It’s a cash cow the bad tire scam

[Fisher99]

Unfortunately, mine (like Jim's above) are directional tires so can't be rotated side to side.

[eNate]

Seems the back passenger tire does most of the work.

This is why I rotate the tires on our i3 side-to-side despite its wheels being mirror images of each other.

Do you dismount the tires and turn the outside in?

[BL5]

I would say I wore these suckers out. Seems the back passenger tire does most of the work.

This is interesting. On my 2017 with 20” Ecopia’s the right rear (pass side) is also wearing like a mofo, and the L Rear still has decent tread. I am also going to push the limits on these rears. Right now the rears have 26k, which I understand is A LOT for i3 tires.

Best price I can currently find is Discount Tire at $210/tire + M&B, blahh blahh blahh. In Feb 2021 I paid $775 for all 4 tires. Let’s blame it on COVID

[Neil]

You guys must be having a lot of "fun" with your i3s, I got about 43000 miles out of my last set of tires, mostly freeway driving. The rears were pretty worn out though, passenger side being the worst, fronts not quite as much.

If you'd like to see them check this out: https://goo.gl/photos/ULwFAJxapkbU2qah6

[alohart]

Unfortunately, mine (like Jim's above) are directional tires so can't be rotated side to side.

His tires look like standard Bridgestones which aren't directional. Directional tires have an arrow on the sidewall pointing in the direction of rotation. Instead, these tires have a sidewall that is marked as being mounted facing out (i.e., away from the car), so I just switch the tires and wheels side-to-side without having to dismount the tires.

[alohart]

This is why I rotate the tires on our i3 side-to-side despite its wheels being mirror images of each other.

Do you dismount the tires and turn the outside in?

No need to do so. These tires aren't directional, but they do have a sidewall that is marked as facing out, so I just switch the wheels and tires side-to-side.

[eNate]

That's the crux of my question – if they both wearing on the inside, what does that do for you? Or do you also notice the right side wears faster than the left?

I wonder how that "outside" indication plays out in day to day driving. I can't imagine a dramatic impact.

[Neil]

In my experience, the passenger rear (19" in my case) had quite a bit more wear. By swapping rear wheels, it would help somewhat to even out the wear and give some more life to the rears. Please see link in my post above for pictures of my last set of tires just before replacing them. I haven't done the swap but may do it on my current set.

[alohart]

That's the crux of my question – if they both wearing on the inside, what does that do for you? Or do you also notice the right side wears faster than the left?

I measure tread depth across each tire every 5k miles when I rotate side-to-side. The right rear tire does wear faster on our 2014 BEV, but the wear seems to be pretty even across the width of the tread. The problem is that the inside tread is shallower than the middle or outside tread when new, so the insides wear out first. Probably the negative rear camber adds to the faster inside wear.

I wonder how that "outside" indication plays out in day to day driving. I can't imagine a dramatic impact.

The tires might actually last longer if they were mounted with the outside on the inside due to the deeper outside tread. However, there must be a good reason why Bridgestone marked a sidewall as the outside sidewall. The tread design on the outside and inside differ for some reason.

[RDanza]

Hi I have a 2018 BEV red i3 I bought brand new here in AZ. I am currently at 28,558 miles and the tires look fine to me. The discount tire guy is saying hey don’t drive more than a month on these. I just kind of think they don’t know how to measure these tires as they are LRR and look fine and seem to stop fine. The car is 80% hiway driven and usually the wx is hot here in PHX. I don’t see any uneven wear whatsoever. What is the longest anyone has gotten out of these bike tires?