would you considering sacrificing range to get extended tire life?

[jrbright1]

Considering how fast the original tires wear, would you considering sacrificing range to get extended tire life?

 

[MJB-CO]

It's not necessary to sacrifice range for tire life. Pirelli has a tire specifically made for EVs - the P Zero ALL Season Plus Elect. It has a 50,000 mile tread life guarantee and 15% less rolling resistance than the non-EV version.
I've had them on my 3 for 4,000 miles and am very pleased with them - versus the OEM tires: quieter, better handling, and better range.

 

[chrstna4]

I have gone on a lot of road trips so I wouldn’t, personally, I want as much range as I can get going a healthy speed. I also don’t want to give up speed/torque by putting the “chill” setting on. The OEM tires were rated for 45k miles and lasted 38k. I enjoyed every mile! And I got the same tires when I replaced them because I wanted range.

 

[crackers8199]

extended tire life with this car isn't a thing. i'm at 65k miles and about to be on my fifth set of tires the next time i'm due for a rotation. at least with the hankooks i replaced the OEM tires with, i have a 50k warranty so i have gotten a decent credit back on each subsequent set since they never get close to 50k miles.

just budget for a set of tires once a year, that's what i've started doing.

 

[PianoAl]

My #1 priority is low noise.

 

[jjrandorin]

Considering how fast the original tires wear, would you considering sacrificing range to get extended tire life?

I like better a better handling and performing tire (and live in southern california) so I drive on summer tires year round. My car came with Michelin PS4S tires and I like those tires. I am sacrificing some theoretical maximum range to continue to use them.

This seems to be a fairly binary choice presentation, but I would only answer "yes" to sacrificing range to get extended tire life if it also came with a better performing / handling tire.

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Also, a side note (with my moderator hat on), we dont normally allow cross posting the same exact thread in multiple subforums here on TMC. Rather than merge this one back into the same thread you created in the model S subforum, I changed the thread title (from "new tire purchase") to something I felt was more a reflection of the thread question / content.

 

[3sr+buyer]

Considering how fast the original tires wear, would you considering sacrificing range to get extended tire life?

If you drive reasonably, you will get both better range and better tire life.

I rotated the OEM Michelin Primacy MXM4 tires at about 6,500 miles. Before rotation, the rear tires had 7/32" left (1/32" worn) and the front tires had no measurable wear (8/32"). This was while driving at average Wh/mile that was slightly better than the EPA rating, even though there was stuff on the roof rack 1/3-1/2 of the time. So with rotation, the tires will probably wear about 1/32" all around every 12,500 miles, which would project to about 50,000 miles before they get down to 4/32" (the tires have a 45,000 mile treadwear warranty if purchased aftermarket, but not when the come with a new car, which is typical for tire treadwear warranties).

 

[Big Dog]

just the opposite. Extended tire life can be had with a harder rubber compound which also improves range. (Those old 80k mileage warranty came on rock-hard tires, that were also noisy.)

It's the 'softer' Summer tires that have fantastic grip and stopping distance, but therefore wear faster and provide less range.

 

[crackers8199]

If you drive reasonably, you will get both better range and better tire life.

I rotated the OEM Michelin Primacy MXM4 tires at about 6,500 miles. Before rotation, the rear tires had 7/32" left (1/32" worn) and the front tires had no measurable wear (8/32"). This was while driving at average Wh/mile that was slightly better than the EPA rating, even though there was stuff on the roof rack 1/3-1/2 of the time. So with rotation, the tires will probably wear about 1/32" all around every 12,500 miles, which would project to about 50,000 miles before they get down to 4/32" (the tires have a 45,000 mile treadwear warranty if purchased aftermarket, but not when the come with a new car, which is typical for tire treadwear warranties).

how hard are you driving? I only got 25k out of the OEM tires, and I don't drive slow but I don't drive nearly as hard as the overwhelming majority of people I've seen on the road...

 

[3sr+buyer]

how hard are you driving? I only got 25k out of the OEM tires, and I don't drive slow but I don't drive nearly as hard as the overwhelming majority of people I've seen on the road...

How much tire life did you get on other OEM tires?

On previous cars, I usually got the OEM tires' aftermarket warranty mileage down to 4/32", which is better than the warranty mileage since the warranty mileage is down to 2/32". 4/32" is usually when I consider replacing going into the next rainy season.

My driving style tries to minimize heavy use of braking. Obviously, braking in an ICEV turns energy into brake pad/rotor heat that is now lost energy as far as driving is concerned. But even with an EV or hybrid, braking regeneration is not 100% efficient, and heavy braking may require friction braking beyond regenerative braking, so I avoid racing up to red lights and other situations that are likely to require heavy use of braking. This conserves fuel or electricity, brake pads, and probably tires.

 

[rjpjnk]

just the opposite. Extended tire life can be had with a harder rubber compound which also improves range. (Those old 80k mileage warranty came on rock-hard tires, that were also noisy.)

It's the 'softer' Summer tires that have fantastic grip and stopping distance, but therefore wear faster and provide less range.

That's what I thought too. Hard rubber should get you both at the expense of grip. I would like to see some basis for the assertion that range and tire life are mutually exclusive. Seems counter intuitive.

 

[crackers8199]

How much tire life did you get on other OEM tires?

