What are good strategies to get the most out of new tires?
I just purchased some new tires and want to know what I can do to make sure they last as long as possible.
I just purchased some new tires and want to know what I can do to make sure they last as long as possible.
To answer this question, you must be logged in.
Already have an account? Login.
By Signing up, you indicate that you have read and agree to Sage's Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
Answers ( 1 )
This might seem a little odd considering how the average person drives, but the answer to your question is two things in particular and they apply regardless of the surface you drive upon or the weather conditions.
First, don't "burn rubber" or "peel out". In other words, don't accerate so much that you lose traction in the drive wheels and spin your tires. This directly removes rubber from your tires. Do it enough and you will start to see the metal bands in your steel belted tires fairly quickly.
Second, and this is the less intuitive suggestion, use your brakes as little as possible. This requires quite a bit of active pre-thinking about your driving in terms of letting off the accelerator pedal early enough to mostly coast to a stop rather than braking. This also includes driving slow enough through turns to not require braking which interestingly also tends to prevent spinouts.
Every time you apply your brakes in order to slow down your vehicle, you're using the friction (resistance) of your tires against the driving surface whether its asphalt, cement, dry dirt, or gravel. This is in addition to the resitance of your drive train via the engine, transmission, and driveshaft. You can observe this by simply taking your foot off the accelerator and watching your vehicle coast to a stop or a very slow speed at engine idle.
It's this friction that removes a little bit of rubber (or more) every time you use your brakes. Those that use their brakes more and/or heavily, not only use up their brake pads more quickly, but they go through tires faster as well.
If you don't believe me, take your car up to about 40 mph and stomp on the brakes as hard as you can. You'll leave strips of rubber on the pavement just as you would if you "peeled out".
I wish I could find the YouTube video where a Goodyear engineer explained this in more detail, but I have been told this by multiple tire engineers over the years.