I've now done 9-1/2K miles and my front tyres have worn to roughly 3mm but, the rears are still at 5mm, these are Michelins Primacy HP's on a 1.4 TSI which apparantly are only 7mm new.

 

This seems about in line with what I've had previously, ie. twice as much drive wheel wear.

 

Anybody else taken note of their difference in wear rates.

I changed my front a couple of weeks ago. Down to legal limit on front but still 5.5mm on rear according to the report from Skoda when it was in the week before.

TDI vRS. Forgot to add I've done 17,000 miles

Edited 23 January, 201511 yr by JamesVRSmk3

I've only done 12k so not bothered looking at them yet.

I got 25k front and 40k rear on my mk2 and 40/60k from the mk1.

I've now done 9-1/2K miles and my front tyres have worn to roughly 3mm but, the rears are still at 5mm, these are Michelins Primacy HP's on a 1.4 TSI which apparantly are only 7mm new.

This seems about in line with what I've had previously, ie. twice as much drive wheel wear.

Anybody else taken note of their difference in wear rates.

Wouldn't you rotate them to even out wear rates?

Yes, you should rotate tyres.

Some like to rotate but it then means you end up buying 4-tyres at once...depends how you like to do it and what you can afford is suppose.

On a front wheel drive car I wear the fronts out then swap the backs to the front and put new tyres on the back. I generally wear the fronts out in about 10-12k

I don`t rotate my tyres. I always buy a new pair and put them on the back as Jules does, for 2 reasons, I always have full tread depth tyres on the rear and due to the low wear rate of the back tyres I don`t have old possibly cracked tyres on the back. I once saw an episode of 5th gear demonstrating why you should always have new tyres on the back of a fwd car and the conclusion was the worn rears gave you oversteer in the wet as opposed to understeer which is easier to manage in a fwd car 

Change yer tyres a bit sooner! 

I can but dream of seeing double figure 000s of miles from a set of tyres myself!

 

Last car got 8k out of the rears (Audi SQ5 - 21 inch rims - ouch), the one before that got 5k out the rears, but I had to change the fronts at the same time as I'd knackered the shoulder on the front left on a small clockwise track day (BMW 135i) 

I'm thinking the S1 is going to munch fronts as it sends most power there, only done 4k and they are looking worn already (may have done a few miles on a track  ).

 

As for the vRS - the wife drives that 99% of the time, so I'm expecting to never have to change them!

Is it me or did that test not really prove anything? There was no direct comparison as all, if the car with better tyres was behind it still probably would have hit because it started braking later.

If what they're saying is true why not actually compare the braking distance side by side? Is it possible that it doesn't make as much difference as they make out?

Either way, back on topic I've mentioned this before but tyre wear on my continental 2 has been a joke, I'm about to replace the fronts and I haven't even yet done 7000 miles. My last car did 20000 so I'm pretty sure these tyres are appalling.

Just changed the fronts at 20k and the back are still 5mm.

 

The cars contract hire with the service package (which also included tyres), may take the service package next time however would never take the tyre option again.

 

Skoda will only sanction tyres when they have 2mm tread, over the past few weeks the car has been a nightmare on the snowy roads. 

 

Regarding fitting new tyres to the rear, sorry in bad weather I want the driving / steering wheels to have the most grip.

 

I understand the thoughts about oversteer, however, having been brought up with RWD cars (2lt pinto modified mk 1 and 2 Escorts) sorting out oversteer became second nature.

 

Ah yes the late 1970's happy days, cars, girls and no responsibilities

15 miles after rotating the wheels and I've got a TPMS error, normal ?

I'm also in favour of the newer tyres on the front where they help most with acceleration and especially unexpected hard braking.

That's something you don't have control over when it might be needed, unlike cornering speeds.

I'm also in favour of the newer tyres on the front where they help most with acceleration and especially unexpected hard braking.

That's something you don't have control over when it might be needed, unlike cornering speeds.

What about if you need to swerve to avoid a pedestrian running onto the road? It's the unexpected situations when you can lose backend grip. If you end up crashing with the good tires in the front it'll most likely be a side impact, if they're in the back you'll crash head on. I'd much rather crash with the front, which offers vastly better protection than the side.

 

Besides, it's easier to get a car back into control if it understeers during braking, than if the back slips out. This is why it's always recommended to have the good tires at the back.

15 miles after rotating the wheels and I've got a TPMS error, normal ?

Yes as the circumference change is so slight, takes it a while to notice.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes as the circumference change is so slight, takes it a while to notice.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep rotated mine yesterday by coincidence, took 80kms today before the TPMS indicator came on.  

