If anyone is in the market for tires, now's a great time to buy! Purchase a set of 4 qualifying passenger Continental tires between November 1 - 30, 2024 and get a $110 Visa prepaid card by mail. *PROMO Link:* bit.ly/4h8JHN4 This includes any of the tires I've recently discussed on the channel (ExtremeContact Sport 02, ExtremeContact DWS06+, TrueContact Tour54, Viking Contact 7, and many more)!
I’m an Automotive Engineer who made it through my master's degree thanks to your videos, and now I work in R&D at Continental Tires (for over 8 years now). I wish I would've known you were visiting, would have been great to have a meet and greet!
Best tires on the market!!! Once I tried the true contact tours I’ll never go to another company. Keep making great products! Hope y’all will make a true contact tour with internal sound damping foam sometime soon and keep improving on that already ultimate all in one tire!
@@Horizontally.Opposed I'm not sure, I am in Germany which is the main R&D hub, and I commented before he mentioned Uvalde. Some of the clips in the video were from Germany, which is why I thought he visited here as well. 😅
It is a variable that depends on a lot of things, this is why it is recommended to look at the tyre sticker normally by the driver's door, as the manufacturer has already done the hard work. From there you can go up and down a bit depending on conditions.
@@EngineeringExplained I guess I've always wondered what kind of testing goes into figuring out the figure for that, and because it's a vehicle specific rating, does tire selection have any impact at all. i.e. is this only tested with the factory installed tires? Could a summer vs all season tire on the same vehicle require a couple PSI difference to get the best wear? Or does the tire have no impact at all?
@@mofayer Guess you don't know how TPMS works. You can set it to work at 50 psi when the manufacturer has 40 psi on the door. Tire is still over inflated but TPMS is not triggered.
Holly cow! I've never seen them actually explain rolling friction and wear except to say "there's some deformation that occurs". Now it makes a lot more sense.
Happy to hear it! It's far more complex than even this video shows, but I definitely wasn't satisfied with the general basic explanation of "friction thus wear!"
I used to work at Discount Tire 10+ years ago and there was one specific tire I saw last over 100k numerous times. The Michelin LTX A/S used to be the OE tire on full size Rams and it wasn't uncommon for them to come in for their first set of new tires at or around 100k. The most I've ever seen was 120k, and even that set had a 3-4/32" remaining.
Right on. That was my experience with this tire on my truck. I got 99k before I took a puncture near the side wall that just made sense to change to a new set. Still plenty of tread. Regular rotation, balancing, and pressure checks kept them good.
As a Subjective Test Driver for the tire industry I found your video very interesting and well made as usual. I mainly work for the EU market and I can tell how different our market is compared to the North American one. Everytime I test 'ECO' products specifically developed for the North American market the performances are way way lower than the equivalent EU product, both for longitudinal and lateral grip, with a serious compromise towards wet grip and overall handling. The blanket is short and pulling it so much towards such long wear will inevitably heavily compromise wet performances to begin with. In the EU a summer tire lasting 40.000/50.000 real kms (hardly 30k miles) is already well done usually, driving happily it will be waaay less than that. Of course the standards, customer expectations (mainly from premium brands such as Conti) and needs between EU and N. America are different, but this always fascinated me. Another great difference is the American all weather tire vs the EU all season products, just looking at it and its grooves I would never say that the long lasting tire you showed would be suitable for snow/ice, I guess it will mostly just not crystallize as early as a summer tire but I would never dare to drive with that on real snow expecting any decent grip. If you would ever need somebody of my kind for collaborations feel free to get in touch, it would be a real honor and exciting opportunity, I could share with you my Linkedin if you like xD Antonio
Thank you for this input! As a European driver, I am most happy when I get a bit over 40'000 km, not miles, on a set of tires. I asked my tire specialist whether I was doing something wrong, but he told me that I was right on the average. So, how in h.ll can they get in North America anywhere near 100kmiles , not to mention more than that, on a set of tires?? I asked the already mentioned tire specialist (a manager from a huge dealer, handling hundreds of cars every day, so he knows his market) if he had seen a tire, still legal after 100'000 km, not even miles... he had not! West and east pf the Pond, it seems that the distribution of tire lifetimes are totally, utterly separate. The conclusion is that we do not have the same tires. They've got to use in North America, way harder rubber mixes, perhaps those we use for heavy truck tires this side of the Pond, and hence much less performing tires in terms of grip and handling! Can you bring some light to the topic?
@@st-ex8506 It might be that in the US we get a lot more highway miles than in the EU. My daily commute includes 24 miles on a straight bridge with constant speed each way. Per the video this type of driving does the least amount of damage. Just a guess though. My tires lasted 55,000 miles (about 88,500 km) before I had to replace them. The new ones are rated for the same distance.
@@RunaroundAtNight It may be, probably is a contributing factor. But no matter how I drive, I would not even get half those 55'000 miles from any set of tire, even from the very best brand! I believe that European tire privilege safety and handling, therefore grip, which requires softer rubber, while US tires privilege low cost and therefore high lifetime, and have considerably harder rubber mixes.
@@st-ex8506 Tires are a complicated matter, many 'ingredients' in the recipe that will let the product lose or gain performance in certain areas. The products sold in the US and EU are often not the same, with some exceptions made for the UHP / UUHP tires. The markets have different needs and priorities and the manufacturers provide products that will respond to that demand. To increase the mileage there are many 'tricks' possible such as: thicker tread, more rigid tread and sub tread compound, belts amount and layout, belts materials and so on. As said, in this way the performances are compromised in favor of longevity. In the Conti example, having often tested their products as reference tires, I can tell you that there's no way that EU eco-premium-sport-ultra contact tires will make that mileage, not even if driving them in US conditions and style. In the US the speed limits are very low and the highway mileage is predominant, less lat grip demand, less tire wear and less needs for performance oriented products. The overall driving culture is different from ours. I hope I replied to some of your questions decently enough :)
Great video. As an engineer and RUclipsr, I think a good follow-up would be - How "bad" is a budget tire? - Some buyers don't care about performance. They just want to get back on the road. Knowing there is probably some minimum safety requirement, I would love to know which factors impact cost the most, and how tire engineers optimize the design for cost. That could be compared to optimizing for speed, or whatever. But these are all interesting engineering questions I think.
It might be interesting to look at motorcycle tyres which have a round profile given they have to lean. Often costing more than a car tyre, bikers still agonise over their cost. Interestingly in the Asian market where longevity is key, they produce a motorcycle tyre with a high nylon component but at the expense of grip. Please feel free to test, contrast and compare!
i would like to point out that tire warranties are pro rated, so if your tires last 76k miles it doesnt mean you get a free set it would mean you get a 5 percent discount, thats the real reason tire warranties are so high, tire companies are fine with giving up to a 30 percent discount (does buy 3 get one free sound familiar?) in exchange for repeat customers
If I have to pay a shop 1-2 times per year for tire rotations to have proper documentation for warranty, I'll spend a considerable portion of the actual warranty value on shop service rather than if I did the same rotations at home. As someone who switches from summer to winter wheels in their driveway seasonally, I've never found tire warranties to be useful.
@@EngineeringExplainedis it worth rotating staggered wheels ? for some weird reason fiat decided to mount same tires on different width rims on the 500e 😢 also 185/55R15 hard to find in store and way cheaper to buy online
This video gives a clear rebuttal to the many articles claiming an electric cars weight is what is wearing out their tires in 6,000 miles. If the biggest factor in tire wear is how the vehicle is driven then it is the drivers enjoying “all that electric torque” that is wearing out their tires not the extra weight of batteries.
@@EngineeringExplainedI was at the drag strip last night. Half a dozen people wanted to know what was going on with my hybrid Volvo. Not one person cared to look at the Tesla, one lane over
"Selection of vehicle" was also one of the top reasons for tire wear. If two cars are driven in similar ways and use the same tire size, then a heavier vehicle will wear the tires faster.
This is very true! I recently traded my 2021 Acura RDX for a Tesla Model 3 long range just this year (Acura was a lease). My Acura, is a mid-size crossover and by the time I traded it in at around 27,000 miles it already needed to have its tires replaced. Luckily I didn't have to replace them since I was trading it in, but it surprised me considering the Honda I had before that had tires that lasted a little over 50,000 miles. Granted, I did drive the Acura pretty aggressively, and didn't always rotate the tires on time, plus it was front-wheel drive as well so that likely contributed to the faster than normal wear. I can't say that I am not enjoying the performance of my new Model 3 either! :)
I had a Focus SE with factory Continentals and got 60k out of them with 3/32 still on them. Close to the legal limit but not bald. And even after 8 years of use they still had acceptable grip on dry pavement.
