I'm not good with tires at all, but I know larger tires tend to have a lower tread life than smaller ones. I have a fusion plug in with 17"wheels at 30,000 miles and have plenty of tread on the tires to last maybe another 30,000. I know there will be a smaller stock wheel set, that ill probably get, but what's the typical tread life we can expect on those 20s on model 3?
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
2018 Steve
Member
A couple of things to know about wheel diameter: What is important is the overall diameter of the tire. The manufacturer designs a car with a certain diameter in mind. This diameter remains constant when using certain diameter wheels. There is a limited range of wheels that can be used in maintaining a given diameter tire. If, say a 18 inch diameter wheel is the base with a 245/45-18, it has an overall diameter of 26.9". A 245/35-20 has a 26.8" diameter which is acceptable for overall diameter but this 20" tire has a wider section width compared to the the 18" tire. Now the engineer has to consider "space for the wider tire and wheel . Using a a 275/30-20 (on the rear of the Model 3) which has a section width of 10.9" requires an even wider wheel. As the section number goes down ; 45 to 35 to 30, the height of the sidewall of the tire is less meaning it is easier to damage the rim if the tire goes flat. Another factor is speed rating. Usually, the lower the profile, the higher the speed rating which quite often means better grip by using softer rubber which translates to less tire wear. Another cost factor to consider is the cost of the wheel, goes up with diameter and the cost of the tire, goes up with the lowering of the series of the tire (45 series is less than, 40 which is less than 35 etc. given the same brand and type of tire). Therefore, if the tire fills the wheel well then I would choose the 245/45-18 tire if given the choices listed above since this size tire can be both a good mileage tire as well as a performance tire. If I was racing then I would choose the wider tire and cost would be ignored. As a practical example, my street tires on my Corvair are 245/50--14 on 7" wheels, autocross tires are 245/40-15 front and 275/35-15 rears on 8.5" front rims and 10" rear. The street tires are 23.68" overall diameter and the Hoosier A7's are 23". Would have liked to have the race tires be the same diameter as the street tires but this is the closest I could get without getting to tall for the wheel well.
ummgood
Member
I think if they keep the staggered setup that will kill tread life way faster than the diameter of the rim. Right now the mules have a staggered setup so I am guessing 20 to 30k of tread life. I have a friend with a newer camaro on 20" staggered rims and got 18k miles on them before they had to be replaced. She was a grandma with a v6 and did not drive it aggressively. She just always wanted a camaro since she was a little girl.
JeffK
Well-Known Member
dhanson865
Well-Known Member
If you care about efficiency and tirewear you'll order your Model 3 with the smallest wheel size possible or if you order with the bigger wheels due to bundling with another battery, you'll replace the oversized wheels with smaller wheels ASAP.
If I could put 15" wheels on a Model 3 I would. In reality the brake calipers will probably be too large for anything less than a 17" wheel and they probably won't offer anything less than a 18" OEM wheel so you'd have to go aftermarket to get the smallest possible wheel size.
But it's way too early to know for sure what will fit. Ask this question again in a year and we'll all have better information.
2018 Steve
Member
It all comes down to tire contact patch, rubber compound, and how one drives. My A7 Hoosiers have a tread wear rating of 30. They most likely would not go 3,000 miles of careful street driving. Of course I do not use them on the street and, wow, are they ever soft!! They grip like glue!! A 100 rated tire is supposed to last 10,000 miles. At least that is the base line.
The problem with treadwear grades is that they're assigned by the tire manufacturer:
"The test tire's and the Monitoring Tire's wear are measured during and at the conclusion of the test. The tire manufacturers then assign a Treadwear Grade based on the observed wear rates."
Source: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=48
That's like the fox watching the hen house IMO. I'd be checking out the tire's warranty. A warranty card is generally thrown inside the owner's manual or packet of information received at delivery.
Wiki also has a great article here: Treadwear rating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The test tire's and the Monitoring Tire's wear are measured during and at the conclusion of the test. The tire manufacturers then assign a Treadwear Grade based on the observed wear rates."
Source: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=48
That's like the fox watching the hen house IMO. I'd be checking out the tire's warranty. A warranty card is generally thrown inside the owner's manual or packet of information received at delivery.
Wiki also has a great article here: Treadwear rating - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Last edited:
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
Good point. That only make them somewhat useful for intra-brand comparison (that is unless that brand decided to bump one tire over the other), but not for inter-brand comparison.
asus389
Member
Tire wear has more to do with the type of rubber compound used than the size of the wheel. Stickier tires tend to perform better but wear faster.
melindav
☰ 2018
Look around on Tirerack - generally I've found the all season performance tires have longer tread warranties than summer tires (where many of the performance summer tires don't have a tread warranty at all).
The Continental tires I bought last fall have a 50,000 mile tread warranty and are an 'ultra high performance' all season that come in low profile sizes. Others I was looking at in the same price range had zero warranty.
The Continental tires I bought last fall have a 50,000 mile tread warranty and are an 'ultra high performance' all season that come in low profile sizes. Others I was looking at in the same price range had zero warranty.
you are incorrect. the 245 (both the same in the first example) is the width in millimeters, so the 20 inch and 18 inch (or 14, or 12 for that matter) rims would have the same width to the rim to accommodate the tire, and the same width tires.
I think this staggered tire size arrangement would be a mistake for a non muscle/super high performance car. I don't think there is any reason they can't manage this power and traction with 245 width tires front and rear, or even slightly wider tires the same width front and rear
2018 Steve
Member
From Tire Rack. The measured rim of a 245/45/18 is an 8" rim with a 7.5"-9" range. The measured rim on a 245/35/20 is 8.5" with a range of 8"-9,5" Both are Hankook V12 EV02. The lower profile tire needs a wider rim since there is less sidewall height between the tread and the wheel.
I agree with you on the front and rear size being the same. For a car of this size and performance a 245/45/18 tire should be fine (especially with AWD and traction control) Staggered tire and wheel sizes are usually for a vehicle that has an unbalanced chassis, ie: a Porsche 911, a Corvair or any other car that has 60% of the weight on the rear wheels. Of course it may look "racy" but it sure costs a lot more to replace wheels and tires!!
I agree with you on the front and rear size being the same. For a car of this size and performance a 245/45/18 tire should be fine (especially with AWD and traction control) Staggered tire and wheel sizes are usually for a vehicle that has an unbalanced chassis, ie: a Porsche 911, a Corvair or any other car that has 60% of the weight on the rear wheels. Of course it may look "racy" but it sure costs a lot more to replace wheels and tires!!
Zaphod
Galaxy President (former)
If you will get all-season, probably could get close to 40k on them. Summer or performance tires, lucky if you will get 20k. Wanna play, gotta pay 
.
Also, remember with staggered setup, which most likely will be on the P version, you cannot rotate tires front to back. With more camber at the rear, I suspect those will wear faster before the fronts. Another thing to think about.
.Also, remember with staggered setup, which most likely will be on the P version, you cannot rotate tires front to back. With more camber at the rear, I suspect those will wear faster before the fronts. Another thing to think about.
George Parrott
Member
I have a 2015 P85D with the 19" all season tires OEM. I upgraded to "Ludicrous" at around 20,000 miles. I do "demo launches" about 2-3 times a week for newbies and have run "flat out" launches at local drag strips at least 25 times over 5 different times "at the strip." I now have 26,000 total miles on my ORIGINAL tires and they show just a bit over 50% tread wear REMAINING. I have run a best time of 11.36 in the quarter, by the way and always below 11.9 seconds.
Similar threads
