Tire Wear Front vs Rear

[Smoky14]

I wear out the front tire before the rear. I'm not a heavy braker. In days gone by I would go through 2 rears to one front but since the advent of radial tires I have noticed that the front is on the wear bars long before the rear. Anybody else experiencing the same thing, or have an idea as to why I'm so hard on fronts?
TIA Smoky

 

[Lubener]

The front tires carry more weight, braking forces, dealing with scrub from steering and getting the vehicle moving. I think your ratio is about right. Try rotating more often to equalize wear better.. Might not be a bad idea to make sure your rear brakes are functioning and not placing more work on the fronts.

 

[The Critic]

Delete

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

Normal, other than RWD performance cars. Rotate your tires more often to balance out the wear front and rear.

 

[supton]

FWD is known to be harder on tires. Braking, accelerating, turning, while carrying the weight of the engine.

To some degree, you can mitigate this with frequent tire rotations. I say to some degree, as the tires will still wear, it's just that you won't wind up with half worn tires on the rear with brand new ones up front. Many (most?) shops these days will refuse to do this, or at least balk at this, due to liability concerns (you might lose control due to the different tread depths and thus traction in adverse conditions) (most cars are set up to understeer but now you might be neutral or more prone to oversteer). You could just buy tires in pairs, putting new onto the rear and moving the half-worn tires up front, but I'm not sure that there is a cost savings there.

Lastly, if your driving involves many turns, it may be the nature of the beast. Turning wears on tires.

 

[hank2]

Was this intended for the motorcycle forum?!!

 

[paulo57509]

It's pretty difficult to rotate tires on a motorcycle. In most cases with motorcycles (if not all) the fronts and rears are different sizes.

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

D'oh!

Sorry I didn't realize it was in the motorcycle forum.

 

[supton]

D'oh!

Sorry I didn't realize it was in the motorcycle forum.

Ditto! my bad, sorry.

 

[JohnnyG]

Thanks for somebody pointing out that this is a motorcycle issue. I wouldn't have caught that either. Maybe the board can be modified to make this a bit more obvious.
I have also been caught in this same issue when posting to the HUMOR forum.
Anyway, I think the front tires on motorcycles are intentionally made of softer material to enhance front traction, and the opposite is likely true for the rear tires. So it only follows that with increased safety (ala GRIP) some sacrifices must be made.
I doubt being radials has any bearing on the situation, other than the fact that radials likely incorporate newer tread compound technology.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Thanks for somebody pointing out that this is a motorcycle issue. I wouldn't have caught that either. Maybe the board can be modified to make this a bit more obvious.

There is a motorcycle forum on BITOG.

 

[Motu]

I usually go through 2 rears to 1 front. I wear the sides on the front, and the centre on the rear. Just how a motorcycle works - the rear will do more braking, engine and rear brake, and acceleration while more vertical, and more load on the front tipping in.

 

[hank2]

I've owned a couple of long-term old bikes with bias tires and also had a modern bike for some years with radials. I've never experienced faster wear on the front than the rear. I have had certain tires that wore pretty equally, F to R, but typically the front far outlasts the rear. Front tires usually have less tread depth new than rears do. The front wheel should be doing the majority of braking. A problem with headstock bearing wear or front axle could accelerate front wear. Higher end performance sport bike radials will wear out very quickly at both positions.

 

[ZeeOSix]

The left side of the front tire will also wear out slighlt more due to the crown of the road. You have to wear it down pretty far to see the left vs right side wear difference.

 

[JohnnyG]

There is a motorcycle forum on BITOG.

View attachment 107157

Yes, I know. There is also a humor forum. My point (and others) was that it isn't always readily apparent which forum the post originates from. The heading contains the info for sure, but the print is rather small, and I don't always read it.

 

[ZeeOSix]

^^^ LoL ... everything is in the fine print, just gotta read it.

 

[bulwnkl]

I go through 2 rear tires for every 1 front on the NC700X,
UNLESS I run Pirelli Angel GTs. With those on, wear is about even; 1:1 front:rear.

The K1600 is kinda between 1:1 and 1:2, front:rear.

So, it depends on the bike, the specific tires you run, and how you ride.

 

[Ride_Red]

I think it is somewhat tire manufacturer dependent. Different tires are made of different compounds.
I'm currently running 1 1/2 rear to 1 front with Bridgestone T31s on my ST1300. Michelin Pilot Road 4 was 2 rear to 1 front on the same bike.
My NC700X is looking pretty close to 1:1 so far, with both Dunlops and Bridgestones.

 

[BusyLittleShop]

On the track my fronts show more side wear than the rear... less so on the perverted highways...

Thunder Hill Track

Perverted Highway