I've put over 100K miles on Michelin Defender tires on our 2013 Chrysler minivan. Not a light vehicle, and several thousand miles of towing, which is rough on tires. Gentle driving and flat straight Midwest roads helps a lot. Careful attention to tire pressure and regular rotation are important as well.
I couldn’t agree more about tires being the most important factor in vehicle performance. Changed tires on my GS350 from cheap Toyos to Michelin Pilot Sport All Seasons and it completely transformed the car and it handles so much better now. Great video. Super interesting
Thanks for the comment. I got my gs350 with Bridgestones I don't care for, but they were getting low so I was able to negotiate. I am split between Michelin and Continental
@@gregblau8082 That's a good split. I've driven both, and my anecdotal impression is that both are really good brands. Michelin leans more consistent product but value proposition tends to be slightly under compared to Continental in my area. Best wishes!
I was a tyre fitter in the 70s in the UK. The Michelin ZX was THE tyre - UK spelling too! - for mileage then, reps driving high motorway miles regularly reporting 80+K miles for a set. But these tyres were notorious for poor wet grip, and even low speed spins were common then. The Goodyear G800 had a grippy block pattern, was famed for its amazing grip, but wore to a 'slick' in 20K... You could see and feel the difference in the rubber compounds then, but today it's much harder to assess. Now, where I live - NW coast of Scotland - the road surfaces are grimly course, probably mainly because of the high rainfall, so that accidents involving skidding/hydroplaning are reduced as much as is possible. I have rarely achieved more than 20K miles on my Volvo V70 D5, partly because potholes and other imperfections tend to take a sidewall out before a tyre can wear smooth! However, the silver lining is that the cheapest tyres are almost as grippy as performance tyres, so nobody runs the latter, unless they have unlimited resources. Even so, most of the roads here are narrow, lumpy, and to drive fast is always dangerous, unpredictable adverse/sudden camber changes tells you all you need to know, while frequent skid marks will come from tourist vehicles mostly, unused to the poor roads (and fabulous views out to sea, or inland to the famous hills of the area, so distracting). My car never gets out of shape on the cheapest budget tyres, and for the small percentage advantage performance tyres might give when a short section of decent blacktop appears, that's when a red deer will step out of the trees... And tyres made for high mileages - somehow I doubt anyone will notice much of a difference here, except initial cost, as there is no way such tyres will ever reach their intended design life. But I love your videos, keep them coming!
The front tires of my Smart fortwo mhd did indeed last 140000 km (=88000 miles). And at that point they still had 2.5 mm of tread depth. I mostly drove it on highways commuting to work.
Welcome back Jason. The illustration showing contact between tire & pavement helps explain "feathering wear", that results in tire noise. Slipping at the trailing tread block causes local wear there, as that edge lifts off the pavement. I have always bought non-directional tires, and rotated them in an X pattern, always reversing the direction of rotation, and reversing the feathering wear.
Quality tires... ALL tires that I have ever bought... have specified direction of rotation, for obvious tread design reasons. They are designed and made to spin in one direction, not in both! How can you reverse it without terrible penalty on handling, noise and performance?
@@st-ex8506 The main purpose for directional tires is performance on very wet roads. They are designed to pump out water from the contact patch. Not all tires are directional, there are also ones that have one side that faces out, with larger tread blocks on the outside for dry weather improved cornering ... I use those. There are also plain, symetric tread patterns that can be mounted in any direction.
Thank you for teaching me something! ALL tires on ALL cars I have owned... except my very first one, a tiny Fiat 126... were directional. So, I came to think that non-directional tires were only for very low-performance cars.
My brother's 2016 Mini Cooper only weighs just under 2,700lbs. Its stock tires finally reached around 2mm (2.5/32nd) after 192,000kms (119,000miles). Tire date was 09/16. After nearly 9 years, its time to finally change his tires.
If you consider a Land Cruiser to be a "car", then I can unequivocally say yes, because I've had not one, but two sets of Michelin LTX M/S last for over 100k+ miles. One set was 116k miles, and one set was 109k miles, and only got replaced because of a puncture.
Jeep Wrangler tires will also last near forever. The tires are huge for the size of the vehicle and the weight distribution is pretty even. Eventually the tires turn to plastic and the grip is gone but they pretty much stop wearing out as well.
I was gonna say the old original Michelin LTX M/S would easily run 100k+ miles with frequent tire rotations. I had close to 125k miles on a set of 215/75r15's on a Jeep Cherokee. My uncle ran them on his 1500 Silverado work truck and routinely got 120k hwy miles out of P265/75R16's. On most vehicles they would dry rot before wearing out. The newer LTX M/S 2 only got about 70k miles and were a real let down.
this entire video was under the assumption that your tires were inflated properly. if the tires are not inflated properly you will cause uneven wear because the middle will either balloon out or collapse in (similar to the contour discussion 8:43 ). over time tires can leak small amounts of air but a bigger impact is caused by temperature changes leading to the pressures going up or down.
Great video! Thanks both to you and Continental. While it's a popular tire decision factor, I think longevity should be a much lower factor in the tire buying decision process than the grip and performance in the scenarios where the vehicle is expected to be used. Grip in Wet, Dry, Snow, Ice, and robust toughness in long highway driving should be primary decision factors, IMHO. Luckily the tire manufacturers are not forced to choose just one tire to manufacture, so such decisions are not forced due to availability. Looking forward to a video on how Continental engineers tires for these factors.
Awesome video. I didn't get tired watching all of it. You really nailed the most critical points, where the rubber meets the road, without inflating your own opinion or deflating the expertise of tyre companies.
in 96 I picked up a new Aerostar van really cheap (KBB showed it was worth more than I paid 2 yrs later). It came with some model Michelin tires from the factory. At 95k miles those tires still had plenty of legal wear remaining. I only replaced then due to age. The tires had become so hard that wet and snow traction was scary. This van was used mostly for long trips, but was usually loaded down with 5 kids and luggage, sometimes even filling the roof rack. These tires were not oversized in any way. Back then the stock tires were tiny 14in, compared to what is normal today. It is very surprising that factory tire could have gone past 100k miles. Edit: Forgot to mention that the van never got an alignment. Actually it only got to a shop once and that was on a trip. I did all maintenance except when I had no tools. One ball joint was replaced due to boot failure and one side wheel bearings were replaced, but I don't remember, and the bearings might have been after 95k miles.
Great video! You did a great job explaining the factors involved in tire manufacturing and the factors involved in designing them. In college physics, my prof. had test questions on tire traction in snow at 31 degrees for example. You were not kidding about how complex traction can be under various scenarios. You have multiple boundary layers between the tire and road surface that cause many different coefficient of friction and it gets complicated. I have the Continental you mentioned, my first of that brand and they are great. My dad and grandfather worked in the tire industry and even the factory air such as humidity make a difference in tire quality just for one little example.
Another great video. Thank you. Back in the 1960s I used a Citroen DS Pallas as a tow car to haul my Formula Ford race car around Europe. The Michelin XAS 180/15 tires lasted over 120,000 and were still on the car when I sold it. Great car. Great tires. Great fun. On a not unrelated note, when I recently replaced the Pirelli Scorpion 275/40R20 high performance tires on my supercharged Range Rover for some even stickier same size Kumho tires, my gas mileage dropped from 20 mpg to 16 mpg. The money I saved buying stickier but less expensive tires was quickly consumed at the gas pump. However, the blockier tread pattern appears to be wearing well.
Oh, that's easy. The engine goes round and round, like a tire. The pressure in the cylinders goes up and down, like a tire in different temperatures. It has 6 strokes, just as some tires have 6 lug wheels. It even ultimately connects to tires. I mean, what more do you need to know? 😂
@@ghoulbuster1 Porsche has come up with a plan for a 6 stroke combustion engine and applied for a patent in the US. They basically added another compression and power stroke
Very interesting video! I’ve actually gotten right around 100,000k miles out of a set of tires I had bought brand new and put on my 03 f150 that had a fresh rebuilt front end with a good alignment. I did do a lot of highway travelling but a decent amount of gravel roads and city driving as well. I found 2 major things that made a difference and that was tire rotations consistently and making sure the air pressure was correct in the tires, especially considering where I live with the weather, the temperature swings seem to make a big difference in pressure.
I put a set of Continental Extreme Contact All Season tires on a car i had 20 years ago and they are unbelievable. I still remember how great they were all these years later. Unfortunately Costco doesn't carry Continental tires in Canada, so if you're listening Continental, get your tires into Costco ASAP!
I’ve tried every big and some small tire companies. Continentals are hands down the best tires in every situation, especially the true contact tours. No you won’t get 80k but you’ll have the best experience you can have with a tire for at least 60k or more. Plus they’re fairly inexpensive as most tire places will match Walmart online prices. And if you do follow all of the tire warranty requirements from continental you’ll have free tires when they don’t actually last to the 80k as advertised.
