lifespan of tyres

[bigjacques1]

Hi all.was washing the car today and noticed the rear tyres are getting low on tread.It has done about 12 000 miles ,they are conti sport contact 3.is this about normal wear for these tyres ?

 

[cj.3968]

I have heard a lot of reviews of these specific tyres and i get told that they have lasted anything from 10,000 - 70,000 miles. Whether the 70,000 miles are true i not to sure. It mainly depends on what type of surfaces u drive on and how you drive the car. Obviously if you drive the car like the stig then the tyres are not gonna last long. averagely they last anything from 12,000 - 30,000 miles

 

[grober]

Mercedes often recommend setting their rear tyres at a slightly higher pressure than the front. Why would they do that you ask- it's certainly not for the load bearing characteristics as with the engine in the front the greater weight is normally going to be on the front tyres. It's to do with relative tyre slip angles front to back. Higher pressure at the back means more grip meaning the car will be predominantly understeering= more stable configuration. The result of this is often the fronts wear on the outside of the tread and the rears on the centre of the tread.
"Sports" tyres often have a softer rubber mix which gives them good grip in the wet. The down side of this is a tyre that wears out a bit quicker. Its often a trade off between wear and grip. 12,000 miles is possibly on the faster wear side of things but depends on how you drive also. The thing to look out for are strange /uneven wear patterns across the tread as these might indicate a tracking problem. Lots of choice on the tyre supplier front nowadays Mytyres, Camskill tyres, and reviews Tyre reviews, tests and ratings - TyreReviews