Tyre Treadwear Guides

MetzgerMeister

Hi all,

My parents got 2 Bridgestone Potenza RE040s on the rear 16" wheels of their 2007 C180 in December. We don't know exactly how many miles are on them but they are worn down to the tread indicator already.

They mostly did motorway driving and sometimes good-surfaced B-roads. Given the fact that we know there's not that much milage on them, we are of the opinion that they shouldn't be worn down already.

I know they are a very high performing tyre when it comes to grip and yes, they are on the driven wheels of the car but I don't think they should be worn already.

Is there anything online that shows the expected lifespan of a certain tyre?

W.Shakes-Beer

Were the tyres at the correct PSI?

MetzgerMeister

Yup, they were checked every 2 weeks. My mother has a thing about tyre pressure so I can, without doubt say that they were always correct.

Nissan doctor

Its impossible to gauge how long a tyre would last as there are too many variables, Alignment, roads driven on, driving style etc. Re040 have a low treadware rating anyway, they are not designed for high mileage.
You would also have to be sure that they were the correct load, speed and treadwear rating for the car they were fitted to, compared to manufacturer specs.

Re040 also aren't made any more, and haven't been for a couple of years so if you bought a pair in December, they will be old tyres or imported from a different market.

bazz26

Is the wear on the tyres even across the thread or is there more wear on the shoulders than the centre?

Surely they have some ballpark figure of the miles they covered from December to now? It's difficult for folks to comment without an idea of the mileage covered, even to the nearest 5000 miles would be a significant help.

coylemj

einheisserschre wrote: »

Yup, they were checked every 2 weeks. My mother has a thing about tyre pressure so I can, without doubt say that they were always correct.

Your mother checks them every two weeks but you still don't know how many miles have been clocked up on them since last December?

I bought a new Golf GT 170 bhp in September 2007, it came with Bridgestone Potenzas 225/45/R17 fitted and after 52,000 kms (with rotations) they still had legal tread on them when I sold the car a few weeks ago.

If the new tyres on your parents' C180 were on the rear axle and are now worn down after only five months then they must have been burning rubber off the traffic lights! It's very hard to imagine how they could have used that much rubber on mainly motorway driving.

garhjw

hi, i have the exact same problem with RE050s on my clk. I have done about 6000 miles nearly all on motorway at 120kmh. I check tyre pressure every week and never carry much weight in the car. Alignment and balancing were done when i had the tyres fitted. Wear is pretty even but maybe worse in the middle than sides. Read reviews and they just seem to be a really badly wearing tyre! At €140 a pop!!!! Or can anyone suggest another causee?

YbFocus

garhjw wrote: »

hi, i have the exact same problem with RE050s on my clk. I have done about 6000 miles nearly all on motorway at 120kmh. I check tyre pressure every week and never carry much weight in the car. Alignment and balancing were done when i had the tyres fitted. Wear is pretty even but maybe worse in the middle than sides. Read reviews and they just seem to be a really badly wearing tyre! At €140 a pop!!!! Or can anyone suggest another causee?

Hey gar,

To answer that question, for your tyres to be wearing more quickly in the middle you must be over inflating them, causing a bulge in the centre.
Same as under-inflating them causes outsides to wear.

This combined with a car out of track/ bushings worn will cause them to wear faster again.

Check the manual for the correct psi, but its always around the 30-35 psi mark.

garhjw

thanks yb. I always inflate to 31-3t so definitely dont over inflate. From what you are saying it must be alignment or bushings. Its due a service in the next mobth so will have it checked out then. I wish i checked the tread depth sooner to spot the problem. Would have saved myself a lot of money!!

YbFocus

garhjw wrote: »

thanks yb. I always inflate to 31-3t so definitely dont over inflate. From what you are saying it must be alignment or bushings. Its due a service in the next mobth so will have it checked out then. I wish i checked the tread depth sooner to spot the problem. Would have saved myself a lot of money!!

No problem at all,

Yeah there's nothing else it can be!
Just get them to check the rear axle bushings and the track of the car!
One or both must be wrong and it can really eat through tyres!

Just banged that car into google and their are several posts about poor rear tyre wear so maybe its just a thing with them!
Maybe there'll be a set of Nangkang's or the like bought the next time?

alexmcred

garhjw wrote: »

hi, i have the exact same problem with RE050s on my clk. I have done about 6000 miles nearly all on motorway at 120kmh. I check tyre pressure every week and never carry much weight in the car. Alignment and balancing were done when i had the tyres fitted. Wear is pretty even but maybe worse in the middle than sides. Read reviews and they just seem to be a really badly wearing tyre! At €140 a pop!!!! Or can anyone suggest another causee?

I just changed the continentals I had on my x1 yesterday and this was the wear patten although it was even across the center. It could be just normal wear pattern. Tyre life very much depends on driving style and if your accelerating hard the tyre is going to wear a lot faster.