Every tire warranty I’ve ever heard of pro rates tires based on mileage. So if you get 70k miles out of a tire with an 80K mile warranty, you don’t get a free tire, you get a certain amount off the price of a new tire.
I got 110K out of Michelin defender tires on a 2010 corolla. 120 miles of daily commute on the interstate over a span of 10 years. The tires could have still gone for another 10-20k miles when I replaced them. They had a 90K mile warranty when i bought them in 2014. I bought a new set and they only offered a 60K warranty.
i used to sell tires and this doesnt surprise me. my favorite tire to sell was the michelin destiny. it was only about 50% more cost than our cheapest tire but 2x the warranty. cheap tires use "warranty" more for marketing than an actual warranty. the cheap tires would come back after 20k (manufacturer would often NOT honor the warranty) and these would often be replaced at over 70k.
I am fascinated by tires, as well. I’m a Honda service advisor who interacts with cars (and thus tires) daily. I’ve got a 2016 Civic LX. The Continental TrueContact Tour 215/55R16 tires on it have 50,500 miles and are still measuring around 6/32” tread depth. My commute is 40 miles round trip with most of that being highway. When it eventually comes time to replace this set of tires, I’m considering the Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06+ for a more spirited driving experience. Sure, my Civic isn’t powerful or fast, but it’s pretty tossable and I like to take corners with a little bit of speed. I live in SW Missouri, so we get plenty of hot, humid weather, plenty of rain, some snow and a little bit of ice. I will watch every tire video you create because you are engaging and a tire geek like me!
I'm currently driving a 2019 Chevy Equinox, riding on 17" Michilian tires from 2018 with over 162,000 miles on them. Belivie it or not. BTW..it still has original brake pads as well.
Thanks for bringing back some memories. I spent a week at the continental test track at Uvalde many years ago for a very different reason: monitoring a standing start 1 hour world record attempt by an olympic bicyclist riding a streamlined recumbent bicycle per the International Human Powered Vehicle association rules. I was one of two officials to certify that record, since broken in Europe. He succeeded in setting that world record speed over 56 miles in an hour, despite weather conditions that held off his attempt for most of that week, but that was why we asked Continental for that week (it was one of their weeks where most test cars were out in the surrounding Texas countryside). With so much down time waiting out the right wind and weather conditions I learned quite a bit about how they run their testing there. They were very helpful to us.
Always said that the most fun people are mechanical engineers or just people in that direction. You prove everyday that i should say mechanics makes the world go round because unlike chemists we are the life of the party and the makes of it. We are 2 thirds of the life we live. Thank you Jason and thank the other Jason (Camissa) you guys keep me pushing through studying towards my mechanical degree even though I got employment and a learneship as a chemical specialist artisan. Love the content all the way from South Africa.
It depends. It's easy to say that, but I doubt you're running really high grip tyres. It's lots of fun to use a set of tyres that last an afternoon of spirited motoring, but there's not many people who actually fit tyres like that.
2004 ford escape, both the OE tires it came with and the LTX i put on them BOTH got about 120K miles. when i sold her at 340K miles on the clock she had the 3rd set of tires on it....
Mine have 120k and still look new but I'm running Centramatic balancers. Not sure if that's added life but it does make the truck a bit nicer to drive.
its been a few years for me so i cant quite remember. i recall buying a truck, replacing the drives almost immediately, then putting 300k before selling it and they still had alot of tread left. i am guessing they had over 200k.
I got 99,000 on a set of Michelins on my truck before having to replace them because of a nail near the sidewall of one of them. They measured good by the Lincoln head penny, just not repairable. Tires, brake pads, and wheel alignment all at the same time has always worked for me. The pads are never worn out, but this is the time. Rotate and balance often (8 to 10 thousand miles) and check tire pressure on every fill up, 300 to 500 miles. Thank you for the vid. Be safe, stay well
Tire performance has steadily improved over the decades. There was the introduction of Steel Belted Radials. Then, over the last 25 years, they've just quietly gotten better. My Trans Am originally came with EGoodyear Eagle GS-C 275/40ZR17 which if you can decode that you'll see they don't last long, and they cost $1000 per set in 1999 dollars. Today, a common "all weather" tire offers good-enough performance for everyday driving.
that surprises me. i sold tires about 10 years ago and goodyear had some of the worst (of the name brand). either they changed or they just have a super wide spectrum of quality. michelin, continental, and bridgestone had high quality across the board.
I had a 1979 VW Scirocco that I bought with 30k miles on the clock. It had a new set of Michelins on it. I didn't have to replace them until the car had 125k miles. It sounds unbelievable, but true. I chock it up to a light car, high quality tires, regular tire rotation, and running them above recommended tire pressure.
@@jamesengland7461- It’s not a bug; it’s a feature! I think I could feel it when I ran over a bug in my 914 with 50-series A008s! I used to joke that if I ran over a gum wrapper, it was OK, but if the wrapper was _folded,_ you better make sure your teeth were pre-clenched.
For REAL fun: try bias ply on the rear wheels & radials on the front, when you're driving a mini pickup at highway speeds. 😁 Did that exactly once - the fishtailing was epic! Truck was wearing all radials the next day. 😎
I know no one would believe me, but my service van, 2021 NV2500, had just over 118000 miles before I finally R&R’d them. The original Firestone Transforce tires were only rotated F-R/R-F once and the front right started showing cord just after 118k. The van weighs in at 8400lbs. I kept pressure at 80psi and most miles were on the highway. They were starting to dry rot a little and despite this, there was still good tread depth everywhere else. Overall, the whole van, as a package, has been an absolute tank. I’m impressed.
Michelin, Bridgestone, Continental, Toyo and Kumho tires in that order are all I will use on our fleet of family vehicles in my dad's shop. They perform great in our brutal winters and hot summers and wear extremely well. What we choose and when depends on what vehicle, how it's driven, performance characteristics, wear, longevity and budget. For my daily driver and because budget isn't a concern I usually go with a high end Michelin or Bridestone but the other brands I listed are also excellent and I'd have no problem recommending them. It's great that Jason in the video above was able to visit Continental because it was really interesting to hear from them and see parts of their R&D facility. I have never had good luck with Goodyear despite how big they are. Nothing but problems over the decades in our family. In my opinion you get what you pay for, and when you pay a premium up front for really good tires it will return it back to you in performance, hands down!
We recently purchased a 17 year old minivan (2006 MY). After a full mechanical inspection, we took it to TX from UT for the eclipse, only to have a blowout in northern NM. 5 YO Continental tires with OK tread. The spare was low, and a passing motorist helped us pump it up, just enough to drive. Maybe 35ish psi. We made it 150 miles to Albuquerque, and replaced with Michelin. Curiosity got me and I checked the date on the spare, October of 2005. Yikes. Almost 19 years. Unfortunately, Sam’s Club couldn’t replace the spare, or I would have bought a new one then.
the funny thing is he tests all of the questions I have in my head, cause grip, is only needed during spirited rides, but im not going to get all summer tires, but then i want tires with longevity as well, 60-70k is the sweet spot. Dang i guess i gotta replace that spare as well! oh boy!! still learned tons, I feel like this tire video is one people need to watch before buying their next set of tires, just saying! The fact that companies like Michelin has specific types of tires for performance vs daily drivers, and collected all that real - world data, and made it availed is fantastic! Will more tire companies invite you to their test tracks Jason???
Because of you, my own research, I bought the Michelin Cross Climate 2 tires for my Civic. Absolutely amazing tire for all around conditions. Dry Wet Show Ice Slush However, since I live in Southern Ontario, I do still use winter tires, and I use the Bridgestone Blizzak WS-80.
Had a set of BFG AT KO2's on a 2003 Regular Cab Silverado Z71 that lasted over 85,000 miles. That sure surprised me as they came with no mileage warranty. Had good grip the whole time. Just got to the point they were close to the wear bars and I figured better safe than sorry and replaced them...with BFG AT KO2's that were on the pickup until I sold it. Factory Bridgestone's on the same pickup lasted less than 40,000 miles and nowhere near the same traction.
In addition to lower speed ratings, tires with longer mileage warranties generally have lower temperature ratings (B instead of A.) They often have higher noise levels, too.
I had one of those long mileage cars - and a long commute. The original Goodyear Eagle RSA tires on my 98 Chevy Cavalier Z24 lasted 90k miles. I was amazed.
Treadwear ratings and mileage warranties are one of the last things I check when selecting a tire. I do consider them, but not until I’ve narrowed the selection based on traction ratings, speed rating, and third party ratings (typically on Tire Rack). I only buy high-performance or UHP all-season tires, don’t get enough snow around here to justify winter tires, so UHP/HP A/S tires with an H or better speed rating are the starting parameters. Then check the third party test results, and the buyer reviews for those tires on my specific vehicle. After that, I look at price, rebates, and estimated treadwear/warranty to include in my final decision.
