I bought some BF Goodrich T/A KDW 2s in May, 2007. I drove on them until winter came, or about 6-7 months. I put my snows on for winter, until the end of April. I put the BFGs back on then and have driven this summer with them, so these tires have around 12 months total, and maybe 16,000 miles on them, and the fronts already need to be replaced.

I ordered 2 new ones (the rears have 70% tread left) but I am having second thoughts. Shouldn't tires last a bit longer than 12 months/16,000 miles? I don't track/race/drive wildly. My Mini is my daily driver.

Can I mix tires if I decide to get different than the BF Goodrich T/A KDW 2s? Or do I need to buy the same tire all he way around?

 

Given your driving style, your wear seems a little excessive. Some people dont want their tires to last over 10000 miles (line up behind me...) But others, like you, should be able to find a tire that lasts 30,000 miles. Of course, it will handle like poop I'd guess.

 

Well, I'm not going to say I drive like a little old lady - I do like to take corners a little fast and such. But I don't feel I do that excessively.

Why would anyone want their tires to last less than 10,000 miles? Tires aren't cheap.

 

If the car is only your daily driver you "could" mix tires but if you drive your MINI like most people do I wouldn't recommend it. The difference in grip/handling between the new and the old, without even factoring in differences in wear, could produce adverse handling side-effects in more "spirited", emergency or adverse-weather situations.

In regards to tread-life, that does seem a bit premature, however it isn't out of the ballpark. High-performance sticky summer tires wear out more quickly. According to TireRack the Dunlop SP Sport 01 DSSTs that I have last to about 12k miles according to the majority of BMW owners that have used them. Although UTQG ratings aren't reliable, the Dunlops are rated at 280 and your BF Goodrich are rated at 300 so theoretically you should be getting slightly better life. I'd read on TireRack regarding what other people are saying regarding the life their getting out of their KDW 2s.

 

It all depends on the tire and the driving style. Each tire has a treadwear rating. The lower the number, the faster they will wear. A rating of 30-140 is for race tires. 600-800 is a long lasting tire. Your tires have 300, which in the world of street tires is low, so expect faster wear.
Our cars are very hard on the front tires, so it is no surprise that your fronts are worn and not the rears. Frequent rotating will help pronlong the life of the tires.
I wouldn't mix tires. It can really throw off the handling characteristics of the car. And if you only decide to get 2 new tires, please, put them on the rear, it is much safer.

 

Not cheap, but I like to try different tires out, and it's hard to lease them... At the moment I have Yokohama Parada Spec 2s, and they are not good (bad), and I can't wait for them to wear out. Shouldn't be long though.

btw, car tires are incredibly cheap compared to bicycle tires--I pay $80 each for mine and one glass cut and they are in the trash. Of course, they are tubeless and weigh 200gm complete...

Did you rotate your tires every 3000 miles? I got 15000 out of a set of Falken RT-615s which have a low wear rating (240?) but I rotated them regularly.

 

Cool, thanks. Nice to know it isn't totally off. I do try to drive mellow, and accomplish it most of the time, but on occasion I like to drive faster and do stuff like go around the roundabouts more than once...

I have been known to take my MINI on less than ideal roads (ranch roads & rough gravel); I don't know if that could contribute to the wear.

oh yeah. My BF spent some serious cash on his last bike tire/wheel - well over $200 for one tire/wheel combo!

No, I don't. Don't they need to be re-balanced if I do that?

 

No worries, but it's OK to rotate FL with RL and FR with RR without rebalancing. I've never had a problem with vibration or unbalanced wheels with rotating. Of course, spend the money on getting your wheels and tires balanced properly (road force balancing is the best, from a reputable place that does race cars.) Trust me, Pepboys does not balance wheels well...

 

i'm on my second set of kdw 2's. i got 21k miles from the first set. this is with a pretty aggressive alignment (-2.5* front camber, -1.5* rear camber). the tires still had a lot of tread except at the inside edge of the fronts, due to lots of camber. i was happy enough to get a second set.

 

Well, first off you should be rotating. And its a softer compound where you should be rotating more often and not expect a very long life out of. I like the tires personally, but are the performance side and you should expect similar results from other tires in the class. I personally like them a lot for the very stiff sidewall without too much of a weight penalty.

 

I got about 15,000 out of my KDW-2s. I rotated them once (front to rear and rear to front).

 

thanks for the info. I was under the impression that if I rotated I'd have to take them into a shop to be rebalanced. I really don't know much about tires except that; A) I need them, and B) it is a PITA to have something go wrong with them. These new ones won't be on long - I'll be putting my Blizzaks back on soon, I'm sure, but I'll be certain to rotate them now.

 

Rotating is the key to making them last longer. They are balanced off the car so there is no worry about re-balancing them depending on where they are located on the car.

A history lesson from a very old guy. There was a time when tires were balanced using a machine that spun the tire while it was on the car. In that case, yes, rotating the tires would require re-balancing, because the entire rotating assembly was balanced, and not just the wheel and tire.