Tyre wear versus wheel diameter.

clonagam

Can I ask some knowledgeable contributor to enlighten me about something I'm trying to figure out.

Should the tyre an 18 inch diameter wheel wear less quickly than one on, say, a 16 inch wheel?

I'm coming from the fact that I've paid more for more rubber and that any one part of the 18in wheel is in wearing contact with the road less often than any part on the 16 in wheel - for the same distance travelled.

But is this borne out in actual motorist's experience?

biko

It appears you base this on that on a larger wheel each point on the tyre comes in contact with the road less often.
This may sound logical but is insignificant in comparison with other factors such as rubber compound, driving style, tyre pressure, weather, etc etc

Cee-Jay-Cee

In a lot of cases bigger tyres (18 and above) come in more performance rated compounds and so will wear quicker as they are softer.

A Z-rated 16" tyres shouldn't last any longer than a Z-rated 18" tyre of the exact same brand and model.

You can't compare the wear rate on a Z or Y rated 18" Bridgestone Potenza against that of a H rated 16" Nanking tyre, they're apples and oranges.

hi5

All things being equal the 18 inch tyre should last longer as each square millimeter of contact has less work to do as there is more of them, but you will hardly notice.

Also, tyre prices are partly based on popularity and not the amount of rubber in them.
Look at the price of 10 inch Mini tyres...

https://www.minisport.com/mini-tuning-and-styling/mini-wheels-and-tyres/mini-10-tyres.html