If you rotate tires on a 2wd car and pay a shop to do it, you will spend enough money on rotations to just buy new ones on the axle that wore out, it will not reduce tyre wear if alignment is good. BUT for 4 wd cars you really should rotate the tyres since you usually have to replace all 4 at the same time. For example on my rwd car I dont rotate since it wont affect total wear, I will only waste money with the rotations.
On my front drive hatch back I don't rotate. Buy 2 new indentical for the front only as the backs are like new. You get that new tire feel for less money. The back rims don't get chipped up on mounting and wheel weight old location rash spots. Rims look like new much longer
(‘12 passat TDI diesel). I got 155k mostly highway miles out of a set. They were front tires for ~40k miles and on the rear for the rest. They were still pretty good when i changed them, but winter was close, so i decided to change.
Continental couldn't have found a better partner, i bet three other manufacturers are a bit jealous😂😂😂 well done Jason, you know was thinking this also applies to my shoes
I want to thank you Jason for enlightening me as to the properties and characteristics of tyres as im about to replace my 225 x 55 R18 on my Kia Sportage and your explanation has given me some more confidence in making my choice - conicedentelly the CrossContact are on my short list. Paul Brew
Please create a video about EV fires vs ICE fires, and include details about the the Hurricane Helene tesla storm-surge saltwater fires (I think there were 2), but 0 in subsequent storm surges.
in the 80's had a long lasting tire, they lasted over 150k miles on my ford 250 rode like they were solid grip wasn't the best but running over nails wouldn't flatten the tire tires were extremely hard they were for trucks.
I think some tires can last 100,000 miles with good care of the vehicle suspension systems and the tire pressurees. I purchased a set of Falken Wildpeak AT/3 tires but in this case they were E rated tires on a 2013 Nissan Frontier. In the modern market that is considered a mid sized truck, but it is really not rated for E tires. I had the tires on for approximately 88,000 miles before I replaced them with the same brand but slightly different model that was advertised as a quieter ride and slightly also a smaller size because the Wildpeaks were larger than stock so it did throw my odometer off some, but technically the speedometer was 100 % correct according to GPS. I'm not going to try and figure out the math because its inconsequential but after taking those tires off I did so not because of wear but because of the amount of road noise they generated. I currently have them on a project vehicle that isn't being driven but I suspect I could easily get another 20,000 miles if I do not drive like a maniac once I start driving it.
Now let's talk about the tire warranty being used for repeat business in the same brand and likely at same tire retailer.🤑😁 For example, if a tire has a 60,000 mile warranty and wears out at 40,000 miles, the owner would receive a 30% discount on a new tire. This is because the owner used 70% of the warranty mileage (40,000 ÷ 60,000 = .70).
I bought my Impreza brand new and it came with Continentals ProContact TX tires on it. I just hit 100k miles and I still have yet to change them, though it's finally time to do so now.
Love your videos! I get that 10 year old tires are not a good idea regardless of wear. However, I don’t like Continental’s recommendation of replacing your spare at 10k. This has been stored outside of direct UV and is only needed to get you a handful of miles when you need it. In my book, if it holds air, it’s a good spare.
In Southern California the ozone would break down rubber faster. So a vehicle in SoCal areas with high ozone would degrade the donnut spares even if in a dark car trunk
@@3beltwesty Dang, I learned two new things from one sentence, ozone is bad for rubber and air pollution is/causes ground level ozone. The ozone cracking examples online I would've just called dry rot, which isn't technically wrong, but it's interesting knowing the method of action. It's apparently been cheap and easy for tire manufacturers to include antiozonants into the manufacturing process of modern (starting sometime between the invention of radials and 2012, I couldn't find anything more specific) tires so ozone is less of an issue, but those antiozonants seep out of the rubber over time, which is the source of the 10 year recommendation. Still, if I got a flat tire, popped my trunk and only then noticed the spare was 11 years old, I'm going to put it on and hope for the best, then replace it along with the flat tire when I get to a shop.
![Lethal Company Music Video 🎵 "Follow The Orders" [VERSION A]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QeooZB4Z7RA/mqdefault.jpg)
If anyone is in the market for tires, now's a great time to buy! Purchase a set of 4 qualifying passenger Continental tires between November 1 - 30, 2024 and get a $110 Visa prepaid card by mail. *PROMO Link:* bit.ly/4h8JHN4
This includes any of the tires I've recently discussed on the channel (ExtremeContact Sport 02, ExtremeContact DWS06+, TrueContact Tour54, Viking Contact 7, and many more)!
I have over 400K on my spare. The secret to long tire life is to never let the tire touch the road.
This guy tires.
😂😂😂
🧠🧠
My car tires developed a bunch of cracks after sitting idle during covid
Ok go ahead. Get a boat 😂
I will never tire of these videos!
Wheel you watch a part 2?
Good one, Dad!
spare me your tiresome puns
@@ricequackers Young man you've excited a tiring barrage of punny dad jokes. You ought to be deflated by this perpetual wheel of tireless puns. 😂😎😭
I’m an Automotive Engineer who made it through my master's degree thanks to your videos, and now I work in R&D at Continental Tires (for over 8 years now). I wish I would've known you were visiting, would have been great to have a meet and greet!
Best tires on the market!!! Once I tried the true contact tours I’ll never go to another company. Keep making great products! Hope y’all will make a true contact tour with internal sound damping foam sometime soon and keep improving on that already ultimate all in one tire!
Love my DWS 06 Plus tires on my BRZ. Perfect mix of handling, comfort, and winter driving. Thanks for helping to make some fantastic tires.
Do y'all ever take tests up to the Twisted Sisters just north of Uvalde?
@@Horizontally.Opposed I'm not sure, I am in Germany which is the main R&D hub, and I commented before he mentioned Uvalde. Some of the clips in the video were from Germany, which is why I thought he visited here as well. 😅
Incredible! Hopefully I'll be back!!
I surprised that inflation pressure was not touched on. That can have a pretty big impact on tire wear.
Properly inflated of course! Otherwise you'll have uneven wear.
It is a variable that depends on a lot of things, this is why it is recommended to look at the tyre sticker normally by the driver's door, as the manufacturer has already done the hard work.
From there you can go up and down a bit depending on conditions.
@@EngineeringExplained I guess I've always wondered what kind of testing goes into figuring out the figure for that, and because it's a vehicle specific rating, does tire selection have any impact at all. i.e. is this only tested with the factory installed tires? Could a summer vs all season tire on the same vehicle require a couple PSI difference to get the best wear? Or does the tire have no impact at all?
Since all new cars have tire pressure monitoring systems there's no real reason to point that out.
@@mofayer Guess you don't know how TPMS works. You can set it to work at 50 psi when the manufacturer has 40 psi on the door. Tire is still over inflated but TPMS is not triggered.
I'm a mechanical engineer and have worked on cars all my life, and this guy still teaches me something new with every video I watch!
Love it, thanks for watching!
Finally, more tire content. I was waiting for this.
Haha, there's more coming too! We did some *really* cool tests while I was visiting their Contidrom in Europe. It's gonna be fun!!
Were you tired of other content?
There is a great channel dedicated to tires called Tyre Reviews
@@EngineeringExplained Were you going to (re)tire these topics?
Not tiresome at all
Holly cow! I've never seen them actually explain rolling friction and wear except to say "there's some deformation that occurs". Now it makes a lot more sense.
Happy to hear it! It's far more complex than even this video shows, but I definitely wasn't satisfied with the general basic explanation of "friction thus wear!"
Squirm, is what I've always thought of it as.
I used to work at Discount Tire 10+ years ago and there was one specific tire I saw last over 100k numerous times. The Michelin LTX A/S used to be the OE tire on full size Rams and it wasn't uncommon for them to come in for their first set of new tires at or around 100k. The most I've ever seen was 120k, and even that set had a 3-4/32" remaining.
Wow, 120k! Love Discount Tire!
I got 105k out of my General Grabber AT2's from Discount.
@@EngineeringExplainedDiscount Tire is awesome, I don't go anywhere else
I had a 05 Ram with 110K factory LTX'S on it. Lot's of rotations on them!
Right on. That was my experience with this tire on my truck. I got 99k before I took a puncture near the side wall that just made sense to change to a new set. Still plenty of tread. Regular rotation, balancing, and pressure checks kept them good.
30+ years as tire/alignment tech.
Excellent information, I agree with all of it, and learned a thing or two also.
As a Subjective Test Driver for the tire industry I found your video very interesting and well made as usual.
I mainly work for the EU market and I can tell how different our market is compared to the North American one.
