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Tire Wear After 20,000 Miles - 2014 Mini Cooper Hardtop Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,315
edited August 2015 in MINI
imageTire Wear After 20,000 Miles - 2014 Mini Cooper Hardtop Long-Term Road Test

The tires on our 2014 Mini Cooper are looking worn in the front, but they probably don't need replacing yet.

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  • kirkhilles1kirkhilles1 Member Posts: 863
    Has anyone had a great experience with run flats? I've heard nothing but short life, increased wear and big dollars to replace. It might be worth it to keep your wife's Mercedes, but that's about the only scenario I could think of.
  • tom_in_mntom_in_mn Member Posts: 61
    I would never buy a car with run flats again. Half the life at twice the price. And running flat always turned out to mean you replace the tire, or maybe all of them depending on how worn the others are. Modern pressure sensors might have helped, the abs based low pressure sensing usually told me there was a problem after I was heading for the dealership.
  • s197gts197gt Member Posts: 486
    bmw (mini) does not recommend tire rotations.
  • millemanmilleman Member Posts: 19
    It's very impressive for a short-wheelbase FWD sporty car to have only a 2/32 tread depth difference after 20,000 miles, even on these hard-compound tires. Tire rack recommends rotations every 5000mi, VW every 10,000mi. With my FWD GTI on summer tires, I'd probably have 9/32 on the rear and 4/32 on the front after 20,000mi if I didn't rotate them twice a year! I'd be very surprised if the Mini doesn't insist on them every 10K. The rear tires on a FWD car only hold up the back of the car.

    BMW may not recommend rotations due to RWD better equalizing the wear between front and rear.
  • texasestexases Member Posts: 10,707
    BMW is not Mini, RWD vs FWD. I'd be rotating every 5-7k with these. Rotate them now, the wear should even out.
  • darexdarex Member Posts: 187
    texases said:

    BMW is not Mini, RWD vs FWD. I'd be rotating every 5-7k with these. Rotate them now, the wear should even out.

    Except when the BMW is a ca. 2015/2016 218 or X1, then, BMW is MINI. LOL
  • texasestexases Member Posts: 10,707
    True!
  • s197gts197gt Member Posts: 486
    texases said:

    BMW is not Mini, RWD vs FWD. I'd be rotating every 5-7k with these. Rotate them now, the wear should even out.


    fwd vs rwd has nothing to do with it.

    mini IS bmw. bmw hasn't recommended tire rotations since the 90's by some accounts.

    google it. you'll see only about a few hundred forum posts on it. one poster stated that that the 2009 owner's manual stated mini does not recommend rotating tires:

    http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/tires-wheels-and-brakes/196709-mini-usa-does-not-recommend-tire-rotations.html

    i RTFM (online version) for 2014 and on p. 174 it states:

    "Rotating wheels between axles

    Different wear patterns can occur on the front
    and rear axles depending on individual driving
    conditions.

    The tires can be rotated between the axles to
    achieve even wear. Your service center will be
    glad to advise you.

    After rotating, check the tire pressure and cor‐
    rect if necessary"

    what this means is it definitely is not covered by their maintenance program and if you want to pay for it feel free to speak to your dealer. I think it could best be stated that while mini says you *can* rotate your tires they don't recommend it.

    i rotate the tires on both our bmws (and the other two) myself.


  • texasestexases Member Posts: 10,707
    edited August 2015
    FWD has everything to do with it. Wear on the front axle tires (typically with 60% of the weight, plus all turning and most braking duties) is much greater than on a RWD vehicle, where wear can be pretty even.

    My FWD cars wear the front tires at a much higher rate.
  • dm7279dm7279 Member Posts: 63
    Tire rotations aren't recommended on my Volvo either. I think the reason is they prefer more tread on the rears to encourage much more manageable understeer as the tires wear, since the fronts will certainly wear faster than the rears on a FWD car. That said, if you are going to rotate the tires, it must be done on a 5-7K mile interval, any longer and the tires likely will thump like crazy after the rotation, at least that's been my experience. Too late for your Mini, I wouldn't bother now that you have 20K on it.
  • texasestexases Member Posts: 10,707
    "Different wear patterns can occur on the front
    and rear axles depending on individual driving
    conditions.

    The tires can be rotated between the axles to
    achieve even wear. Your service center will be
    glad to advise you."

    Sounds like they recommend it in this case, where different wear patterns are present.
  • misterfusionmisterfusion Member Posts: 471
    edited August 2015
    I don't think I've seen any hate-posts from Edmunds in relation to the run-flats on this car. Compare this to their last Cooper S, where they complained about the run-flats every other post.

    Does this mean that the ride quality of these tires has improved over time, or are they still horrible but drivers are used to it now?
  • darexdarex Member Posts: 187
    Run-flats are better than they used to be, and people have learned (I have, at any rate) that large rims are stupid/impractical.
  • bc1960bc1960 Member Posts: 171
    I have learned at Mazda dealers that whether tire rotation is performed (which they do recommend) can depend on what you say. Ask for x mi scheduled maintenance, and the tires get rotated. Ask for an oil change, and they don't (and service will be cheaper), although they usually still do the "Full Circle" inspection. And now that cars have oil life monitors, you may do oil changes on a flexible schedule based on oil deterioration, while the tire rotation is still advised on a fixed schedule.
  • p38lightningp38lightning Member Posts: 1
    My 2015 Mini Cooper S also needed to have the front Pirelli runflats replaced at 17,000. The rear tires still look new. The Tire Warranty manual clearly states Mini does not recommend rotating the tires and this explains why the dealer did not rotate them at the 10,000 mile service After a short discussion with dealer they agreed to replace the front tires at not cost. Pretty much every Mini sales person I spoke with reported they rotate their tires. So from now on, I'm going to rotate the tires every 5,000 miles.
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