On previous cars, I usually got the OEM tires' aftermarket warranty mileage down to 4/32", which is better than the warranty mileage since the warranty mileage is down to 2/32". 4/32" is usually when I consider replacing going into the next rainy season.

My driving style tries to minimize heavy use of braking. Obviously, braking in an ICEV turns energy into brake pad/rotor heat that is now lost energy as far as driving is concerned. But even with an EV or hybrid, braking regeneration is not 100% efficient, and heavy braking may require friction braking beyond regenerative braking, so I avoid racing up to red lights and other situations that are likely to require heavy use of braking. This conserves fuel or electricity, brake pads, and probably tires.

i don't remember off the top of my head because the last new car i bought before my model 3 was back in 2013, but i know i got far more than 25k.

 

[rpiotro]

I feel a need to strike a balance. Tire life is low on my priorities. Most important is traction, rolling resistance, ride quality and noise level in that order.

What's the point in having tires that go 50K miles but you hate every minute of it?

 

[jrbright1]

I thank you for all your feedback. I own a Model 3 & I3, but I also design tires for a living and this is a long standing debate within my team. Most feel the EV consumer wants longer life, while I believe the EV owner wants sustainable range and lower decibel level. Range, tread life & noise are a balance where increasing one typically lowers the others. This is true with most tire design aspects.. Think of it like a triangle where giving favor to one angle impacts the other two.

 

[jrbright1]

It's not necessary to sacrifice range for tire life. Pirelli has a tire specifically made for EVs - the P Zero ALL Season Plus Elect. It has a 50,000 mile tread life guarantee and 15% less rolling resistance than the non-EV version.
I've had them on my 3 for 4,000 miles and am very pleased with them - versus the OEM tires: quieter, better handling, and better range.

The Pirelli elect is the only EV designed tire built specifically for the purpose of the EV aftermarket. Most of the OEM tires are part of the catalog products that were enhanced for the EV market, not specific designed for it. Pirelli is the first successful company to achieve this mark. Most others are in design currently and the EV consumer should expect to see several other offerings within the next 18-24 months.

 

[3sr+buyer]

I thank you for all your feedback. I own a Model 3 & I3, but I also design tires for a living and this is a long standing debate within my team. Most feel the EV consumer wants longer life, while I believe the EV owner wants sustainable range and lower decibel level.

Part of the issue is that there are few or no good comparison ratings in the US for how much different models of tires affect economy and range. It hard to shop for a tire characteristic when one cannot know beforehand how good each model of tire is in that characteristic.

 

[jrbright1]

Part of the issue is that there are few or no good comparison ratings in the US for how much different models of tires affect economy and range. It hard to shop for a tire characteristic when one cannot know beforehand how good each model of tire is in that characteristic.

Yes I completely agree. EV tire testing is still very new, and as the development grows, more data will be available. With Pirelli building the only EV specific tire today, it's hard to make comparisons. I am sure there will be plenty of data within the next couple of years, but that doesn't help anyone now. The major delay is in actual consumer data. Once there is ample consumer data, ie. wear measurements over time, mileage on/off, and geographic specifics across the US, there will not be actionable comparisons. But most of the major tire companies share data via 3rd party syndication, so I expect to see better info in the market soon.

 

[ay221]

I thank you for all your feedback. I own a Model 3 & I3, but I also design tires for a living and this is a long standing debate within my team. Most feel the EV consumer wants longer life, while I believe the EV owner wants sustainable range and lower decibel level. Range, tread life & noise are a balance where increasing one typically lowers the others. This is true with most tire design aspects.. Think of it like a triangle where giving favor to one angle impacts the other two.

If a tire gives more range but wears out quicker, I'm not sure how much of a cost difference that would be. Saving money on charges versus saving money on buying new tires early. If there wasn't that much of an overall difference, I would want more range so I don't get stuck somewhere or at least less range anxiety for road trips.

 

[3sr+buyer]

Yes I completely agree. EV tire testing is still very new, and as the development grows, more data will be available. With Pirelli building the only EV specific tire today, it's hard to make comparisons.

The only other hint that tire buyers can consider in the economy and range aspect is that tires chosen as original equipment on cars tend to be low rolling resistance (for the best EPA economy for ICEVs and the best range for EVs). However, not all buyers are satisfied with the overall characteristics of the original equipment tires on their cars (or other cars).

Note that this lack of rolling resistance comparisons of tires is also an issue when choosing tires for ICEVs, since an apparently small difference in fuel economy can effectively make a large difference in cost associated with the particular tire model over the mileage that the tire is driven before it wears out.

Low-Rolling-Resistance Tires Can Save You Money at the Pump is a page with a comparison of tire rolling resistance, but the number of tire models tested and listed is limited compared to the number available.

 

[RayK]

My important points when buying tires (updated for EVs):

• Excellent handling (coming from owning a BMW for almost 20 years)
• Range (i.e., low rolling resistance)
• Noise (obviously, the lower, the better)
• Treadwear

Some of these can be mutually exclusive but I can dream, right? I'm on half a second set of factory MXM4s, having replaced the rears when I had a second puncture in one of them at just over one year and 13K miles; have 25K miles now. They probably still had 4-5K miles left on them but decided to replace both. Currently, all four are at 5/32nds and I'm going to be looking at new rubber.