18 inch tyre rotation

[kelvin 660]

Hi forum people, I have a couple of questions regarding the 18 inch tyres;

I have 10,000 miles on my SR+ and the remaining tread depth on the front tyres is ~5.5mm and ~3.5mm on the rear. Is it worth swapping the rear wheels to the front and visa versa, hoping that they will all wear out together or just wait and replace the rear tyres when down to 1.6mm?

If leaving, as is, what make and type of tyres would you recommend when replacing the tyres? Michelin Pilot Sport (with or without acoustic foam), ePrimacy, Primacy 4 or some other make?

It should be noted that I don't use the full performance of the car so I'm more interested in tyre lifetime, road noise, and alloy kerb rash protection than great road holding...

PS I can't remember what the tread depth was when the tyres were new so I would be grateful if anyone with a new SR+ can measure the 'new' tread depth so I can calculate the best mileage to rotate the wheels.

Thanks in advance for any advice...

 

[Jason71]

new tread depth is normally about 8mm
Its very much a personal choice. I waited for the rears to wear out at 15K then replaced with e-primacy but its too soon for me to say if I would recommend them. They may be slightly noisier but not a lot in it.
If you want the same type of tyre on both axles then rotating to wear out together would be a good idea. and since you seem to have roughly double the wear on the back now would be the time to do it.

warning though if you go to a garage to do it, and assume you would unless you have two trolley jacks.
make sure they know how to jack up an M3 and have the right Jack pads. M3 is so new most have never had tyres yet. Mine was the first that location had seen and they had no clue.
My parking brake also packed up the next day and the car had to be towed to a service centre but it appears that was a complete co-incidence as far as I can tell....?

 

[Nick77]

You can do it yourself with one trolley jack as long as it's low enough to get it underneath the sills at the rear jacking point (and have the protective pads).

It should lift high enough to get both wheels off the ground on the same side, as I've seen people do exactly that on YouTube when servicing their brakes.

 

[SR-Plus]

I dunno about that. You should never trust a trolley jack. Always use a axle stand.

 

[Nick77]

Well yeah, just saying you only need one trolley jack to do it.

I've had tyres off before with just the jack though. It's not a problem as long as its a decent jack.

 

[Jason71]

I dunno about that. You should never trust a trolley jack. Always use a axle stand.

True in theory. not sure would know where to put one on an M3 axle though
if Nick is correct though you could jack it up on one jack pad and then put an axle stand under the other jack point with a second jack pad

 

[Nick77]

True in theory. not sure would know where to put one on an M3 axle though
if Nick is correct though you could jack it up on one jack pad and then put an axle stand under the other jack point with a second jack pad

Here's the vid of a guy doing tyre rotation. He does indeed jack up the rear then put an axle stand under the front jack point.

 

[davidmc]

Hi forum people, I have a couple of questions regarding the 18 inch tyres;

I have 10,000 miles on my SR+ and the remaining tread depth on the front tyres is ~5.5mm and ~3.5mm on the rear. Is it worth swapping the rear wheels to the front and visa versa, hoping that they will all wear out together or just wait and replace the rear tyres when down to 1.6mm?

If leaving, as is, what make and type of tyres would you recommend when replacing the tyres? Michelin Pilot Sport (with or without acoustic foam), ePrimacy, Primacy 4 or some other make?

It should be noted that I don't use the full performance of the car so I'm more interested in tyre lifetime, road noise, and alloy kerb rash protection than great road holding...

PS I can't remember what the tread depth was when the tyres were new so I would be grateful if anyone with a new SR+ can measure the 'new' tread depth so I can calculate the best mileage to rotate the wheels.

Thanks in advance for any advice...

I did at around 12-15k (did the cross swap, FL <> RR and FR <>RL).

Got 30k out of my OEM tyres before i fitted new ones.

 

[Jason71]

I did at around 12-15k (did the cross swap, FL <> RR and FR <>RL).

Got 30k out of my OEM tyres before i fitted new ones.

I was down to 2mm on the rear at 15k. So that's not happening for me
Many motorway miles in that 30K ? Mine is mainly A roads and of course heavier and a bit more power wont have helped either

 

[Fraank]

Just did my LR rears at 18.5k, the guys were amazed at how light the alloy was! Felt really light to me also. They said it was lighter than expensive performance alloys.

Was also their first Tesla, and chatted to me for half an hour and took one of them for a spin

My fronts are down to 2mm, so changing soon. I've gone for Vredestein Quatrac pro, performance is close to the PS4S, but much better in winter.

 

[Nick77]

Does anyone bother getting the alignment checked again after rotating tyres? I guess the wheels should theoretically be weighted identically but you never know.

Do those car lifts at garages only lift at certain points? I'm sure most just have bars that go all the way across underneath the chassis.

 

[davidmc]

I was down to 2mm on the rear at 15k. So that's not happening for me
Many motorway miles in that 30K ? Mine is mainly A roads and of course heavier and a bit more power wont have helped either

My main commute each day is half motorway (M1 J21 to J24)) and rest 40-60 A roads. 40miles each way. I cruise with my elbow out the window and dont floor it

The power/torque on the Performance eats the tyres. My friend is changing theirs at 20k who has a P and is not a fast driver.