Nissan doctor

Wear only on the center of the tyre threads can't be caused by alignment or a worn suspension part.

If the correct tyres are fitted then it only has two causes, over inflation or constant high speed(alot more then 120kmh).

Most of these wear issues come from people(customers AND suppliers) not having a clue about what tyres are suitable for their car. Most think that if their car came new with say 205/55/16 tyres, that any tyre, once its the same size, will be fine. but this isn't the case.

Tyres have different speed ratings, load ratings, traction and wear ratings all in addition to the size.

In the case of either of the mercs in this thread, the new tyres that were fitted may be the correct size, but perhaps they are the wrong load rating, meaning they are designed for a lighter car the the merc, therefore will wear faster. In the case of the re040 and 050's mentioned, they are high performance tyres, so will have low wear ratings but high traction ratings which means they are designed to grip the road as well as possible, at the expense of being able for high mileage.

I don't know what size tyres are on the clk mentioned but neither it, or the OP's C class are sports cars, so fitting sports tyres is pointless. If sticking with bridgestone, the turanza is the touring tyre which is designed for those type of cars and will return much higher mileage then any of the potenza(re040/050) models.

Voodoomelon

Is it correct to assume that the tyre pressures printed in the manual apply to all tyres, regardless of brand? Or are they the tyre pressures for the factory tyres?

I always go by the manual, but different tyres have different recommended pressures, which one is correct?

alexmcred

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Is it correct to assume that the tyre pressures printed in the manual apply to all tyres, regardless of brand? Or are they the tyre pressures for the factory tyres?

I always go by the manual, but different tyres have different recommended pressures, which one is correct?

As long as the tyre is the exact same size as the one in the manual I would and do inflate to manufactures spec. I know from my own car there are a lot of different makes of tyres fitted to them as original equipment

alexmcred

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Wear only on the center of the tyre threads can't be caused by alignment or a worn suspension part.

If the correct tyres are fitted then it only has two causes, over inflation or constant high speed(alot more then 120kmh).

Most of these wear issues come from people(customers AND suppliers) not having a clue about what tyres are suitable for their car. Most think that if their car came new with say 205/55/16 tyres, that any tyre, once its the same size, will be fine. but this isn't the case.

Tyres have different speed ratings, load ratings, traction and wear ratings all in addition to the size.

In the case of either of the mercs in this thread, the new tyres that were fitted may be the correct size, but perhaps they are the wrong load rating, meaning they are designed for a lighter car the the merc, therefore will wear faster. In the case of the re040 and 050's mentioned, they are high performance tyres, so will have low wear ratings but high traction ratings which means they are designed to grip the road as well as possible, at the expense of being able for high mileage.

I don't know what size tyres are on the clk mentioned but neither it, or the OP's C class are sports cars, so fitting sports tyres is pointless. If sticking with bridgestone, the turanza is the touring tyre which is designed for those type of cars and will return much higher mileage then any of the potenza(re040/050) models.

You've hit the nail on the head there a lot of people working in tyre centers have no idea about tyres they know the size and thats about it

There are also lads working in tyre centers who can give you the full breakdown of the trye

Voodoomelon

I would imagine so too, seeing as the pressures would have the weight of the car etc in mind. Just shows that the exact figure is open to interpretation depending on what tyre you're using, some tyres are far softer/harder than others.

alexmcred

The temperature rating of a tyre is also a big factor with how well it can withstand heat buildup the better A is best in this instance a hot tyre lays down a lot more rubber

Nissan doctor

alexmcred wrote: »

The temperature rating of a tyre is also a big factor with how well it can withstand heat buildup the better A is best in this instance a hot tyre lays down a lot more rubber

Very true, but temperature rating tends to be directly related to the wear rating as its dictated by the rubber compound.

Nissan doctor

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Is it correct to assume that the tyre pressures printed in the manual apply to all tyres, regardless of brand? Or are they the tyre pressures for the factory tyres?

I always go by the manual, but different tyres have different recommended pressures, which one is correct?

Always inflate to the manufacturer specs for the size that you have fitted.

alexmcred

Yup new tyres I got are a for temp and 280 thread wear so I'm expecting about 24k km from the new set. One thing I screwed up on is that the traction rating is A which given the country we live in I should have made sure to get AA.

Nissan doctor

alexmcred wrote: »

Yup new tyres I got are a for temp and 280 thread wear so I'm expecting about 24k km from the new set. One thing I screwed up on is that the traction rating is A which given the country we live in I should have made sure to get AA.

The thing about the traction, wear and temp ratings is that they are manufacturer rated, not independently rated so can be misleading. The big manufacturers, bridgestone, goodyear etc would likely be spot on but when you see cheap plastic Chinese tyres with the same high wear/temp etc ratings as the premium brands you have to wonder:rolleyes:

garhjw

Nissan Doctor, thanks for the detailed explanation. In future, i will take much more interst in the tyres i purchase......Grrrrrr!!!!!!