Tyre wear on tow vehicle

Nage · Member

Tyre wear on tow vehicle

Desert Dweller · Guru

We noticed a little more wear than the norm on the tyres of our Ford Ranger. Haven't noticed anything amiss with our Nissan Navara so far. If you mark each wheel with a felt pen before you take your vehicle in for a scheduled service you'll notice that the wheels haven't been diagonally rotated as listed in the service book. The dealer does tick that box after doing absolutely nothing! This non-action doesn't help with ''even'' tyre wear. Towing a van around most of the time must have some effect on tyre wear. As long as it's not on the extreme level it's OK.

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Welcome to the gang Nage, enjoy here and out in the playground.

I haven't put those km's on the Collie's tyres yet so bit early to tell and comment.

Keep Safe on the roads.

peter_s · Veteran Member

I think you will find it's just the tyres, had a set do a similar thing never bought Maxxis again don't have a tyre wear problem anymore

blaze · Guru

Desert Dweller wrote:
We noticed a little more wear than the norm on the tyres of our Ford Ranger. Haven't noticed anything amiss with our Nissan Navara so far. If you mark each wheel with a felt pen before you take your vehicle in for a scheduled service you'll notice that the wheels haven't been diagonally rotated as listed in the service book. The dealer does tick that box after doing absolutely nothing! This non-action doesn't help with ''even'' tyre wear. Towing a van around most of the time must have some effect on tyre wear. As long as it's not on the extreme level it's OK.

you do not diagonally rotate radial tyres, just front to back and back to front. exception to the rule is if the vehicle has two spares

cheers

blaze

Nage · Member

So what is the best tyre for milage?

Hewy54 · Senior Member

blaze wrote:
Desert Dweller wrote:
We noticed a little more wear than the norm on the tyres of our Ford Ranger. Haven't noticed anything amiss with our Nissan Navara so far. If you mark each wheel with a felt pen before you take your vehicle in for a scheduled service you'll notice that the wheels haven't been diagonally rotated as listed in the service book. The dealer does tick that box after doing absolutely nothing! This non-action doesn't help with ''even'' tyre wear. Towing a van around most of the time must have some effect on tyre wear. As long as it's not on the extreme level it's OK.
you do not diagonally rotate radial tyres, just front to back and back to front. exception to the rule is if the vehicle has two spares
cheers
blaze

Only for unidirectional tyres.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Mileage it usually the only thing people consider.
I learned an important lesson in Europe in 2013 when a pair of tyres I bought increased fuel consumption by over 1.5L/100km. Just 2 tyres.
If I had been smarter, I would have just thrown them away and put some decent ones on instead because the extra fuel was costing more than the tyres.

All tyres in Europe now carry ratings for fuel consumption, grip in the wet and noise level. Those criteria are more important than life.
It was impossible to pic the good ones from the bad ones just from the price or by looking at them, but more aggressive treads generally performed very badly for fuel consumption and noise.

Cheers,
Peter

brickies · Guru

Thanks for that information Peter , Got 60,000 out my Dunlop AT now running on Kuhmo Highway tyres will see how they go , But never thought about fuel consumption .

scruffy 01 · Member

Hi, have a set of ecovision mud tyres on my Colorado and am right up there with my weights. Have just done 60,000 on them towing a 22ft van and have approx 10 to 15,000 kms till they are replaced. Am looking at replacing them with D697 at tyres instead of muddies.

erad · Guru

I cannot comment on the Maxxis tyre wear, but are they wearing evenly? If they are, then I guess it is simply soft rubber and they are wearing out. If they wear unevenly, it could be either alignment (toe-in) or excessive loading on the rear wheels, causing negative camber.

If it is the rear wheel load (camber) causing the problem, you can overcome it to a limited extent by fitting airbags to the rear springs and inflating them when the van is hitched up. I fitted airbags and had my rear wheel camber set so that it was at the maximum positive camber to try to compensate for when I tow with the van. Sadly I don't tow enough these days so I cannot tell if that worked or not. Tyres are wearing evenly for me.

If you install airbags, you must keep a minimum pressure in them to avoid them being snagged between the spring coils. I have found that by installing airbags, the rear suspension has stiffened up, even though I only have the minimum air pressure in the bags. I don't like it, but it is a trade-off which I have made.

Possum3 · Guru

I'm driving a Nissan Patrol and towing Multi -Terrain Sapphire on the back (over 2 tonne & 150 kg on the ball) I have just changed all 4 tyres at 55,000 klm's, originals would have done about another 5,000 max but I changed all while at home in Sydney so I can travel for the next couple of years trouble free (that's the plan anyway). The Original Bridgestone All-Terrain D697's have been swapped back to front twice keeping best tread on front wheels. In retrospect I should have been changing LH to RH at each swap as well (slightly more wear on LH front). There has been even wear across the tread on complete set of (4) tyres which I run at 45psi front and 50 psi rear. The tyres perform and grip well with negligible road noise. I was told by Bridgestone that the new D697's have a slightly better compound and different tread pattern design to improve wear characteristics - time will tell on this also.

Possum.

A cut and paste from an earlier post of mine a couple of weeks ago: I just replaced 4 Bridgestone 275/65-17 D697 LT Tyres. Total price; Supply, fit, balance, wheel alignment, hand torqued wheel nuts $1,240. Bridgestone Select Dealer at Terminus St Liverpool Great guys friendly and knowledgeable Hundreds cheaper than all quoted from other major dealers and tyre shops - Won me.

teago · Member

Make sure you reduce your pressure when you are not towing teago