Everytime I test 'ECO' products specifically developed for the North American market the performances are way way lower than the equivalent EU product, both for longitudinal and lateral grip, with a serious compromise towards wet grip and overall handling.
The blanket is short and pulling it so much towards such long wear will inevitably heavily compromise wet performances to begin with.
In the EU a summer tire lasting 40.000/50.000 real kms (hardly 30k miles) is already well done usually, driving happily it will be waaay less than that.
Of course the standards, customer expectations (mainly from premium brands such as Conti) and needs between EU and N. America are different, but this always fascinated me.
Another great difference is the American all weather tire vs the EU all season products, just looking at it and its grooves I would never say that the long lasting tire you showed would be suitable for snow/ice, I guess it will mostly just not crystallize as early as a summer tire but I would never dare to drive with that on real snow expecting any decent grip.
If you would ever need somebody of my kind for collaborations feel free to get in touch, it would be a real honor and exciting opportunity, I could share with you my Linkedin if you like xD
Antonio
That's pretty cool, thanks for sharing
Thank you for this input! As a European driver, I am most happy when I get a bit over 40'000 km, not miles, on a set of tires. I asked my tire specialist whether I was doing something wrong, but he told me that I was right on the average.
So, how in h.ll can they get in North America anywhere near 100kmiles , not to mention more than that, on a set of tires?? I asked the already mentioned tire specialist (a manager from a huge dealer, handling hundreds of cars every day, so he knows his market) if he had seen a tire, still legal after 100'000 km, not even miles... he had not! West and east pf the Pond, it seems that the distribution of tire lifetimes are totally, utterly separate. The conclusion is that we do not have the same tires.
They've got to use in North America, way harder rubber mixes, perhaps those we use for heavy truck tires this side of the Pond, and hence much less performing tires in terms of grip and handling!
Can you bring some light to the topic?
@@st-ex8506 It might be that in the US we get a lot more highway miles than in the EU. My daily commute includes 24 miles on a straight bridge with constant speed each way. Per the video this type of driving does the least amount of damage. Just a guess though. My tires lasted 55,000 miles (about 88,500 km) before I had to replace them. The new ones are rated for the same distance.
@@RunaroundAtNight It may be, probably is a contributing factor. But no matter how I drive, I would not even get half those 55'000 miles from any set of tire, even from the very best brand!
I believe that European tire privilege safety and handling, therefore grip, which requires softer rubber, while US tires privilege low cost and therefore high lifetime, and have considerably harder rubber mixes.
@@st-ex8506 Tires are a complicated matter, many 'ingredients' in the recipe that will let the product lose or gain performance in certain areas.
The products sold in the US and EU are often not the same, with some exceptions made for the UHP / UUHP tires.
The markets have different needs and priorities and the manufacturers provide products that will respond to that demand.
To increase the mileage there are many 'tricks' possible such as: thicker tread, more rigid tread and sub tread compound, belts amount and layout, belts materials and so on.
As said, in this way the performances are compromised in favor of longevity. In the Conti example, having often tested their products as reference tires, I can tell you that there's no way that EU eco-premium-sport-ultra contact tires will make that mileage, not even if driving them in US conditions and style.
In the US the speed limits are very low and the highway mileage is predominant, less lat grip demand, less tire wear and less needs for performance oriented products.
The overall driving culture is different from ours.
I hope I replied to some of your questions decently enough :)
Great video. As an engineer and RUclipsr, I think a good follow-up would be - How "bad" is a budget tire? - Some buyers don't care about performance. They just want to get back on the road. Knowing there is probably some minimum safety requirement, I would love to know which factors impact cost the most, and how tire engineers optimize the design for cost. That could be compared to optimizing for speed, or whatever. But these are all interesting engineering questions I think.
It might be interesting to look at motorcycle tyres which have a round profile given they have to lean. Often costing more than a car tyre, bikers still agonise over their cost. Interestingly in the Asian market where longevity is key, they produce a motorcycle tyre with a high nylon component but at the expense of grip. Please feel free to test, contrast and compare!
Absolutely I agree with this. Idc how expensive tires are, I’m getting what is going to keep me safe. Especially in the rain
i would like to point out that tire warranties are pro rated, so if your tires last 76k miles it doesnt mean you get a free set it would mean you get a 5 percent discount, thats the real reason tire warranties are so high, tire companies are fine with giving up to a 30 percent discount (does buy 3 get one free sound familiar?) in exchange for repeat customers
If I have to pay a shop 1-2 times per year for tire rotations to have proper documentation for warranty, I'll spend a considerable portion of the actual warranty value on shop service rather than if I did the same rotations at home. As someone who switches from summer to winter wheels in their driveway seasonally, I've never found tire warranties to be useful.
I don't know what tire shop you use, but Discount Tire will rotate your tires for free if you have them installed there.
@@EngineeringExplainedis it worth rotating staggered wheels ? for some weird reason fiat decided to mount same tires on different width rims on the 500e 😢
also 185/55R15 hard to find in store and way cheaper to buy online
I've always, ALWAYS had my tires prorated and warrantied. If you are paying for rotations in 2024 you are doing it wrong.
@@geemy9675 Never rotate a staggered setup. Maybe side to side, but that won't accomplish much.
@@PeterPanarchy Plus, if the tyres are unidirectional, they have to stay on the same side of the car.
This video gives a clear rebuttal to the many articles claiming an electric cars weight is what is wearing out their tires in 6,000 miles. If the biggest factor in tire wear is how the vehicle is driven then it is the drivers enjoying “all that electric torque” that is wearing out their tires not the extra weight of batteries.
For sure, the instant powerful torque is addicting!
@@EngineeringExplainedI was at the drag strip last night. Half a dozen people wanted to know what was going on with my hybrid Volvo. Not one person cared to look at the Tesla, one lane over
"Selection of vehicle" was also one of the top reasons for tire wear. If two cars are driven in similar ways and use the same tire size, then a heavier vehicle will wear the tires faster.
This is very true! I recently traded my 2021 Acura RDX for a Tesla Model 3 long range just this year (Acura was a lease). My Acura, is a mid-size crossover and by the time I traded it in at around 27,000 miles it already needed to have its tires replaced. Luckily I didn't have to replace them since I was trading it in, but it surprised me considering the Honda I had before that had tires that lasted a little over 50,000 miles. Granted, I did drive the Acura pretty aggressively, and didn't always rotate the tires on time, plus it was front-wheel drive as well so that likely contributed to the faster than normal wear. I can't say that I am not enjoying the performance of my new Model 3 either! :)
It’s both.
I had a Focus SE with factory Continentals and got 60k out of them with 3/32 still on them. Close to the legal limit but not bald. And even after 8 years of use they still had acceptable grip on dry pavement.
I had 95000km on my first set of tires on my g31 5 series. Vertically only freeway kms which makes difference too of course
I've put over 100K miles on Michelin Defender tires on our 2013 Chrysler minivan. Not a light vehicle, and several thousand miles of towing, which is rough on tires. Gentle driving and flat straight Midwest roads helps a lot. Careful attention to tire pressure and regular rotation are important as well.
Were you be able to see the belts when you were replacing them. 🙃
I couldn’t agree more about tires being the most important factor in vehicle performance. Changed tires on my GS350 from cheap Toyos to Michelin Pilot Sport All Seasons and it completely transformed the car and it handles so much better now. Great video. Super interesting
Thanks for the comment. I got my gs350 with Bridgestones I don't care for, but they were getting low so I was able to negotiate. I am split between Michelin and Continental
@@gregblau8082 That's a good split. I've driven both, and my anecdotal impression is that both are really good brands. Michelin leans more consistent product but value proposition tends to be slightly under compared to Continental in my area. Best wishes!
I was a tyre fitter in the 70s in the UK. The Michelin ZX was THE tyre - UK spelling too! - for mileage then, reps driving high motorway miles regularly reporting 80+K miles for a set. But these tyres were notorious for poor wet grip, and even low speed spins were common then. The Goodyear G800 had a grippy block pattern, was famed for its amazing grip, but wore to a 'slick' in 20K... You could see and feel the difference in the rubber compounds then, but today it's much harder to assess. Now, where I live - NW coast of Scotland - the road surfaces are grimly course, probably mainly because of the high rainfall, so that accidents involving skidding/hydroplaning are reduced as much as is possible. I have rarely achieved more than 20K miles on my Volvo V70 D5, partly because potholes and other imperfections tend to take a sidewall out before a tyre can wear smooth! However, the silver lining is that the cheapest tyres are almost as grippy as performance tyres, so nobody runs the latter, unless they have unlimited resources. Even so, most of the roads here are narrow, lumpy, and to drive fast is always dangerous, unpredictable adverse/sudden camber changes tells you all you need to know, while frequent skid marks will come from tourist vehicles mostly, unused to the poor roads (and fabulous views out to sea, or inland to the famous hills of the area, so distracting). My car never gets out of shape on the cheapest budget tyres, and for the small percentage advantage performance tyres might give when a short section of decent blacktop appears, that's when a red deer will step out of the trees... And tyres made for high mileages - somehow I doubt anyone will notice much of a difference here, except initial cost, as there is no way such tyres will ever reach their intended design life. But I love your videos, keep them coming!
