I was wondering which of your tires wear the quickest and slowest.
I have a 4WD V6 Limited that never tows anything, is in 2WD almost all the time and is spends most of it's time in the city. Which tires should wear quicker?

As a follow up: Which tires should wear the quickest when using 4wd in the winter?

If anyone can place the 4 tires in order of which wear most to least and explain why, that would be great to learn.

I want to pro-actively rotate my tires. Sadly my tires have not warn out enough to measure and know but i do drive on a lot of crowned/sloping/broken pavement...

Thanks!

Same engine and driving habits as you and I noticed that my front tires wear the fastest. I would have thought the rears would wear faster due to being the driving force but it kinda makes sense that the fronts wear quicker. Brakes are able to apply far more horsepower in stopping that an engine can in driving and all the small "micro-skids" that the front tires see every day with turning the wheel kinda all add up. I rotate my tires every 5k but even on that short of an interval its fairly noticeable after say the 3rd rotation which tires have seen 10k up front and which have only seen 5k. Probably the most proactive thing you can do is simply rotate your tires every oil change.

An AT type tire will wear faster then an HT type tire..USUALLY. But it really depends on the manufacturer. Tires that give a soft comfortable ride also wear fast.

I have some AT tires on my 4runner that are wearing very very well. Currently have 30k miles on them and they have plenty of life yet. Other AT tires lasted no more then 50k miles...these seem like they are going to last to 60k+ miles.

My rear tires wear quicker since I almost always drive in 2wd, in the winger, in 4wd, I don't really think some wear quicker than the others

you must accellerate quickly. or maybe even spinning the tires often.

generally the fronts will wear the quickest. but worse, they will wear unevenly, faster.
rotate them often, and dont worry about it

I've got no idea which of my tires wear most quickly. In the Spring, I take off my snow tires and rotate my summer tires as I put them back on. In the late fall, I take off my summer tires and rotate my snow tires as I put them back on.

Just rotate your tires. If your tires are directional, just swap fronts to back. If they are not directional, you could use an X pattern or just swap fronts to back. I just swap the fronts to back as it is the easiest to keep straight.

Rotating tires is best so the wear evenly. I have mine rotated about once a month...since I put about 40k miles on my truck annually.

I've also run across some tires that wear like iron..but they are also the WORSE handling tires I've ever had...especially in the snow or wet weather. I try to get a compromise of tire that handles well, yet gives me a longer life. For some reason I've always had bad luck with Bridgestone tires. Never got more then 30k on a set of their tires....although I know people who get well over 50k miles. Michelin tires I've owned were the longest lasting tire...but they've out priced themselves out of the market IMHO. I've found Cooper tires to give the same performance as the Michelin's and last about 80% as long as the Michelins..but cost about 50% less for the same type of tire.

Dunlaps are another tire I've used that never gave me good longevity. One set I had lasted only 25k miles. The last two sets of Goodyears I owned had belt issues.

Continentals I've owned were always good and lasted a long time.

Also the UTOG rating is pretty much useless. I've seen tires with a rating of 700 last 30k miles...while a tire with a rating of 400 last 50k miles.

ya, so generally the front tires wear faster due to the forces from turning. So unless you drive on extremely straight roads and accelerate/decelerate fast, in that case you will wear the back tires faster, then you should see that your front tires wear faster. There shouldn't be a difference between left or right unless your alignment is messed up... or unless you do the indy car mod and go race at the indy 500.

Just rotate following this diagram

I do mine whenever i change my oil. every 5k.

Most people rotate front to back. If you include the spare in the equation then you have to replace it every time you buy new tires. Not that it's bad. At least on the 4runner you have a full size spare. Most cars have only a small donut spare which you can't put in the tire change rotation.

No, I don't ever spin my tires

its a good idea to rotate the spare in.
it will get used, instead of rotting from old age. and, will always have the same tread wear/depth as the rest.

id guess the fronts are wearing more then.

i would have to see to believe otherwise.

Assuming proper alignment and inflation, it depends on usage patterns.

The single biggest contributor to wear rate is cornering. Drive tires tend to wear the center of the tread, steer tires the shoulders. General source.

Of the two fronts, it's often the passenger side that wears the quickest due to various factors like road crown and steering geometry.