[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by GTO

The faster you go, the harder your tyre has to work.

Originally Posted by vina

So on a twisty highway you are losing the tyre faster than on your city roads.

Guys, higher speeds wear out tyres faster. There is no doubt about it, only if the track is same. Like GTO mentioned, a high speed sprint over a track will wear out tyres faster than a low speed drive over the same track.

Butttt... Consider this: A tyre does 10000kms in Bangalore/Bombay city traffic. Another one does 10000kms on NICE road, or Bombay - Pune Express-way at a sedate 80kmph. Which one do you think wears out faster?. IMO, its the city one.

@Vina, what you mentioned about heat generation is true, but then, the phenomenon occurs only at high speeds. At ~80kmph, the heat heat generated - heat dissipated is not enough to soften the tyre compound so as to accelerate wear.

And regarding scrubbing - Yes, you are right, but then, the wear caused by accelerating/braking and turning on the city at slow speeds, is much grater than the scrubbing caused at 80kmph on the highway. Moreover, our highways are in a better condition than our city roads.

If the highway, is curvy, then YES, wear rate is much.. much higher. But for a good highway drive vs a city drive, its the city drive that would wear out tyres more.

P.S - Practically, there are many more variables, but IMO, considering todays highways down south, and city roads, its the latter that consumes more tyre/km.

[vina]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

Guys, higher speeds wear out tyres faster. There is no doubt about it, only if the track is same. Like GTO mentioned, a high speed sprint over a track will wear out tyres faster than a low speed drive over the same track.

Butttt... Consider this: A tyre does 10000kms in Bangalore/Bombay city traffic. Another one does 10000kms on NICE road, or Bombay - Pune Express-way at a sedate 80kmph. Which one do you think wears out faster?. IMO, its the city one.

@Vina, what you mentioned about heat generation is true, but then, the phenomenon occurs only at high speeds. At ~80kmph, the heat heat generated - heat dissipated is not enough to soften the tyre compound so as to accelerate wear.

And regarding scrubbing - Yes, you are right, but then, the wear caused by accelerating/braking and turning on the city at slow speeds, is much grater than the scrubbing caused at 80kmph on the highway. Moreover, our highways are in a better condition than our city roads.

If the highway, is curvy, then YES, wear rate is much.. much higher. But for a good highway drive vs a city drive, its the city drive that would wear out tyres more.

P.S - Practically, there are many more variables, but IMO, considering todays highways down south, and city roads, its the latter that consumes more tyre/km.

Chill man - I was just enlisting the factors responsible. The idea is if somebody loves his tyres he can use the info to improve their life - as well as that of other components in his car.

Whether tyres wear faster on highway or city - people can tell from experience.



The range of operating temperatures for rubber is not as large as, say, steel. These are not crystalline materials, elastomers invariably have some plasticisers in them (which leach out over time - that is how tyres become brittle if not used for years) to make them softer. Even a 30C swing changes the hardness a lot. By the way, not only high temperature, even very low temperature will lead to more wear - the rubber becomes brittle and hence scrubs more easily.


And I have seen it on my tyres - they become very warm after just 10km at 80kmph. In fact for most people driving around on a highway raises the tyre pressure from 30psi to as much as 35psi - the temperature of the air inside is then increased 16% too - for 273K room temperature that is more than 40C ! You may not observe that mus on the very outer surface of the tyre but that is for the same reason that at the same temperature wood seems less hot (or cold) than steel - tyres are insulators.


In city a lot will depend on how somebody drives (or forced to drive) - if you can maintain a driving style with very little hard braking involved then there will not be too much wear. As you had mentioned earlier unless some sliding is going on there is no cause for more than normal wear.

For example I have been practising on a Bangalore-like road in Hyderabad (for those who are from Hyd I'm talking about Hitech city - KPHB road) to use a minimum of brakes and pedal. Usually I just release the clutch enough to get the car moving and then stomp it down again - car slows to stop before I need to brake.

Now I know that many drivers do the same already (though most may not - I see most cars braking in jerks), but the ones that do are not really straining their tyres much more than the usual friction.