The front tires of my Smart fortwo mhd did indeed last 140000 km (=88000 miles). And at that point they still had 2.5 mm of tread depth.
I mostly drove it on highways commuting to work.
Highway driving makes sense
@@Redbikemaster Highway driving at moderate speeds. Rear wheel drive, rear engine. Hence very little weight on the front axle.
Your alignment was perfect!
@@christiannasca3520 being a Smart there's hardly any weight anywhere lol
@@Redbikemaster That's right. But in addition the Smart has a strong bias towards the rear axle, in contrast to most other cars except Porsche 911.
Welcome back Jason. The illustration showing contact between tire & pavement helps explain "feathering wear", that results in tire noise. Slipping at the trailing tread block causes local wear there, as that edge lifts off the pavement. I have always bought non-directional tires, and rotated them in an X pattern, always reversing the direction of rotation, and reversing the feathering wear.
Quality tires... ALL tires that I have ever bought... have specified direction of rotation, for obvious tread design reasons. They are designed and made to spin in one direction, not in both! How can you reverse it without terrible penalty on handling, noise and performance?
@@st-ex8506 The main purpose for directional tires is performance on very wet roads. They are designed to pump out water from the contact patch. Not all tires are directional, there are also ones that have one side that faces out, with larger tread blocks on the outside for dry weather improved cornering ... I use those. There are also plain, symetric tread patterns that can be mounted in any direction.
Thank you for teaching me something!
ALL tires on ALL cars I have owned... except my very first one, a tiny Fiat 126... were directional. So, I came to think that non-directional tires were only for very low-performance cars.
@@st-ex8506 That is one small car, with 12" wheels. My first was a used Triumph GT6 with 13" wheels.
Great video and insight into tires. Thanks EE and Continental for making this happen!
My brother's 2016 Mini Cooper only weighs just under 2,700lbs. Its stock tires finally reached around 2mm (2.5/32nd) after 192,000kms (119,000miles). Tire date was 09/16. After nearly 9 years, its time to finally change his tires.
Was it at least garaged? Parked outside, the UV starts breaking down the rubber much quicker.
what kind of person change their tires after 10 years ??
@@xl000OP’s brother
On staggered tire size vehicles, the warranty is generally cut in half due to not being able to rotate them.
Staggering tire cost
If you consider a Land Cruiser to be a "car", then I can unequivocally say yes, because I've had not one, but two sets of Michelin LTX M/S last for over 100k+ miles. One set was 116k miles, and one set was 109k miles, and only got replaced because of a puncture.
Size?
Still driving on good tread ir alteady on slicks?
Jeep Wrangler tires will also last near forever. The tires are huge for the size of the vehicle and the weight distribution is pretty even. Eventually the tires turn to plastic and the grip is gone but they pretty much stop wearing out as well.
I've had similar results with the same tire.
I was gonna say the old original Michelin LTX M/S would easily run 100k+ miles with frequent tire rotations. I had close to 125k miles on a set of 215/75r15's on a Jeep Cherokee. My uncle ran them on his 1500 Silverado work truck and routinely got 120k hwy miles out of P265/75R16's. On most vehicles they would dry rot before wearing out. The newer LTX M/S 2 only got about 70k miles and were a real let down.
You didn’t mention checking your tire pressure regularly, is there a reason, I thought tire pressure was important, thanks Jason
Sometimes you get wrapped up and forget the simple things - proper tire pressure is def important!
this entire video was under the assumption that your tires were inflated properly. if the tires are not inflated properly you will cause uneven wear because the middle will either balloon out or collapse in (similar to the contour discussion 8:43 ). over time tires can leak small amounts of air but a bigger impact is caused by temperature changes leading to the pressures going up or down.
Love learning more about tires. So interesting to see the dramatic differences they make
Great video! Thanks both to you and Continental. While it's a popular tire decision factor, I think longevity should be a much lower factor in the tire buying decision process than the grip and performance in the scenarios where the vehicle is expected to be used. Grip in Wet, Dry, Snow, Ice, and robust toughness in long highway driving should be primary decision factors, IMHO. Luckily the tire manufacturers are not forced to choose just one tire to manufacture, so such decisions are not forced due to availability. Looking forward to a video on how Continental engineers tires for these factors.
This was an absolute banger of a video! So comprehensive and clear, and deeply nerdy in such a useful way. Well done!
Awesome video. I didn't get tired watching all of it. You really nailed the most critical points, where the rubber meets the road, without inflating your own opinion or deflating the expertise of tyre companies.
Seemed very tiring to me. 😜
Who knew that there was so much science involved in making a tire. Amazing stuff!
You thought they were just Rim Protectors
@@Neo-tn1mc No, I just didn't realize what it takes to design a tire.
in 96 I picked up a new Aerostar van really cheap (KBB showed it was worth more than I paid 2 yrs later). It came with some model Michelin tires from the factory. At 95k miles those tires still had plenty of legal wear remaining. I only replaced then due to age. The tires had become so hard that wet and snow traction was scary. This van was used mostly for long trips, but was usually loaded down with 5 kids and luggage, sometimes even filling the roof rack. These tires were not oversized in any way. Back then the stock tires were tiny 14in, compared to what is normal today. It is very surprising that factory tire could have gone past 100k miles.
Edit: Forgot to mention that the van never got an alignment. Actually it only got to a shop once and that was on a trip. I did all maintenance except when I had no tools. One ball joint was replaced due to boot failure and one side wheel bearings were replaced, but I don't remember, and the bearings might have been after 95k miles.
Great video! You did a great job explaining the factors involved in tire manufacturing and the factors involved in designing them. In college physics, my prof. had test questions on tire traction in snow at 31 degrees for example. You were not kidding about how complex traction can be under various scenarios. You have multiple boundary layers between the tire and road surface that cause many different coefficient of friction and it gets complicated. I have the Continental you mentioned, my first of that brand and they are great. My dad and grandfather worked in the tire industry and even the factory air such as humidity make a difference in tire quality just for one little example.
If there's a car that will do that, it would be a small light car. Kei cars or probably a miata, since its always the answer
Hi Monica. Are you from India? 😊
Tires on my 2018 Subaru Crosstrek have 100k miles on them currently.
@@_PranayW probably a bit account with a stolen comment
@@volvo09 I've seen someone joined RUclips in 2006.
What are you doing ❓
Are you into IT industry ❓
@@volvo09 yeah im a bit account lol
Another great video. Thank you.
Back in the 1960s I used a Citroen DS Pallas as a tow car to haul my Formula Ford race car around Europe. The Michelin XAS 180/15 tires lasted over 120,000 and were still on the car when I sold it. Great car. Great tires. Great fun.
On a not unrelated note, when I recently replaced the Pirelli Scorpion 275/40R20 high performance tires on my supercharged Range Rover for some even stickier same size Kumho tires, my gas mileage dropped from 20 mpg to 16 mpg. The money I saved buying stickier but less expensive tires was quickly consumed at the gas pump. However, the blockier tread pattern appears to be wearing well.
I am just here waiting for a video on the Porsche 6-stroke engine ^^
Oh, that's easy. The engine goes round and round, like a tire. The pressure in the cylinders goes up and down, like a tire in different temperatures. It has 6 strokes, just as some tires have 6 lug wheels. It even ultimately connects to tires. I mean, what more do you need to know? 😂
The what
@@ghoulbuster1 Porsche has come up with a plan for a 6 stroke combustion engine and applied for a patent in the US. They basically added another compression and power stroke
@@fabisnow6466 Yeah I saw that, I checked the patent.
Very interesting video!
I’ve actually gotten right around 100,000k miles out of a set of tires I had bought brand new and put on my 03 f150 that had a fresh rebuilt front end with a good alignment. I did do a lot of highway travelling but a decent amount of gravel roads and city driving as well.
I found 2 major things that made a difference and that was tire rotations consistently and making sure the air pressure was correct in the tires, especially considering where I live with the weather, the temperature swings seem to make a big difference in pressure.
I would say alignment is #1!
7.5k-10k rotation is #2. Maybe even #1 which will tell you if you need an alignment. 😁
These videos are the reason I love RUclips that much!
Could you maybe do a Video on the 6 Stroke patent porsche just filed?
