How long should tyres last??

chocoholic_chick

I know there's no definitive answer but basically in January 2011 we bought 3 new tyres ( brand new hankook ones ) for our car, 2 for the front and 1 to replace one of the rear ones that had had a puncture. The car has gone in for its service today and apparently the 2 front tyres are 85% worn and therefore need replacing. I would estimate at the very most we've done maybe 12,500 miles so I really would have thought the tyres would have lasted longer??

sharpy2010

I think you've done reasonably ok with them. The Hankook tyre is a mid-range tyre, and as such will have reasonable length life.

A lot depends on the ground you drive over, the abuse you do or do not give the tyres, whether your cars tracking is aligned or not, whether the wheels are correctly balanced or not, if they are correctly inflated or not.

Unfortunately, there are so many different aspects that can affect tyre life that it is difficult to give an exact amount of miles you should expect from a tyre.

Sgt_Pepper_2

All depends on how it was driven. How often do you check tyre pressure?

BJV

It will depend of the type of car and the type of driving you are doing. We have a 4 x4 ( no we use the 4 x 4 its not a cheshire tractor ) and they are very heavy on tyres we only do 4-5k per year but need a new set every two years.

I would however take them to be checked else where. I was in the motor trade and you will be amazed at the differences. I once went to a national tyre company to get them checked and was told that they where illegal and needing replacing there and then. I took the car into the garage I worked at and mechanic checked them and told me that I had at least another year or more left on them.

Not saying that your garage is just trying it on but it is worth checking as remember that they will make a nice profit on the tyres that they provide.

If you get them checked and are not happy you could write to the manufacturer?

chocoholic_chick

Yeah they had decent write ups and thats why we went for them, I just think we expected them to last a little longer

I'd say around 8500 of that is motorway driving and the rest is normal commutes to work, trips to the supermarket etc ( so may even be closer to 11,000 miles actually ) I'm not really sure how to answer as to how it was driven, me and hubby are "normal" drivers, not speed demons, not harsh brakers/accelerators etc

Like I said I realised that theres no definite answer, I just read that most tyres should last around 20,000 miles and if thats the case we must be doing something seriously wrong! I thought maybe someone might say ahh yes on average you could expect to get 10-15,000 or 15-20,000 etc etc

As for checking tyre pressure etc I leave that to hubby

maninthestreet

20,000 miles is at the upper limit for tyre-life for the front typres on a FWD car.

getmore4less

How much tread is actually on them have a look, no need to change yet.



We got 60k out of a set of Michelin energy savers on a 306.

Got about 10k ish on a set of cheapoes on the front.

Worth the extra for the Michelins.

TonyMMM

I had Michelin Primacy tyres replaced twice on a C4 Picasso - they lasted about 27,000 miles (over 2 years) both times.

vikingaero

It depends on how much urban/rural and motorway driving you do and the brand of tyre.

I would expect 12-20k from a set of premium car tyres such as Continental SportContacts. And I regularly get 30k from a set of Michelin Energys.

chocoholic_chick

Well got the car back and have read through the service sheet and they have put down that the tread depth is between 3 - 4mm on both tyres.

I also got it slightly wrong, it was both back tyres and 1 front tyre that was replaced last year, so 1 tyre is about 17 months old and the other I have no idea, I can't ever remember replacing it so must be maybe 2 - 3 years old? How they can both have the same tread depth is beyond me! Going to measure them myself as I'm not convinced what they've said is right.

bazster

Cripes there must be some heavy cars or bad drivers about! I get well over 30,000 miles out of tyres!