Looking at getting some new tires for my sedan. 245/40/19 fronts and 275/35/19 rears. I want a great gripping tire that rides well and will last at least 20k miles. When I bought my wheels, I purchased some Kumho Ecstas because the price was right but after 18k miles, the wear bars on the rear are about even.

Can I expect 20k miles out of the RE050s? Truthfully, I'd like to get 25k out of my next tire. I have a dealer contact for Bridgestone so I can get them a little cheaper compared to Tire Rack.

What about PS2s life expectancy? I think I'd rather have the Bridgestones over the michelins tho.

 

Of course it depends on the tire and your driving style, but that's about right. If you get 20K or more out of a set of aftermarket summer tires, that's about as much as you can expect.

 

My current fronts have maybe 20% more than the rears, so I'm maybe thinking about just getting new rears of this same brand and then the fronts later. this brand isn't my ultimate wish but the cost is a bit less, they really have been pretty good tires and I'll only be forking out $360 right now instead of the $1000 with and I go a little while longer with the fronts. but then i get stuck in the front to back to front with these tires, so I have to be ready to like them.

 

your rears will wear out faster then your fronts, at least that's the case with the way i drive. i guess if you want them to last longer, get harder compound tires, something above the 350 or more thread wear rating. of course everything boils down to how you drive in the end, and if you keep your wheels balanced at the recommended intervals. i think general exclaim UHP tires has a 275/35 somewhere in the 400s thead wear. tire rack does carry it. check it out. I don't think the PS2s will last you that long, i believe their thread wear is around 180 to 220. i didn't look it up, but i think it falls in that range.

 

If I change tires, it'll be to the RE050 Pole Positions. It's either keep what I have and change the rears for now, or change all 4 to the REs, and I'm leaning towards changing all 4 but I'm actually pretty happy with these Kumhos... absolutely only complaint is a tad bit of sidewall roll when cornering really hard and they're a little noisy on bad roads after about 5k miles.

according to Bridgestone's website, the RE050A Pole Positions both have a 280 rating where the PS2s are 220 although I can't really go off that being they're different brands. also when doing comparisons on the Tire Rack testing, the Kumhos perform pretty darned good compared to the RE050A PPs and in several accounts, had faster wet and dry lap times and wet slalom times using the same car. only place it was beat track-wise was on the dry slalom by .01 second.

looking at the tire rack testing makes me wanna get some PS2s. Would I get any more wear out of the PS2s? I put like 40k miles a year on my vehicles just for info.

 

I had Toyos T1r at one time but they only lasted me 15k, I changed to Dunlop SP sports and they did a little better but bang for the buck and what have lasted me the longest are the Khumos, I managed about 21k which I consider pretty good for the way I drive.

My fronts last about 1.5 times longer than my rears.

 

If you can afford Pole Positions, go for it. Sounds like an awesome tire. Tire Rack reviews don't tell you much. Most of the people that post those reviews have little or no point of reference.

 

I have Toyo T1r's 245/35 & 275/30 I am right at 29k. Front inners are nearly done due to spirited driving, rears are near teh wear bars but even across.

 

depends how u drive, ive gone through 2 sets of rears (275/30/20) Falken FK452's and Vrendenstein's in 6k intervals

 

The problem with the tire wear index is that each manufacture selects a number after they do a <8,000 mile street lap on a map around San Angelo Texas.............some lie and stretch the truth some like Michelin are honest to a fault.

"Treadwear tests are performed on a government-prescribed 400-mile section of public highways near San Angelo, Texas. Test vehicles travel the same course at the same time, so all tires experience the same conditions. During the test, tread groove depths are measured every 800 miles. The same procedure is followed with a set of reference control tires. After 7200 miles of testing, the tread depths of test tires and reference control tires are compared and the test tires are graded on the basis of relative wear."

" there is no way of accurately predicting how long your tires will last. This is determined not only by tire quality, but also by road surface quality, personal driving habits, tire inflation pressures, wheel alignment and frequency of tire rotation. The treadwear grade is only a reference point to indicate how one tire performs in relative terms to another on the government-controlled treadwear course. It was never intended to project the exact mileage a particular tire might deliver."

 

^^ that's some good info to know q45, thanks for posting that.

 

The other problem is vehicle weight in that the test vehicle for the tire may be lighter that the vehicle the tire is later used on by buyer. 10% more weight on tire can reduce life by 20-30%.

Selecting a stronger tire [one where tire load index is higher than OEM] can increase tire life by 10-20% or more