I put a set of Continental Extreme Contact All Season tires on a car i had 20 years ago and they are unbelievable. I still remember how great they were all these years later. Unfortunately Costco doesn't carry Continental tires in Canada, so if you're listening Continental, get your tires into Costco ASAP!
Love the details. I worked at a tire store in high school and am now an engineer.
I’ve tried every big and some small tire companies. Continentals are hands down the best tires in every situation, especially the true contact tours. No you won’t get 80k but you’ll have the best experience you can have with a tire for at least 60k or more. Plus they’re fairly inexpensive as most tire places will match Walmart online prices. And if you do follow all of the tire warranty requirements from continental you’ll have free tires when they don’t actually last to the 80k as advertised.
Every tire warranty I’ve ever heard of pro rates tires based on mileage. So if you get 70k miles out of a tire with an 80K mile warranty, you don’t get a free tire, you get a certain amount off the price of a new tire.
I got 110K out of Michelin defender tires on a 2010 corolla. 120 miles of daily commute on the interstate over a span of 10 years. The tires could have still gone for another 10-20k miles when I replaced them. They had a 90K mile warranty when i bought them in 2014. I bought a new set and they only offered a 60K warranty.
i used to sell tires and this doesnt surprise me. my favorite tire to sell was the michelin destiny. it was only about 50% more cost than our cheapest tire but 2x the warranty. cheap tires use "warranty" more for marketing than an actual warranty. the cheap tires would come back after 20k (manufacturer would often NOT honor the warranty) and these would often be replaced at over 70k.
I get about 30K miles on Goodyear Reliant tires ($100) driving a Honda Civic. Have to think about switching now.
I am fascinated by tires, as well. I’m a Honda service advisor who interacts with cars (and thus tires) daily.
I’ve got a 2016 Civic LX. The Continental TrueContact Tour 215/55R16 tires on it have 50,500 miles and are still measuring around 6/32” tread depth. My commute is 40 miles round trip with most of that being highway.
When it eventually comes time to replace this set of tires, I’m considering the Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06+ for a more spirited driving experience. Sure, my Civic isn’t powerful or fast, but it’s pretty tossable and I like to take corners with a little bit of speed. I live in SW Missouri, so we get plenty of hot, humid weather, plenty of rain, some snow and a little bit of ice.
I will watch every tire video you create because you are engaging and a tire geek like me!
I'll never get... tired of this content.
Tyre talk is the best!! I never knew there was a warranty on tyres! i have P Zero's on my car and just signed up to Pirelli's warranty. Thanks
It's important to distinguish between tire wear (which occurs when the rubber hits the road) and were tires (which occurs during full moons).
But beware of the where tyres, which will leap out from unexpected places.
I'm currently driving a 2019 Chevy Equinox, riding on 17" Michilian tires from 2018 with over 162,000 miles on them. Belivie it or not. BTW..it still has original brake pads as well.
We need an update on the maverick already!!
i bought a new Maverick 3 months ago. it's MEH.
Thanks for bringing back some memories. I spent a week at the continental test track at Uvalde many years ago for a very different reason: monitoring a standing start 1 hour world record attempt by an olympic bicyclist riding a streamlined recumbent bicycle per the International Human Powered Vehicle association rules. I was one of two officials to certify that record, since broken in Europe.
He succeeded in setting that world record speed over 56 miles in an hour, despite weather conditions that held off his attempt for most of that week, but that was why we asked Continental for that week (it was one of their weeks where most test cars were out in the surrounding Texas countryside). With so much down time waiting out the right wind and weather conditions I learned quite a bit about how they run their testing there. They were very helpful to us.
Road condition, maintenance and driving habit do play a part in tire longevity。
Agree
Always said that the most fun people are mechanical engineers or just people in that direction.
You prove everyday that i should say mechanics makes the world go round because unlike chemists we are the life of the party and the makes of it. We are 2 thirds of the life we live. Thank you Jason and thank the other Jason (Camissa) you guys keep me pushing through studying towards my mechanical degree even though I got employment and a learneship as a chemical specialist artisan. Love the content all the way from South Africa.
0:35 Geez! Are you really tall, or are tire engineers really short? (and thereby, closer to the tires)
Maths out! I did about 165000 km on my civic's set! Long, gentle highway commute + light(ish) car really helps them last.
Grip is way more important than mileage. Grip is directly related to safety. Always use snow tires in winter climates.
Yup, it hurts spending money on tires but it hurts more to wreck a vehicle
It depends. It's easy to say that, but I doubt you're running really high grip tyres. It's lots of fun to use a set of tyres that last an afternoon of spirited motoring, but there's not many people who actually fit tyres like that.
2004 ford escape, both the OE tires it came with and the LTX i put on them BOTH got about 120K miles. when i sold her at 340K miles on the clock she had the 3rd set of tires on it....
I'm a semi truck driver. I've had steer tires (front) last over 200,000 miles. They take a beating too.
Mine have 120k and still look new but I'm running Centramatic balancers. Not sure if that's added life but it does make the truck a bit nicer to drive.
I usually get about 100,000 mi on steers and about 250,000 mi on drives.
its been a few years for me so i cant quite remember. i recall buying a truck, replacing the drives almost immediately, then putting 300k before selling it and they still had alot of tread left. i am guessing they had over 200k.
I got 99,000 on a set of Michelins on my truck before having to replace them because of a nail near the sidewall of one of them. They measured good by the Lincoln head penny, just not repairable.
Tires, brake pads, and wheel alignment all at the same time has always worked for me. The pads are never worn out, but this is the time.
Rotate and balance often (8 to 10 thousand miles) and check tire pressure on every fill up, 300 to 500 miles.
Thank you for the vid. Be safe, stay well
Tire performance has steadily improved over the decades. There was the introduction of Steel Belted Radials. Then, over the last 25 years, they've just quietly gotten better. My Trans Am originally came with EGoodyear Eagle GS-C 275/40ZR17 which if you can decode that you'll see they don't last long, and they cost $1000 per set in 1999 dollars. Today, a common "all weather" tire offers good-enough performance for everyday driving.
Longer lasting a summer tire or an all weather tire, and do they cost the same?
I'll never tyre of this content!
I never really thought engineering a tire would be such an engineering challenge. Great video!
The tires currently on my car are at 100k miles right now. Goodyear Assurance MaxLife on a Subaru Crosstrek.. Guaranteed by Goodyear up to 85k miles.
Haha I knew the Crosstrek could do it (see description of "ideal vehicle" in the video). :)
that surprises me. i sold tires about 10 years ago and goodyear had some of the worst (of the name brand). either they changed or they just have a super wide spectrum of quality. michelin, continental, and bridgestone had high quality across the board.
I had a 1979 VW Scirocco that I bought with 30k miles on the clock. It had a new set of Michelins on it. I didn't have to replace them until the car had 125k miles. It sounds unbelievable, but true. I chock it up to a light car, high quality tires, regular tire rotation, and running them above recommended tire pressure.
Bring back bias ply for a more excitable driving experience
They really let you feel one with the road imperfections.
@@Justin_LaNouethey're not imperfections; they're quirks and features!
@@jamesengland7461- It’s not a bug; it’s a feature! I think I could feel it when I ran over a bug in my 914 with 50-series A008s!
I used to joke that if I ran over a gum wrapper, it was OK, but if the wrapper was _folded,_ you better make sure your teeth were pre-clenched.
For REAL fun: try bias ply on the rear wheels & radials on the front, when you're driving a mini pickup at highway speeds. 😁
Did that exactly once - the fishtailing was epic! Truck was wearing all radials the next day. 😎
I did not expect wet vs. dry roads to rank last in tire wear impact factors. Thanks for updating my faulty intuition! 3:50
It's probably not correct, simply because most tyres are designed to run dry.
I've seen a set of wets destroyed in 5 km of riding in the dry.
My 5 speed Honda Fit would go like 90,000 miles between needing tires.
That's a light car and not a lot of power so both are probably very helpful.
New cars are heavy and frequently have a lot of power/torque.
I love the tire videos. So interesting! Please have more!
Well can a tire last 100,000 mi well yes of course it can My work truck has 169,000 right now and all the tires are original
Wow!! How old are the tires??
Are you sure they didn't swap a set out during service?
Is the date code within the year of the truck?
If true that is wild...
I know no one would believe me, but my service van, 2021 NV2500, had just over 118000 miles before I finally R&R’d them. The original Firestone Transforce tires were only rotated F-R/R-F once and the front right started showing cord just after 118k. The van weighs in at 8400lbs. I kept pressure at 80psi and most miles were on the highway. They were starting to dry rot a little and despite this, there was still good tread depth everywhere else. Overall, the whole van, as a package, has been an absolute tank. I’m impressed.