Also if you think 80kmph on NICE road will not lead to braking like tyre wear - think again. At 80kmph also the wind resistance is enough on the car and must be overcome by the tyres - they present very significant tractive forces - if you are applying brakes only mildly in the city the tracttive force presented for retardation will not be much smaller than the NICE road situation and will not be present all the time (unlike the NICE road situation)



that said, the brake/pedal cycles in the city can be very damaging to the tyres if the driver is not careful. And the worst condition is not a traffic jam - it is when people are accelerating rapidly to 60+ and then braking abruptly as the next signal or other blockage comes in view. This is the kind of traffic you encounter on ring road in Delhi, and if the driver is into pedal/brake the wear will be far worse than anything highway will present on a regular basis.

[UB_007]

Its quite difficult to tell whether the tyre wear is faster on highway or city. It purely depends on the driving conditions and predominantly on the driver.

At highway conditions, tyre wear is proportional to the rpm. when wheel alignment and the all other parameters are considered constant(without abrupt braking) one can expect even/constant wear on the tyres. This can be termed as ‘wear’ without much damage on the tyres (this does not mean there is no wear. wear still exists and is evenly distributed).
Similarly at city driving conditions, though the rpms are quite lower than highway situation, the irregular stops (Jerks) and sudden take-off are supplementary which will for sure lead to tyre wear. Unlike at highway conditions, city driving is more prone to pot holes, gravel, pavements etc which influence the tyre wear on a greater extent. We can term this as ‘tyre damage’ rather than indicating is just as tyre wear. Cracks, surface chip off, side wall damages are most common at such conditions.

So when observed carefully, at both conditions the tyre wear is unavoidable. Hence its difficult to narrow down on which condition will harm your tyre more and is very much subjective.

No matter at what conditions you drive, periodic check on tyre pressure, wheel alignment, braking system and bearings are very much obligatory. Tyres are vital elements of your car. Check them regularly. Thats the 'Thumb rule'…

-UB

[mb_jg]

Originally Posted by Sn1p3r

But GTO if the highway is straight and the car driven in limit say in range of 60 to 80 km/h then what do you reckon? Yes braking and acceleration will have it's wear and tear effect.

Sorry to hijack the response.
But the higher the speeds, the car needs to grip that much more to sustain those speeds & control. More traction means more load on the tires tread & the sidewalls too.
You should look up for some videos on the internet showing how the tires flex during high speeds, even in a straight line. Other variables like downforce also contribute a lot in tire wear, not to mention heat due to higher friction, which increases their temperature making the rubber even more vulnerable to the environmental impacts.

[samm]

Originally Posted by kumar2007

Just a random figure. What I wanted to know was, what wears out tyres faster. Is 30K kms really the end of a tyres life? I remember driving an older car of mine for more than 50K kms and it had tread still. Current car is about 22K.

Thanks for the info guys.

Just my 2 cents -
My friend's innova did 75000 km on OEM Bridgestone. Still can run another 3-4K km. My santro -again Bridgestone - going strong at 62000 km. Good for another 10K km.


I think the biggest tyre burner is frequent & extreme acceleration and braking. Even a normal to good acceleration will not burn out tyres as fast, for approx 1 km braking.
Another major reason is turning the wheel in stationary position. I have seen many people doing this. Its always best to turn the wheel when the car is in motion, even if very slow movement.

[vina]

Originally Posted by samm

...
Another major reason is turning the wheel in stationary position. I have seen many people doing this. Its always best to turn the wheel when the car is in motion, even if very slow movement.

this is the reason power steering is bad for tyres - all feedback from tyre to hand is lost at low speeds, no matter how good the power steering arrangement you've got. I don't think anybody would turn the wheels on a completely stationary vehicle (given an option to move a little) if there is no power steering.

And at high speeds it becomes utterly dangerous if not done properly.

[kumar2007]

^^Bad utilization does not make the technology bad for the tyre. Just my thoughts.

[samm]

I agree with kumar2007. Its not fair to blame power steering for tyre wear.
Agreed with vina, no one would try turning the wheel of a stationary vehicle if there was no power steering!