 

[Llama.]

What about the point the OP makes about tyre clearance to avoid kerb rash?

is there a good choice of tyre that sticks out proud of the wheels to avoid this?

 

[davidmc]

Hi forum people, I have a couple of questions regarding the 18 inch tyres;

I have 10,000 miles on my SR+ and the remaining tread depth on the front tyres is ~5.5mm and ~3.5mm on the rear. Is it worth swapping the rear wheels to the front and visa versa, hoping that they will all wear out together or just wait and replace the rear tyres when down to 1.6mm?

If leaving, as is, what make and type of tyres would you recommend when replacing the tyres? Michelin Pilot Sport (with or without acoustic foam), ePrimacy, Primacy 4 or some other make?

It should be noted that I don't use the full performance of the car so I'm more interested in tyre lifetime, road noise, and alloy kerb rash protection than great road holding...

PS I can't remember what the tread depth was when the tyres were new so I would be grateful if anyone with a new SR+ can measure the 'new' tread depth so I can calculate the best mileage to rotate the wheels.

Thanks in advance for any advice...

Sorry @kelvin 660

Further to the points you raise:

Best to change tyres a around 2.3mm. i believe below this you may start to notice that the car starts to twitch/slide a little when wet. A few people on here have said the same. Or you decide when you feel comfortable to do so, but don’t leave it until its 1.6mm - unless you want your money’s worth!

I changed at around 2.3mm

Acoustic foam or not, most people say it does not make much of a difference. Also if you go no acoustic foam you can then use the foam cans for emergency repairs. I have changed to vredestein quatrac pro and they do sound better. Quieter at lower speeds and very grippy. Although this does hit your range a tad. Not sure on the wear with these yet. I believe that the acoustic foam makes the noise a more of a higher pitch in the tyre (Water in a bottle theory). Tread also makes the tyres sound different.

Kerb rash is a pain. Just be careful with kerbs. There are tyre sizes that bulge out a bit more to help protect this, but not sure what size 18inch tyre you need to get to have this (Mentioned on a US thread somewhere). This would also hit your range as the tyre would be slightly wider.

 

[Nick77]

If kerbing really is a concern then you can always buy some of those rim protectors. Get some in the colour of your vehicle. You can even get black or grey to match the colour of your rims for a more stealthy look.

I saw some yellow ones on a black car the other day. Looked ok to be fair.

 

[pgkevet]

Does anyone bother getting the alignment checked again after rotating tyres? I guess the wheels should theoretically be weighted identically but you never know.

Do those car lifts at garages only lift at certain points? I'm sure most just have bars that go all the way across underneath the chassis.

I think that depends on the type of lift.
For my S the local garage uses their heavy duty hoist which does have a cross bar that can be positioned front or back to lift either end clear. They just cut a couple of wood blocks to bear on my jack points the first time it was there (and keep them in a bin for the future). It avoids any possible twisting of the chassis - not that that should matter any more than putting two wheels on the kerb - but I’m more comfortable without any stress on the battery pack.
It’s the benefit of a relationship with a small local garage that's happy to have the punter drive on/off the ramp, set the car systems and have a nose round underneath.
When they have my aged other car in for stuff it goes on one of their smaller lifts that has swing arms positioned under suitable points before it ever raises off the ground.
You wouldn't expect alignment to be knocked out by changing a wheel but with tesla PDI quality it might be worth asking for them to be balance checked.

 

[Adopado]

Does anyone bother getting the alignment checked again after rotating tyres? I guess the wheels should theoretically be weighted identically but you never know.

Do those car lifts at garages only lift at certain points? I'm sure most just have bars that go all the way across underneath the chassis.

Balancing wheels and alignment are not related. It may well be an idea to have alignment done whilst the car is in the garage I suppose but the fact the wheels have changed won't affect things one way or the other. Garage 4 point lifts are dealing with lots of different sized cars so have fully flexible positioning. You must supply the jack pads unless it's Tesla service.

 

[Plagued]

My rears were shot at 15k, fronts are OK, so a swap at about 10k may work out about right. Having said that the wear was mostly central on the tyre due to the pressure, and they were getting fairly squirrely the last 1000 miles. Make sure you're checking tread depth nearer the centre of the tyre where it's lowest.
I went down the primacy4 route as I wanted the extra efficiency and wet weather performance over summer dry performance. They took a while to scrub in, but they can just about cope with the RWD torque, would probably be better on the AWD as the fronts could take some of the load.

 

[Vidyutyaan]

We recently got our tyres on our SR+ rotated at our local Tesla service centre for about £30.
Had done 17k miles, fronts had 5mm and rears on 3mm so switched them round. No issues since.
Think we could probably get at least another 5k before needing to replace them. Will go for stock Michelin again as they have lasted so well!

 

[Jason71]

What about the point the OP makes about tyre clearance to avoid kerb rash?

is there a good choice of tyre that sticks out proud of the wheels to avoid this?

I find the best way to avoid curbing is not to let my wife drive.
I tried getting bulgy tyres to protect the rim on her car but I think she took it as a challenge and I ended up having to get new tyres instead when the side walls were through to the canvas