Michelin, Bridgestone, Continental, Toyo and Kumho tires in that order are all I will use on our fleet of family vehicles in my dad's shop. They perform great in our brutal winters and hot summers and wear extremely well. What we choose and when depends on what vehicle, how it's driven, performance characteristics, wear, longevity and budget. For my daily driver and because budget isn't a concern I usually go with a high end Michelin or Bridestone but the other brands I listed are also excellent and I'd have no problem recommending them. It's great that Jason in the video above was able to visit Continental because it was really interesting to hear from them and see parts of their R&D facility. I have never had good luck with Goodyear despite how big they are. Nothing but problems over the decades in our family. In my opinion you get what you pay for, and when you pay a premium up front for really good tires it will return it back to you in performance, hands down!
I will happily take a safe tire. Long lasting is not one of the top 3 items I purchase tires for.
Always happy to see Jason content!
100k miles...tell that to Continental SportContact 6 on my BMW X3M....LOL.
You’re a clown if you’re looking for eco tires on an X4M…and end up with CSCs.
@@TheOfficialOriginalChad You are a clown if you think BMW X3M driver/owner will be serious about putting eco tires on their super SUV.
@@TheOfficialOriginalChad he's being sarcastic...
@volvo09 Yes, I was sarcastic, too.
@@genderlessyoutubefanperson okay so you don’t want long lasting tires and didn’t buy tires that are long lasting…
Cool story…
We recently purchased a 17 year old minivan (2006 MY). After a full mechanical inspection, we took it to TX from UT for the eclipse, only to have a blowout in northern NM. 5 YO Continental tires with OK tread. The spare was low, and a passing motorist helped us pump it up, just enough to drive. Maybe 35ish psi. We made it 150 miles to Albuquerque, and replaced with Michelin. Curiosity got me and I checked the date on the spare, October of 2005. Yikes. Almost 19 years. Unfortunately, Sam’s Club couldn’t replace the spare, or I would have bought a new one then.
the funny thing is he tests all of the questions I have in my head, cause grip, is only needed during spirited rides, but im not going to get all summer tires, but then i want tires with longevity as well, 60-70k is the sweet spot. Dang i guess i gotta replace that spare as well! oh boy!! still learned tons, I feel like this tire video is one people need to watch before buying their next set of tires, just saying! The fact that companies like Michelin has specific types of tires for performance vs daily drivers, and collected all that real - world data, and made it availed is fantastic! Will more tire companies invite you to their test tracks Jason???
Because of you, my own research, I bought the Michelin Cross Climate 2 tires for my Civic. Absolutely amazing tire for all around conditions.
Dry
Wet
Show
Ice
Slush
However, since I live in Southern Ontario, I do still use winter tires, and I use the Bridgestone Blizzak WS-80.
I remember watching this man’s channel over 10 years ago when he would use a whiteboard.. man he’s come very far, That’s awesome! 👍🏼
Haha, next coming video is back to the whiteboard, hope you enjoy it!!
Had a set of BFG AT KO2's on a 2003 Regular Cab Silverado Z71 that lasted over 85,000 miles. That sure surprised me as they came with no mileage warranty. Had good grip the whole time. Just got to the point they were close to the wear bars and I figured better safe than sorry and replaced them...with BFG AT KO2's that were on the pickup until I sold it. Factory Bridgestone's on the same pickup lasted less than 40,000 miles and nowhere near the same traction.
I've got about 20k on my K02's and I've noticed that they are wearing very slowly.
Great tire, I've even done a couple little burnouts for a laugh.
In addition to lower speed ratings, tires with longer mileage warranties generally have lower temperature ratings (B instead of A.) They often have higher noise levels, too.
I had one of those long mileage cars - and a long commute. The original Goodyear Eagle RSA tires on my 98 Chevy Cavalier Z24 lasted 90k miles. I was amazed.
Treadwear ratings and mileage warranties are one of the last things I check when selecting a tire. I do consider them, but not until I’ve narrowed the selection based on traction ratings, speed rating, and third party ratings (typically on Tire Rack). I only buy high-performance or UHP all-season tires, don’t get enough snow around here to justify winter tires, so UHP/HP A/S tires with an H or better speed rating are the starting parameters. Then check the third party test results, and the buyer reviews for those tires on my specific vehicle. After that, I look at price, rebates, and estimated treadwear/warranty to include in my final decision.
If you rotate tires on a 2wd car and pay a shop to do it, you will spend enough money on rotations to just buy new ones on the axle that wore out, it will not reduce tyre wear if alignment is good. BUT for 4 wd cars you really should rotate the tyres since you usually have to replace all 4 at the same time. For example on my rwd car I dont rotate since it wont affect total wear, I will only waste money with the rotations.
On my front drive hatch back I don't rotate. Buy 2 new indentical for the front only as the backs are like new. You get that new tire feel for less money. The back rims don't get chipped up on mounting and wheel weight old location rash spots. Rims look like new much longer
Great discussion, Jason. I hope you do a similar piece covering tire performance factors.
I’ve driven the wet handling track in Uvalde a few times. Such a blast!
(‘12 passat TDI diesel). I got 155k mostly highway miles out of a set. They were front tires for ~40k miles and on the rear for the rest. They were still pretty good when i changed them, but winter was close, so i decided to change.
Continental couldn't have found a better partner, i bet three other manufacturers are a bit jealous😂😂😂 well done Jason, you know was thinking this also applies to my shoes
Love a Continental Tire - on my Boss 302 Mustang!
The weight of the EV car is a killer on tire wear is..
@@SpaceTech54no
More tyre engineering videos please! Very interesting, makes sense why they are so expensive now.
I want to thank you Jason for enlightening me as to the properties and characteristics of tyres as im about to replace my 225 x 55 R18 on my Kia Sportage and your explanation has given me some more confidence in making my choice - conicedentelly the CrossContact are on my short list.
Paul Brew
Please create a video about EV fires vs ICE fires, and include details about the the Hurricane Helene tesla storm-surge saltwater fires (I think there were 2), but 0 in subsequent storm surges.
in the 80's had a long lasting tire, they lasted over 150k miles on my ford 250 rode like they were solid grip wasn't the best but running over nails wouldn't flatten the tire tires were extremely hard they were for trucks.
Good alignment & tire rotation . Plus good air pressure.
Bruh, you just crushed my dreams. I was happy about the amount of wear i was getting on my PS5's on a golf GTI after 13.67k miles... 🤯
I think some tires can last 100,000 miles with good care of the vehicle suspension systems and the tire pressurees. I purchased a set of Falken Wildpeak AT/3 tires but in this case they were E rated tires on a 2013 Nissan Frontier. In the modern market that is considered a mid sized truck, but it is really not rated for E tires. I had the tires on for approximately 88,000 miles before I replaced them with the same brand but slightly different model that was advertised as a quieter ride and slightly also a smaller size because the Wildpeaks were larger than stock so it did throw my odometer off some, but technically the speedometer was 100 % correct according to GPS. I'm not going to try and figure out the math because its inconsequential but after taking those tires off I did so not because of wear but because of the amount of road noise they generated. I currently have them on a project vehicle that isn't being driven but I suspect I could easily get another 20,000 miles if I do not drive like a maniac once I start driving it.
Now let's talk about the tire warranty being used for repeat business in the same brand and likely at same tire retailer.🤑😁
For example, if a tire has a 60,000 mile warranty and wears out at 40,000 miles, the owner would receive a 30% discount on a new tire. This is because the owner used 70% of the warranty mileage (40,000 ÷ 60,000 = .70).
I bought my Impreza brand new and it came with Continentals ProContact TX tires on it. I just hit 100k miles and I still have yet to change them, though it's finally time to do so now.
Love your videos! I get that 10 year old tires are not a good idea regardless of wear. However, I don’t like Continental’s recommendation of replacing your spare at 10k. This has been stored outside of direct UV and is only needed to get you a handful of miles when you need it. In my book, if it holds air, it’s a good spare.
Especially if it's a donut, you're always driving slower and more carefully on that anyway
In Southern California the ozone would break down rubber faster. So a vehicle in SoCal areas with high ozone would degrade the donnut spares even if in a dark car trunk
@@3beltwesty Dang, I learned two new things from one sentence, ozone is bad for rubber and air pollution is/causes ground level ozone. The ozone cracking examples online I would've just called dry rot, which isn't technically wrong, but it's interesting knowing the method of action. It's apparently been cheap and easy for tire manufacturers to include antiozonants into the manufacturing process of modern (starting sometime between the invention of radials and 2012, I couldn't find anything more specific) tires so ozone is less of an issue, but those antiozonants seep out of the rubber over time, which is the source of the 10 year recommendation.
Still, if I got a flat tire, popped my trunk and only then noticed the spare was 11 years old, I'm going to put it on and hope for the best, then replace it along with the flat tire when I get to a shop.
I would love some Tesla / EV specific content.
Great video, thank you!