When it comes to choosing the correct tyre, many look at how the mileage of the tyre performs over its lifetime.
The long-term mileage of the performance of your tyres depends on many factors. In this article, we are going to explain what these are and what could affect the tyre's mileage performance.
How Long Are Tyres Supposed To Last?
It's impossible to put an absolute length of time that tyres are supposed to last for. This is due to the many factors that the tyre's length of life depends on. These include the quality of the tyre, the conditions of the road that the tyre is driving on, and how well it is looked after and maintained.
As a standard “ideal”, you should be able to get a general 20,000 miles out of your front tyres. However, this still always depends on the factors mentioned above.
Low to Medium Impact On Tyre Mileage
The two main factors that have a low to medium impact on the mileage of your tyre are tyre width and over-inflation.
When it comes to your tyre width, it is universally known that wider tyres have a bigger contact patch with the road, which helps reduce tyre wear, as well as increases the life of the tyre. The wider tyres have lower ground pressure, and can therefore also improve the handling and control you have over the tyre. However, if you drive in an aggressive style, this will increase the impact on the mileage of your tyre.
You can increase the mileage of your tyre by avoiding turning corners too aggressively, accelerating or decelerating too rapidly.
Over-inflation also causes uneven wear. If the inflation pressure is far too high in comparison to the load of the vehicle, the ground pressure will increase around the tyre's central contact patch. This will increase wear on the most important part of your tyre, therefore decreasing the mileage and the length of time it will take for your tyres to wear out. Checking your tyres pressure every 2-4 weeks is recommended to ensure you are getting the most out of your tyres and that they are safe to drive on.
Mid-Level Impact Factors
More diverse factors impact the mileage of your tyre when it comes to mid-level impact factors. However, there are industry tips and tricks that can help mitigate the impact they have.
These factors are as follows:
Driven axle
The tyre's wear will be far higher on the driven axle of the car rather than on the free-rolling axle. However, if you are driving a rear-wheel-drive vehicle, there is more balanced wear between the tyres on the back and the tyres on the front. With front-wheel drive, the wear to the front of the tyres is largely increased due to the steering forces on the front axle.
Road surface
When driving on relatively smooth roads, the impact and damage of your tyres is lessened. However, a rough, abrased or bumpy road surface can have a huge impact on the longevity and mileage performance of your tyres.
If possible, the best way to avoid this significant reduction in the service life of your tyre is to avoid rough or poorly maintained roads as much as possible and to not drive off-road without the correct tyres. If rougher roads are part of a regular journey, it is advised to fit all-terrain tyres instead of standard tyres.
Temperature
Temperature is a huge factor to take into consideration when fitting the correct tyres, and understanding the difference between summer, winter and all-season tyres. The chemical and physical properties of the tyres are optimised for specific operating conditions and temperatures, and therefore will wear faster if used incorrectly. At temperatures below 7 degrees celsius, a summer tyre will wear more quickly, whereas temperatures above 7 degrees will wear down your winter tyres rather rapidly.
High Impact On Tyre Mileage
High impact on tyre mileage is the most significant factor that will affect the longevity and wear of the tyre when it comes to mileage performance.
When it comes to high impact on tyre mileage, the tread compound is a huge factor. When tyres are developed, there are target conflicts between wet grip, wear and rolling resistance. This means that one property is strengthened at the expense of another being slightly weakened. However, premium tyres are now usually made with a sophisticated silica tread compound to help diminish the difference between wear and wet grip. To ensure you are choosing the right tyres, make sure you take note of how you tend to drive and where. It is wise to check the strength of the compound designs that are available when shopping for new tyres. That way, you will be able to tell when is a “normal” time for the tyre to have worn down.
Your driving style can also have an impact on the mileage performance of your tyres. Fast and sporty driving styles often affect the lifespan of your tyres. Strong acceleration and braking, as well as fast cornering speeds, increase tyre wear significantly. As long as you are driving within the safety laws, driving sightly slower or accelerating with a little less power is something you can do to prolong the life of your tyres.
Article by Colewood Automotive, our partners for ServicePoint Tyres.
ServicePoint Tyres enables Allstar ServicePoint users to have the added convenience and control of purchasing a wide choice of tyre brands through the online portal for their fleet, and booking a fitting at more than 1,500 fitters, including fitting centres and mobile fitters, across the country. If required, the tyres can be delivered.
The easy to use portal enables users to filter and search tyres by brand, speed rating, standard EU tyre label gradings, summer and winter options, and more. As well as showing them the price breakdown for the tyres before purchase.
Find out more about ServicePoint Tyres here.
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