How Long Should Mini Cooper Front Tyres Last?

[clivek]

My wife has a 2016 Mini Hatchback 1.5 petrol, which we bought just over 3 years ago. I replaced the cheap Chinese tyres which were fitted on the front, with Hankook Ventus S1s to match the originals on the rear at about 17,000 miles. Now at around 28,000 its already scrubbed out the Hankooks on the front right down to the wear markers (and my wife's not a mad driver), surely I can expect a bit more than 11,000 miles out of a set of front tyres can't I?

Alignment checks needed i think.

Any opinions?

[Gandoolie]

First thought would be an alignment

[E-bmw]

Unfortunately, you have answered the question yourself with respect to those tyres on your car.

I have tried some Hankooks before as they were on Mrs E's car when we bought it & wasn't impressed with their wear rates so went a bit more upmarket when I replaced all 4.

As above, if the wear is uneven tracking/geo could be a contributing factor & always worth a look, as is regularly checking that you have the correct tyre pressures rather than just assuming the TPMS will tell you if they are out as on these, I think it just inferred by wheel sensors rather than direct from the tyre pressures.

[andrew]

is the worn tyre down to the markers across its width, or just on one side ?

[un1eash]

I've just checked pressures and tread tonight on our Minis, the Clubman JCW is down to 4mm on the front after 12k miles on 18" P Zeros.

[clivek]

andrew said:

is the worn tyre down to the markers across its width, or just on one side ?

Both front tyres are worn quite evenly across the width, though as I say, unexpectedly low tread after only 11,000 miles. The rears (which I assume to be original) have lasted around 28,000 miles, however both rears have worn more on the inside of the tread, which was picked up as an advisory warning during its MOT last November. So tyres are on order for front and rear replacment in the next day or so. I've asked for an alignmnet check to be done as well, so we'll see what that brings.

[E-bmw]

clivek said:

The rears (which I assume to be original) have lasted around 28,000 miles, however both rears have worn more on the inside of the tread, which was picked up as an advisory warning during its MOT last November.

Unfortunately, the rears on these cars do have quite pronounced negative camber so the insides do wear more.

If it were me and the camber is adjustable, I would be asking them to set it as neutral as the factory tolerances allow.

[Zetec-S]

My wife's 2017 MINI Cooper SD ate tyres, Michelin Primacy 3's at the front were gone by 12,000 miles, the rears lasted to 19,000.

Compared to my 2.0 diesel Mk3 Focus I had at the time, similar power but heavier car, the Continental's on that lasted nearly twice that mileage.

[clivek]

Had the tyres replaced front & rear, and tracking done this morning. I mentioned to the manager at the tyre place that it had worn out the tyres on the front in 11,0000 miles (hence the request to have the tracking checked), and he said that his wife had a Mini with Michelins on, and they’d worn out at the front in only 9,000 miles. So it seems Minis do eat tyres for a pastime.

[andrew]

clivek said:

Had the tyres replaced front & rear, and tracking done this morning. I mentioned to the manager at the tyre place that it had worn out the tyres on the front in 11,0000 miles (hence the request to have the tracking checked), and he said that his wife had a Mini with Michelins on, and they’d worn out at the front in only 9,000 miles. So it seems Minis do eat tyres for a pastime.

fwiw ( and if it's any consolation ! ) my fwd elan ate michelins every 6k

[BOR]

Our 2015 Cooper S has at least 20K miles on Michelin Primacy 3. I do rotate them around though.

[Majorslow]

I had a 2012 Mini 1 (baker street) on 16 inch alloys. It was a diesel so maybe a little heavier on the front tyres.

The car was used as a learner car.

I made sure the little blighters did NOT "dry" steer it.

My car used to do more "lock to lock" steering in a day than many people do in a month, so the steering rack and tyres worked hard.

I checked my tyre pressures every week without fail making sure they were correct.

I used Michelin "energy savers" which came with the car, I found them to be very good, the car could do an emergency stop from 30 to 0 on a dry road in about 1 and a 1/2 to 2 car lengths depending on the road surface, so it "enjoyed" ABS braking on a very regular basis.

I used to get about 25k out of them. When the tyres required changing I would get the new ones put onto the rear and the rears moved to the front, so they did not have their whole life on the front..... but still 25k or so out of a set is really very good when you consider the life they had with the occasional wheel spin and heavy braking they endured.

You do get what you pay for in tyres, however driving style, and keeping an eye on the pressures is very important for tyre life.

OP claims his wife is "ok" when driving, but he does not see how she drives when he is not in the car. When next out with her try to prevent her from "dry steering" if she does it. (most people do) as it takes thousands of miles off the life of the tyres, especially if tyre pressures are low.

If ever the front wheels were kerbed I would get the tracking checked (I was very sure to make sure they did not kerb the wheels on parking by forcing the wheel away if it looked like they were going to do so, and when the car died with 198k on the clock, I managed to sell the alloys separate to the car as they were in such good nick.

Try the Michelins.... energy savers... a great tyre

[Alfahorn]

My 2016 Cooper S had about 6m when I bough the car in April, I've done 13,000 miles and still about 2.5m on the front. That's with Avon ZV7's I think they are