Hi All! we are kind of new to MINI. We are enjoying our Clubman tons, but when we recently did the cehckup at 12K miles we found out the fornt tires are too wonr and in need of replacement. Is this common for MINIs or Clubmans? Thanks!
There are too many factors to describe anything as common. Please tell us what tires you have, pressure you run them at, average driving conditions, frequency of rotation. Once we know all that we might be able to make some suggestions.
Runflats that never got rotated is my guess.... Replace with regular tires, problem solved - but you still have to rotate them, every 5K is what I do, FWIW.
Welcome, thanks for joining Motoring Alliance. I'll jump on the rotation bandwagon too. Have you rotated the tires front to rear in the 12K miles you have driven the car? If not I suspect that would be why you are seeing increased wear on the fronts. You did not mention if the wear has a pattern such as cupped or scalloped shoulders. If that is the issue then I would look towards the alignment as well. Being a front wheel drive car the vast majority of the work and weight is born by the front tires. The backs out there for a ride. Ideally, rotating them about 3k miles will give a good even wear to a set of 4 tires.
I had runflats on my R56 when I had it... they were shot at 11K. They suck. Go buy some real, non-runflat tires and you'll be good to go
That sums up the whole issue. Normally, I support aggressive preventive maintenance (even been accused of going overboard on occasion), but I don't rotate the tires on my MINI. I wear out a set of Pirelli run flats on the front in about 12-16K miles. I get new tires, put them on the rear, and move the rear tires to the front. Back when I drove my MINI daily, I racked up 35-45,000 miles per year. I had fresh tires all the time. I bought a set of matching wheels off another forum for a song, so I keep an extra (but mostly worn out) set of wheels/tires in my shop. When I need new tires, I take the wheels with the worst two in for replacement....
The older ones on the rear are not very worn, so they get moved to the front to get worn out and new ones go on the rear to be dragged around for a while.
Nathan pretty well nailed my reasoning... There are two reasons. 1. To "use up old stock". When I first bought my MINI, I found that my tires were badly worn at 10,000 miles (I was planning to rotate them until I took a closer look). I decided to leave them be and just replace them after a few more thousand miles. As it turns out, when I hit ~50K miles, all four tires were worn out. I replaced all four. The rear tires were 2 years old, ad the effect of the new tires was dramatic! Unfortunately, writing a check for four tires was even MORE dramatic! B. There's an old saw (old wives tale, etc.) that states to always put new tires on the rear when only buying two tires (assuming the same size). This is probably outdated advice from the days of RWD muscle cars, but I've heard it all my life. I get anywhere from 12-17K from a set of Pirelli Euforia run-flats on the front of my MINI depending on how many auto cross events I go to or how much mountain driving I do. The rears last so long that they deteriorate before they wear out. I don't like buying all four at once, so I developed my "system" I regularly rotate my tires on every other car I own, but this works best for me with my MINI.
Nope, no wives tale. Tires with the best tread go on the rear for increased traction in wet conditions. I learned this from a DPS officer long ago. Those with stiff rear sway bars should grasp this concept easily. Tire Tech Information - Where to Install New Pairs of Tires?
^ We have a winner.... One other thing to consider. Not rotating the rear tires to the front causes the rears to get flat spotted & lumpy riding. That has been my experience & the tire guys I use say the same thing. I'm a believer in tire rotation. Our new to us Clubman had its front tires replaced & the rears never rotated. The rears are lumpy junk. I had them blanced, but they still suck. We will bounce our way to fall & then buy 4 real tires.