How Many Miles Do the Tires Last?

Based on what I've read, the tread life on the specially-made Bridgestone tires tends to be a frankly dismal 10-15k miles. I have heard even worse numbers as low as 2-4k, but is that true for the majority? These tires have a mostly untested profile seemingly prone to punctures, which is another concern.

All the i3 vehicles I have looked at were equipped with 20" wheels (even those that originally came with 19" wheels -- a lot of dealers have swapped them out for some reason). Is it rational to be concerned that over a 25k mile lease the tires may have to be replaced once, or even twice? I'd hope these lasted 40k-50k miles like many industry-standard tires of today but the car of the future has tires that may not live up to the rest of the vehicle in its minimal maintenance, Eco-friendly stature.

I have 8300 miles on my tires and they appear to be wearing evenly with plenty of thread remaining.

The problem I have had is having to replace two tires at 300 miles and 8200 miles due to road hazard damage to the side wall. I have 19" tires and they are very susceptible to sidewall damage. I have replaced both with tires from the Tire Rack as they come standard with a road hazard policy at no charge.

One caution on these tires from the Tire Rack. The tire I received on 4/14/16 had a manufacture date of the 35th week of 2014. This means it most likely was part of the initial order on this size tire. This makes the tire over 18 months old upon delivery. This exceeds the "most tires are less than one year old when shipped" statement Tire Rack has on line. As they show in stock I would expect tire age when shipped to increase for some time.

I have the 20" wheels and I had about 25,000 miles on mine when I needed a new set. I now have about 15,000 miles on the second set and they are in great shape. I don't know who told you they only last 10k or 2 to 4K, but they must be weekend autocross racers!

I'm curious how the rear tires wear compared to the fronts. With the high torque it seems like the rear tires would wear faster if a driver regularly hammers the accelerator when taking off. I typically don't drive the car like this but I do sometimes like to feel the torque of the car by accelerating quickly. Sure this would depend on how a driver takes corners too.

The traction control limits some of the power to what's available for traction, so it is really hard to spin the wheels. Mine will probably die of dry rot before I wear them out as while I use it for running around town, I don't actually run around town all that much! Neither of my cars get lots of miles now that I've retired.

jadnashuanh said:

The traction control limits some of the power to what's available for traction, so it is really hard to spin the wheels.

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I hope traction control is helping, for wear sake. I have noticed some rear slippage when going full throttle from around 15-20mph and on some other occasions though.

On my 2014 Rex, I've got 27000+ miles. The tires still look pretty good with the fronts somewhat better than the rears. I'd say 10000 more miles for the rear and 15000 for the front. I do mostly freeway driving.

Neil said:

On my 2014 Rex, I've got 27000+ miles. The tires still look pretty good with the fronts somewhat better than the rears. I'd say 10000 more miles for the rear and 15000 for the front. I do mostly freeway driving.

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Wow! This is much better than what I've heard. Do you know exactly which tires you have? I am pretty sure the one I'm looking at has 20" Ecopia tires.

thefuturenow said:

Neil said:

On my 2014 Rex, I've got 27000+ miles. The tires still look pretty good with the fronts somewhat better than the rears. I'd say 10000 more miles for the rear and 15000 for the front. I do mostly freeway driving.

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Wow! This is much better than what I've heard. Do you know exactly which tires you have? I am pretty sure the one I'm looking at has 20" Ecopia tires.

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Forgot to mention these are the 19" Ecopia EP600 tires, the ones that came with the car. Not sure of the reason for all the poor mileage reports I've seen out there, perhaps it's due to spirited driving, bad roads, alignment issues or ?

Both the 19" and 20" tires have the same UTQG: 440 wear rating, so, at least in theory, they should get the same miles until they're worn out. That's 440% of the reference tire. Like any tire, though, how you drive it, your alignment, the roads, and how well you maintain the air pressure all play into how long they will last.

