What wears out faster, front or rear tires?
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Joined: Nov 2005
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C32 AMG
What wears out faster, front or rear tires?
Now that I am running equal size tires, I'm trying to wear them down evenly by rotating front to back. I'm surprised, though, to see more wear occuring on the fronts than the rears! And yes, I use the noise pedal liberally! From what I saw on the used car/wheel market, the rears seemed to be fried first, but that's not been my experience. Maybe I need to do more drag racing.
I'm hoping that two track days in April will fry the set. I'm considering either Goodyear GSDs (high end stuff) or Hankook Z212s (slummin').
Best/worst news is that I'm giving up on my plans to buy a Miata to become my dedicated track car, which means more toys for the Benz. The Miata is an amazing value. You can pick one up for $5,000, invest another $3,000 on seats, roll bar, suspension and tires, and you have a track monster. Several problems though - I'm a little tall and would need a dropped seat and a tall roll cage which makes wifey use impossible.
I'm hoping that two track days in April will fry the set. I'm considering either Goodyear GSDs (high end stuff) or Hankook Z212s (slummin').
Best/worst news is that I'm giving up on my plans to buy a Miata to become my dedicated track car, which means more toys for the Benz. The Miata is an amazing value. You can pick one up for $5,000, invest another $3,000 on seats, roll bar, suspension and tires, and you have a track monster. Several problems though - I'm a little tall and would need a dropped seat and a tall roll cage which makes wifey use impossible.
Last edited by Fifth Ring; Mar 19, 2007 at 10:31 AM.
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2007
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From: Las Vegas, NV
C32 AMG
I just took off my stock wheels and they definately had more wear on the rear wheels than on the front wheels. It makes sense since they are the drive wheels. Just leave your fronts on the back for double the miles before switching back. That might even them up a little bit. You could do your required burnout per week to help out too... LOL.
Super Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 617
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From: San Diego
MB
Your front tires do most of the work. They have a heavy load on them (engine and transmission) plus they steer the car. When the brakes are applied the fronts grab first and with more pressure which makes the tires work harder. Yea the rears are moving the car but unless you are doing burnouts everytime you leave at stop light I would have to say that the fronts would wear faster.
Super Member
Joined: Jun 2006
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From: Vancouver, Canada
03' E39 M5, 10' CLS63 AMG
i always ware the rear tires more then then fronts, but if u want to keep ur tire ware even and u have all 4 same size tires, then u should consider swapping them from left to right. for example swap the front driver tire with the rear passenger tire and that can help u ware your tires evenly. but keep in mind to do this u need to take the rubber off the wheel and then swap it around.
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From: Sugar Land, TX
BMW E39
Now that I am running equal size tires, I'm trying to wear them down evenly by rotating front to back. I'm surprised, though, to see more wear occuring on the fronts than the rears! And yes, I use the noise pedal liberally! From what I saw on the used car/wheel market, the rears seemed to be fried first, but that's not been my experience. Maybe I need to do more drag racing.
I'm hoping that two track days in April will fry the set. I'm considering either Goodyear GSDs (high end stuff) or Hankook Z212s (slummin').
Best/worst news is that I'm giving up on my plans to buy a Miata to become my dedicated track car, which means more toys for the Benz. The Miata is an amazing value. You can pick one up for $5,000, invest another $3,000 on seats, roll bar, suspension and tires, and you have a track monster. Several problems though - I'm a little tall and would need a dropped seat and a tall roll cage which makes wifey use impossible.
I'm hoping that two track days in April will fry the set. I'm considering either Goodyear GSDs (high end stuff) or Hankook Z212s (slummin').
Best/worst news is that I'm giving up on my plans to buy a Miata to become my dedicated track car, which means more toys for the Benz. The Miata is an amazing value. You can pick one up for $5,000, invest another $3,000 on seats, roll bar, suspension and tires, and you have a track monster. Several problems though - I'm a little tall and would need a dropped seat and a tall roll cage which makes wifey use impossible.
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From: Orange County
2005 C Wagon (No snickering please!)
i always ware the rear tires more then then fronts, but if u want to keep ur tire ware even and u have all 4 same size tires, then u should consider swapping them from left to right. for example swap the front driver tire with the rear passenger tire and that can help u ware your tires evenly. but keep in mind to do this u need to take the rubber off the wheel and then swap it around.
Please don't try this with radial tires. If you rotate your tires for even wear, move them from front to back on the same side of the car. Never run them in the opposite direction. This is what makes buying a used tire so dangerous, you don't know which direction it has been run. Now, if you do dismount and mount opposite you could switch sides, but why? If you intend to track your car, and drive it at speed, you are allowed four races. Then the tires must be discarded. When racing, the tires get very hot, then cool down after the race. After four cycles they are done. I mark my tires after each race near the bead with a yellow crayon. Four hash marks mean a trip to the Yoko van for new shoes.
Super Member
Joined: Jun 2006
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From: Vancouver, Canada
03' E39 M5, 10' CLS63 AMG
Please don't try this with radial tires. If you rotate your tires for even wear, move them from front to back on the same side of the car. Never run them in the opposite direction. This is what makes buying a used tire so dangerous, you don't know which direction it has been run. Now, if you do dismount and mount opposite you could switch sides, but why? If you intend to track your car, and drive it at speed, you are allowed four races. Then the tires must be discarded. When racing, the tires get very hot, then cool down after the race. After four cycles they are done. I mark my tires after each race near the bead with a yellow crayon. Four hash marks mean a trip to the Yoko van for new shoes.
i personally cant do that with my car because i have different sizes front to back.
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Joined: Dec 2003
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You can run the tires in any direction on any side. The disadvantage is water evacuation as the tread design is rotated. In dry conditions, this does not matter. And forget about the seam delaminating. Never seen it happen or experienced it with new technology tires. You can even run asymetrical tread tread tires inside out! Just look at the picture of the Nitto fronts in the other thread. They are bare and equal across the tread so it doesn't matter. As a tire goes through a heat cycle, it looses some of its grip as the molecular structure of the rubber changes. At some point in time, the tire's rubber gets brittle or hard and no longer grips well. You can still run on this tire in this condition, but it grip is significanlty reduced. We usually run out of tread before the heat cycle problem occurs. On the last outing with the Nitto's, it took 7.5 hours of track driving before the fronts gave out and our times were reduced by several seconds. We also ran through 75% of the tread.
