availability of matching tires.

[throttle]

Originally Posted by John_01

City driving can be hard on the front tyres. Braking and cornering tends to wear the outside edges. Its really normal to wear the front tires first if you are not doing burnouts . The problem is made worse by 0 degree stock camber and 32PSI front tire pressure (too low for even tyre wear).

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I don't track or burn outs, and I do drive a lot within the CBD.
I will take some pics later, but I do remember the outside edge is particularly thing.

Thanks

[Blauweisser]

Hmm, funny that. My fronts wear much better than the rears, and they're totally stock wheel sizes for the 18" M Sport pack.. I certainly don't smoke tyres or launch quickly. Just boring urban driving. I am fanatical about tyre pressures, though. 40 psi front and rear, checked weekly in my garage when the tyres are cold. Wear is perfectly even across the tyre profile.

Do automatics generate more tyre wear? Most of my braking is done through the gear box. Could this be a reason?

[froop]

On my completely stock E88 135i the fronts wore out maybe 30-40% faster than the rears. I had never done a single track day but I guess I tend to take corners more spiritedly.

It was actually the outside edges that wore down to the belt. The middle and inside of the tyre probably still had like 30+% tread left.

PSI was left at factory recommended levels.

I don't really see why a RWD vehicle would wear the rears before the fronts unless you're spinning the rear tyres whenever you accelerate or are drifting through corners.

[RadiuM]

hmmm, I went through almost two sets of rears before the fronts with possibly 2 track days in there.

[Linwe]

My fronts have worn faster than my rears and these were inherited from previous owner. Same size, same age, same pressures but must be suburban driving as back tyres r still in great shape.

[John_01]

Originally Posted by Blauweisser

Hmm, funny that. My fronts wear much better than the rears, and they're totally stock wheel sizes for the 18" M Sport pack.. I certainly don't smoke tyres or launch quickly. Just boring urban driving. I am fanatical about tyre pressures, though. 40 psi front and rear, checked weekly in my garage when the tyres are cold. Wear is perfectly even across the tyre profile.

Do automatics generate more tyre wear? Most of my braking is done through the gear box. Could this be a reason?

I guess you are a good (gentle) driver and avoid hard braking. Travelling longer distances (warm tires, less cornering, less braking) and your 40PSI cold pressure will help too. The rears also wear unevenly because of about 1.5 degrees camber wears the inside edges.

[VGR00]

Two sets of rears to every set of fronts has been my experience since 2006 having staggered wheels on my BMW's. With 22,000ks on the clock, Im almost on the indicator on my rears but fronts have a lot to go. I'm going to ditch the RFT and replace all. If you are in Brisbane, you can have my fronts in about 2 - 3 weeks time at no charge.

[Kgolf31]

Front wire wear is usually contributed to too much toe on your alignment.



As the picture shows, toe fights the actual force of the car going forward. Most cars, including BMW sets toe in way too much then actual reality, mainly because they want to induce understeer before oversteer....which is what happens.

With more toe, the tire fights the force to actually go forward, because when you look at the picture, you can see that tire wants to move inward.

Fighting the force to go inward causes inner tire wear.


Make sense?

My suggestion, get an alignment and don't get as much toe-in. Personally in the Z4M I run 0 toe up front for a performance alignment. I haven't touched the 128i yet

[Blauweisser]

I haven't thought about it before, but I use the gears as much as possible to slow down. Can excessive braking from speed lead to higher front tyre wear?

[sparoz]

Originally Posted by throttle

Hi All,

My front tyre is approaching replacement. The odd thing is that both of my front wears out a lot quicker than the rear. Does anyone know why this would be the case? I have never tracked my car.

Does it make sense to just replace the front and not the rear? Possibly with a different brand?

I have been suggested Michelin PSS and Continental ExtremeContact been the best options. what do you think?


Thanks.
Allan

I am not foot heavy and I love taking corners fast, and I never managed to wear the fronts out with any BMW that I owned. Usually, 1 set of front for 2 set of rears like others.

What pressure do you run in the front? The door pressure is not suited to Australian roads. I had 40psi fronts and 36 psi rears for my 135i.

Get a proper alignment and pressure from reputable tyre shop, a good tyre technician can tell what adjustments need to make after 1000km from wear pattern. With correct pressure, my Pirellis on the 135i lasted 30000km for the rears and plenty of thread left in the front when I sold the car at around 45k km.

For replacement the best all round tyre now is Michelin PSS, but I heard new tyres are coming out from various companies that will match them in the near future. Make sure you change all four.

Originally Posted by Blauweisser

I haven't thought about it before, but I use the gears as much as possible to slow down. Can excessive braking from speed lead to higher front tyre wear?

Engine is for going fast, and brakes are for slowing down. Brakes are rated much higher than the engine and much cheaper to replace. You can also better control the balance with the car with brakes and almost no way with engine braking. Engine braking is only for when your brakes are not working.

[Knightelf]

What tyre pressures are you guys running on non rft (Michelin pss)? Mine are stock psi and feel "mushy" I think due to the softer side walls.

[froop]

Originally Posted by Knightelf

What tyre pressures are you guys running on non rft (Michelin pss)? Mine are stock psi and feel "mushy" I think due to the softer side walls.

I run about 40 front and rear or thereabouts. You definitely notice the increase in harshness the higher you go though.

[Blauweisser]

Originally Posted by sparoz

I am not foot heavy and I love taking corners fast, and I never managed to wear the fronts out with any BMW that I owned. Usually, 1 set of front for 2 set of rears like others.

What pressure do you run in the front? The door pressure is not suited to Australian roads. I had 40psi fronts and 36 psi rears for my 135i.

Get a proper alignment and pressure from reputable tyre shop, a good tyre technician can tell what adjustments need to make after 1000km from wear pattern. With correct pressure, my Pirellis on the 135i lasted 30000km for the rears and plenty of thread left in the front when I sold the car at around 45k km.

For replacement the best all round tyre now is Michelin PSS, but I heard new tyres are coming out from various companies that will match them in the near future. Make sure you change all four.



Engine is for going fast, and brakes are for slowing down. Brakes are rated much higher than the engine and much cheaper to replace. You can also better control the balance with the car with brakes and almost no way with engine braking. Engine braking is only for when your brakes are not working.

I don't drive fast. I use the gears for adjusting my speed to traffic flow, coming up to traffic lights, etc. I don't zoom up to the lights and brake heavily at the last moment.

Periodically, I check the tread depth across the tyre profile with calipers. I find this a good way to tell if my tyre pressures are correct.