Nevertheless, I strongly believe that if drivers are a bit careful about this aspect, tyre life is sure to be longer.

[samm]

Again, Highway v/s City:

I've driven 30K km of 60K km in my Santro on highways in the speed range of 80-110kmph. Obviously, high speed (if 100kmph can be called so!) isnt a big problem for tyres. Its the scrubbing due to frequent turnings, acceleration and braking which causes higher tyre wear than the running speed. Just my inference from experience.

[nepalken]

In my opinion and experience, the tyres in city last longer than in highway. One of the biggest factor in tyre life is heat. The lesser the heat, the longer they last. We used to own buses, and all the buses that operated during day consumed more rubber than those buses that operated during night. The road would get damn hot in summer and add the frequent acceleration and braking during day because of cattles, people, stops etc, the tyres would give out sooner.

Another factor is braking. The lesser brakes you apply at higher speeds, the better it is. If you can slow down with downshifting, even better for tyres.

Off-topic,
In gravel roads if you have uphill climb, always engage 4x4 if you have. Otherwise if your tyres start to slip and the gravel edges will chisel your tyres. We learnt it the hardway. Nowadays, whenever I see a gravel uphill, I engage 4x4.

[vina]

Originally Posted by nepalken

...

Another factor is braking. The lesser brakes you apply at higher speeds, the better it is. If you can slow down with downshifting, even better for tyres.

Off-topic,
In gravel roads if you have uphill climb, always engage 4x4 if you have. Otherwise if your tyres start to slip and the gravel edges will chisel your tyres. We learnt it the hardway. Nowadays, whenever I see a gravel uphill, I engage 4x4.

As far as tyes are concerned, the only difference between slowing with brakes and slowing with engine/downshifting is that the latter is guaranteed to be smooth (the former can be equally smooth, but that is a matter of driver skill)

Very good note about uphill, and this one is true for any road - the tyre wear in acceleration will invariably be only on the driven wheels, so best to reduce the torque requirements on those by engaging 4x4 if you have the option.

[Sn1p3r]

Originally Posted by nepalken

Another factor is braking. The lesser brakes you apply at higher speeds, the better it is. If you can slow down with downshifting, even better for tyres.

Engines are expensive brakes and tyres come cheap. I agree to being in the right gear but never try to brake completely with engine braking.

Cheers!

[samm]

Originally Posted by nepalken

One of the biggest factor in tyre life is heat. The lesser the heat, the longer they last. We used to own buses, and all the buses that operated during day consumed more rubber than those buses that operated during night. The road would get damn hot in summer and add the frequent acceleration and braking during day because of cattles, people, stops etc, the tyres would give out sooner.

Excellent point! Great observation from extensive experience, nepalken!

Just consolidating what have been discussed so far -
Reasons for faster tyre wear:
a) Excessive acceleration
b)Rapid braking
c)Taking sharp turns at high speed
d)High tyre temperature (road heat)
e)Turning wheels in stationary position

City v/s highway -
I could not deduce any conclusion from the discussion. Some factors which causes faster wear and tear on high way driving are temperature, uphill drives and curvy roads.
For city, the factors are acceleration and braking, attempts to park the vehicle by turning wheels in stationary or barely moving state, and frequent turns causing scrubbing.

[kpzen]

The biggest factor in tire longevity is the ROADS on which you drive on.
Its often observed that tread life is inversly proportional to elevation & heat.

Speed is also a factor but it depends largely on the above two factors else the wear due to speed won't be that noticeable.

Type of tires is also an important factor. High performance tires with soft compound and high grip won't have a great life.

Maintenance is also a key factor. Checking tire pressure/ alignment/ rotation and looking out for uneven wear on timely basis is essential to have a good tire life.

[nepalken]

Originally Posted by Sn1p3r

Engines are expensive brakes and tyres come cheap. I agree to being in the right gear but never try to brake completely with engine braking.

Cheers!

I don't intend to stop vehicle solely via downshifting. Downshifting especially during downhill is a very good way to save your tyres, brake pads/shoes.