I'm on 13,000 miles in 10 months, front Conti 2's about half worn, backs hardly any at all.

Edited 25 January, 201511 yr by snala

I rotated mine over the Xmas break at 38k miles, so now the rears still have about 3.5mm and the fronts about 6mm, I'm on almost 40k miles now and expect to tease out at least another 15k before changing (70% motorway) but will defo get new boots before next winter even if these are still legal as not too happy with the Dunlop Sport Maxx GT, they seem to last for ages but grip in wet is rubbish and I don't think they help the ride quality either.

Edited 25 January, 201511 yr by Matt Pez

What about if you need to swerve to avoid a pedestrian running onto the road? It's the unexpected situations when you can lose backend grip. If you end up crashing with the good tires in the front it'll most likely be a side impact, if they're in the back you'll crash head on. I'd much rather crash with the front, which offers vastly better protection than the side.

 

Besides, it's easier to get a car back into control if it understeers during braking, than if the back slips out. This is why it's always recommended to have the good tires at the back.

 

Occasions when I've had to brake hard in a straight line are far more numerous than when I've had to do a sudden swerve.

Besides, it's easier to get a car back into control if it understeers during braking, than if the back slips out. This is why it's always recommended to have the good tires at the back.

It will have less chance of understeering at the front with the good tyres at that end in the first place. On any decent car with TCS, stability control and ABS so long as you hit the brakes hard enough it won't understeer under hard braking anyway, it will steer. Find a deserted road with lots of room, take it up to 45mph and nail the brakes while turning the steering wheel like you are swerving around something, it won't crash. I've been to multiple new car drive days at race tracks where they get us to do just that around cones, its pretty awesome what the computers can do. Braking hard with one sides wheels on the grass and the other side on the tarmac is impressive too. That one saved me from an European exchange student hitting me head on as she was driving on the wrong side of the road here at night...!!!

The worst thing is most people don't hit the brakes hard enough because they have never practised it, especially women unfortunately.

Edited 25 January, 201511 yr by snala

That is a good point, I have taken both my adult kids out and got them to perform emergency ABS stops until they did it properly.

Not done the same with the wife though.

It will have less chance of understeering at the front with the good tyres at that end in the first place. On any decent car with TCS, stability control and ABS so long as you hit the brakes hard enough it won't understeer under hard braking anyway, it will steer. Find a deserted road with lots of room, take it up to 45mph and nail the brakes while turning the steering wheel like you are swerving around something, it won't crash. I've been to multiple new car drive days at race tracks where they get us to do just that around cones, its pretty awesome what the computers can do. Braking hard with one sides wheels on the grass and the other side on the tarmac is impressive too. That one saved me from an European exchange student hitting me head on as she was driving on the wrong side of the road here at night...!!!

The worst thing is most people don't hit the brakes hard enough because they have never practised it, especially women unfortunately.

Do the same on a slick driving course and report back.   The grip you have on dry tarmac or even grass is totally different to what happens on a water covered surface with a tire that's low on tread. Driving on a wet, oily steel surface is a pretty good imitation of a wet road at high speeds. It really gives you an idea how easy it is to lose control if your rear wheels don't have as much grip as your fronts do. There are no electronic aids that can overturn the laws of physics.

 

Here in Finland it's mandatory training for getting a license. 

Yes snow and ice will make a difference to grip but in conditions where there is no grip anyway having tyres on the back with more tread than the front, while still both being legal, isn't going to save you once momentum and gravity is bringing the back around. You are only talking 5 mm max in sipe difference from brand new to still legal so?

A normal wet road though just can extend the distance more, the electronic aids still work to keep the car in shape, we tried that too. In road situations like over there I'd say AWD would add to the available tools as well as as you have power as well as grip to use.

Yes snow and ice will make a difference to grip but in conditions where there is no grip anyway having tyres on the back with more tread than the front, while still both being legal, isn't going to save you once momentum and gravity is bringing the back around. You are only talking 5 mm max in sipe difference from brand new to still legal so?

I'm not talking about snow and ice, I'm talking water in the spring/summer/autumn. And I'm talking about difference in grip between the front and back in such wet conditions.

 

I posted a chart in a topic regarding tire wear a bit earlier, you should check it out.

I've heard about rear tyres should be new to reduce oversteer but I do just to wear out the tyres before they get old. I kept the old tyres on the back of my Passat and it used to slide the rear frequently in the wet. Didn't really bother me though.

I think changing your tyres frequently and using good quality tyres is far more important than if you rotate tyres or just swap them as you change them