Originally posted by Jerry O:
I have been driving front drivers for many years and have learned that they need not be "tire eaters". The keys to good front tire wear are alignment and AIR PRESSURE...
Hi Jerry,
I absolutely agree with you that "fronties" need not be "tire eaters" and that the keys to good tread life are alignment and air pressure. I owned a Honda CRX(a fronty)back in college and twice I got over 60k tread life out a set of Pirelli P77 which were rated for 40k, and my driving style was a lot more aggressive back then. I rotated the tires every 6k and do alignment every 25k. Tire Pressure were kept at 3-5psi over Honda's recommendation for handling and gas mileage purposes. However, I must point out that the one other major factor contributed to the unbelievable tread life is WEIGHT, or rather lack thereof. The CRX's curb weight is a scant 1900 lbs! So even though it has a front weight bias typical of fronties, the front tires don't have anymore than 1200 lbs or so to deal with the typical one passenger.
An Odyssey with the typical options will weight about 4200lbs, and probably around 4700 lbs with the typical load of a family of four and their cargo. Again with typical front drive bias, this means the Ody's front tires have to shoulder 2500lbs+ and you can imagine the load exerted on the front tires in corners (the front tires have to deal with 600+ lbs more than the total weight of my old CRX!).
I check my air pressure about once a month and keep the front tires at 3-4psi over Honda's specs, again for handling and gas mileage purposes. I had alignment done once at 15k(because of a 50% off coupon). My front tires are worn evenly all the way across the tread.
Jerry, I think the key reason why Odies are "tire eaters" is the weight, as there's still no way to defy physics, although being a front driver doesn't help either. If you rotate your tires every 6k, you'll probably squeeze 60k out of the stock tires. If you don't, then like me you will notice a startling difference in wear rate between the front and rear tires after 15k or so. Happy trails!