Mini Cooper Tyre Wear

[Monsta Mo Mini]

This was sent to me:

Hi,
Can you shed any light on the average number of miles you can expect to get from your front tyres with a non-aggresive driving style?
I own a Cooper which is 18mths old and has only done 11,000 miles yet the tyre wear is fine on the inside of the tyre but almost completely bald on the outside. BMW have finally agreed to do an allignment check for free (normally £140.00 after 12 months allignment warranty expires.)
Has anyone else had the same problems? My car had to go back for the common pulling to the left fault and had new struts fitted ...could this have anything to do with the tyre wear problem?
My friend has a cooper s that the tyres lasted only 6000 miles with the same outside wear problems and bmw tried to blame his driving style but it eventually turned out that Henry Bros. tracking machines calibration was out (Mine was bought from Douglas Park.)
I'm having two new tyres fitted at the weekend before the allignment checks carried out (keeping the old tyres just in case I can somehow get something back from bmw.)

Any advice welcome...

Cheers,

David Sprott

[KenL]

No problems on my car, it has perfect even wear on all tyres.

Uneven wear is normally caused by tracking errors I would think.

I have 21k miles on my ONE and all the tyres are still looking good with ~5mm all round. I did rotate the tyres front to back after 10k miles so the fronts may have been needing replaced around now.

Non run-flat 15" dunlop tyres on my car BTW.

[Steve74]

Check the tyre pressure when the car is cold - this can cause severe wear if not right.

[Julz]

I got 10,000 out of my last set of Toyos!!:p

[Big Gordy]

Yeh......Too high and they wear in the middle, too soft and both edges wear........:p:D:approve:

[Duncan Stewart]

I got 10,000 of even wear out of the fronts (15" pirellis) and backs still had a even 5mm on them. most of my driving is done on rough twistie country roads. Had 4 wheel tracking done on my last car at main dealer (Toyota) which I though was a rip off at £70. 2 wheel front tracking can be checked at any local tyre centre for a fraction of this cost.

[Starky]

Do you think it would be worthwhile rotating the wheels?, i.e. cape to corner,back to front, that way you could possibly squeeze a few more K's out of em. Just out of interest, if the tyre pressure is so low to cause wear do u not get the runflat ind. light coming on.

[Julz]

quote:Originally posted by Starky

Do you think it would be worthwhile rotating the wheels


I know alot of people do this, but I don't for the pure theory that if you just replace the worn ones, you only have to buy 2 tyres, rotate them and they all wear and you have to buy 4, little kinder on the pennies!!;):)

[KenL]

quote:Originally posted by Starky

Just out of interest, if the tyre pressure is so low to cause wear do u not get the runflat ind. light coming on.


The tyre pressure light (which has nothing to do with runflat tyres BTW ;)) will not detect a gradual loss of pressure over time from tyres.

The reason is that it works by detecting a change in rotational speed between tyres so if both your front tyres have lost say 10psi over a long time because you've not checked them it won't detect it.

[Starky]

I don't get that 1 Ken, surely it must pick up the speed dif. at some point.

[KenL]

quote:Originally posted by Starky

I don't get that 1 Ken, surely it must pick up the speed dif. at some point.


If all your tyres lose pressure over time at the same rate then they will still all rotate at the same speed.

It's only if you get a pressure loss from one tyre due to a puncture that it will rotate at a different speed. A tyre with less air in will have a smaller circumference so will rotate faster so should be detected. Tyres do lose pressure. I check mine every week or two and pump them once every six weeks or so as they've all lost about 2psi, probably due to the valves not being a perfect seal.

I'd imagine that the pressure would have to get pretty low on a runflat tyre as the sidewalls are so stiff before the pressure monitoring system picked it up.

Do I make sense this time :p

[Starky]

Aye Ken, thanks, it's probably just me being a bit dense after a late night friday.

[GAJ]

I had a puncture and drove for a few days with the pressure at about 12 psi (slow speed in town only) and the monitor never detected it!

[Monsta Mo Mini]

I got a brand new ONE as a courtesy car from Dunedin last week. It had standard tyres which I promptly punctured one of on Montgomery Street, needles to say...the pressure monitor didn't work either!

Some things never change!

[KenL]

quote:Originally posted by Monsta Mo Mini

I got a brand new ONE as a courtesy car from Dunedin last week. It had standard tyres which I promptly punctured one of on Montgomery Street, needles to say...the pressure monitor didn't work either!

I wonder if it had never been set properly?

I keep meaning to take 10psi or so out of one tyre, drive around and see if the system works.

Anyone tried it?

[duncan]

It worked on mine, when i had a slow puncture on 1 tyre.

[bpirie1000]

well I have a problem.. I can't keep the car in tyres... Keep blowing them Out... Think I need to Buy a decent set NOW......


Boo hoo.

[KenL]

quote:Originally posted by KenL
I keep meaning to take 10psi or so out of one tyre, drive around and see if the system works.

Anyone tried it?


I tried it :)

Took 10psi out of one rear tyre yesterday so one at 35psi the other at 25. After a mile or so this morning got the ping and the flashing light.

Good to know the system actually works.

[james.hunt26]

I have ha my c for just over a year and have just placed my 3rd set of tyres. so it basically works out im gettin 7000 miles out of my 17" run flats.

[KenL]

quote:Originally posted by james.hunt26

I have ha my c for just over a year and have just placed my 3rd set of tyres. so it basically works out im gettin 7000 miles out of my 17" run flats.


Are you wearing out just the fronts?

I've got almost 23k on mine and there is still at least 4mm leaft on all tyres. I rotated front to back at 10k miles.

[redpoint rallying]

Just for interest, I managed 9500 miles out of the front tyres on my 'S'........oops! Then again, I did only recently manage 100 miles out of the front tyres on the rally Cooper but thats a different story.....