Those top figrues are encouraging indeed! Maybe I'm misinterpreting the tread remaining on my back tyres and in reality I have more mileage left. Only time will tell.

TomMoloughney said:

I have the 20" wheels and I had about 25,000 miles on mine when I needed a new set. I now have about 15,000 miles on the second set and they are in great shape. I don't know who told you they only last 10k or 2 to 4K, but they must be weekend autocross racers!

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That's amazing. My original Bridgestone Etopia's on 19" wheels have 2.9/2.4mm after 14,300 miles on a BEV which implies they will get to about 16,000 before the rear tires reach 2mm and need to be replaced. I'm also pretty diligent about tire pressures and there is no autocross time involved.

From reading your posts it sounds like you may put in more highway miles whereas we probably put in more local miles so more starting/stopping which is more wear on the tires.

I'm at 10,300 in 13 months and I just rotated (side to side) mine for the second time; the backs look about 1/2 worn, the fronts look about 1/4 worn (75% tread left), I have the 20's, I really need to buy a tire depth gauge to be certain though. My car is lowered with spacers and has been to auto-x once. I might have to buy new rear tires before it goes back, if it goes back, at lease end.

imolazhp said:

I'm at 10,300 in 13 months and I just rotated (side to side) mine for the second time; the backs look about 1/2 worn, the fronts look about 1/4 worn (75% tread left), I have the 20's, I really need to buy a tire depth gauge to be certain though. My car is lowered with spacers and has been to auto-x once. I might have to buy new rear tires before it goes back, if it goes back, at lease end.

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What's your typical driving style? Only having to replace the rear tires before the lease is up would be very reassuring. I was worried I'd have to do buy two new sets of tires based on some of the comments here :lol:.

thefuturenow said:

What's your typical driving style? Only having to replace the rear tires before the lease is up would be very reassuring. I was worried I'd have to do buy two new sets of tires based on some of the comments here :lol:.

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Driving style? Driving it like its stolen, is that a style? lol

My previous BMW was the same way, the front tires lasted about twice as long as the rear tires. I would recommend asking the dealer to check the alignment before you take delivery, keep an eye on your tire pressures and rotate every 5,000 miles. If you have to replace two or four at lease-end, at least they are cheap. The Pilot Super Sports on my e46 were $250ea for front and $300ea for rear, the i3's cost half of that!

11,000 miles 19" tyres like new, no punctures as yet, normal driving

imolazhp said:

rotate every 5,000 miles.

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All but the base vehicle isn't a square setup, so you can't really rotate things.

jadnashuanh said:

All but the base vehicle isn't a square setup, so you can't really rotate things.

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Wrong, you can rotate side to side, any rotation helps to extend the life of the tires, even if you can't do it traditionally.

imolazhp said:

jadnashuanh said:

All but the base vehicle isn't a square setup, so you can't really rotate things.

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Wrong, you can rotate side to side, any rotation helps to extend the life of the tires, even if you can't do it traditionally.

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Sorry, you're wrong. My car is a Terra and does not have a square setup. Also, the wheels are different from side to side.

Sparky said:

Sorry, you're wrong. My car is a Terra and does not have a square setup. Also, the wheels are different from side to side.

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Yes, you still can rotate them side to side, I have a Terra REx myself. They do not have to be a square setup to rotate side to side and early 2015 and later they quit making the wheels different from side to side, but even with them being different if you swap both at the same time they will all still "point" the same direction. Early 2015 and later one side "points" one way and the other side "points" the other way. On 2014 up to some point in early 2015 they all "point" the same way when on the car, but if rotated side to side they will all "point" the opposite way when on the car.

It really isn't that complicated.

If you don't WANT to rotate them side to side and have the wheels "point" the opposite direction than that is your choice, but that doesn't mean it CANT be done, it certainly CAN be done and it will extend the life of your tires. But by all means, just be lazy and not do it if you don't want to, at least the tires are cheap.