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Car Forum / Chrysler Cars / March 2006VW Rabbit 60,000 fronts, 100,000 rears
During the late 70s, early 80s VW Rabbits equipped with radial tires typically achieved 60,000 mile longevity on the front axle and 100,000 on the rear, even without recommended tire rotation. These remarkable tire life was common, even with cheap tires and not-so-gentle driving habits! It should be noted these cars were fitted with now very dated high profile -80 profiles. What has been the mileage durability experienced with contemporary low profile radials now embelishing virtually every new car model? My assertion is wide-tread tires scrub more, especially in turns, and despite the theoretically wide footprint, it is difficult to get them to wear evenly over the entire footprint. The trend to low profile tires is now extending to a wide range of cars, from luxury models like the $100,000 Mercedes S550 to Chevy pickups. Interestingly, NASCAR racing cars avoid low profile tires and this is a mystery. If, as so many claim, low profile tires improve traction and handling so much, why aren't NASCAR drivers using them to get that competitive racing edge? The answer must be that these low profiles are not what the seem to be. From the web: > As for low profile tires. I talked in depth with several racers and >they all agree that lower profile tires look cool, but handle >unpredictably. At the corning limits of your car, you will "feel" the >tires getting "lose" with a higher profile tire before they actually let >go. The lower profile tires give little warning to a possible spin. I can >attest to that!!! Also, higher profile tires flex in the turns which >allows more tire patch to make contact with the road surface. This is why >NASCAR, F1, IRL...(cut) It is well known that low profile tires are noisier and rougher riding than conventional tires (-90 through maybe -75 profiles), so in a luxury model like the S550, it would seem to be self defeating to install low profiles. After all, a quite, comfortable car is what rich gray-haired customers of the S550 would want, I would think. Perhaps, to be on the safe side, Mercedes made the wheel wells large enough to accomodate regular wheels and tires when this low profile fashion trend passes. Of all auto companies in this world, Mercedes should be least of all affected by the decades-long practice of designing automobiles as fashion merchandise rather than no-nonsense road machines in the spirit of Daimler and Benz. > During the late 70s, early 80s VW Rabbits equipped with radial tires > typically achieved 60,000 mile longevity on the front axle and 100,000 on > the rear, even without recommended tire rotation. These remarkable tire > life was common, even with cheap tires and not-so-gentle driving habits! My wife had one of these cars and no, this is baloney. The tires VW supplied were really cheap and wore out quickly. Most people bought the cheapest narrow replacement tires they could find, we are talking the $11.95 come-in and loss-leaders here, and those wore out quickly too. If when the factory tires wore out you went out and bought some expensive high mileage tires then yes you could get a long life. We are talking a pretty lightweight car, that is why they lasted long. But a lightweight car in combination with high mileage tires which have very hard rubber and little grip, with narrow tires, well that car was all over the road if it was windy. And the handling was not that hot, but they didn't go all that fast either. The VW Rabbits were like the Nissan/Datsun 210s, they were products of an end of an era of very simply built and simply designed cars, using very old engine and fuel designs that were very basic. Because they were cheap, they were very popular and lots of young pups who couldn't afford to pay mechanics to work on their cars would buy them. But, damn they were cheesy! I remember replacing the water pump in my wife's car (then girlfriend) I had to do it 3 times because the first two water pumps I put in leaked right out of the box. > It should be noted these cars were fitted with now very dated high profile > -80 profiles. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > the theoretically wide footprint, it is difficult to get them to wear > evenly over the entire footprint. Not true. The only thing that is a problem with the wear patterns on wide tires is that they are more sensitive to under or over inflation. If inflated properly they wear the same as high profile tires of the same material on the same weight vehicle. I think low profile tires are pretty stupid, for a lot of reasons not the least is that if you hit a chuckhole you bend a rim. But wear on a standard passenger car isn't one of those reasons. Ted >> During the late 70s, early 80s VW Rabbits equipped with radial tires >> typically achieved 60,000 mile longevity on the front axle and 100,000 on [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > supplied > were really cheap and wore out quickly. My GTi 1800 ran slightly lower profile, 175/70 I seem to remember, tyres especially made for the GTi by Pirelli. While being very good tyres for their time I seldom got more than nine or ten thousand miles from the front. Same went for my fathers dreadful Santana five cylinder. I am certainly not a fan of very low profile rubber which tend to tramline and have a rough ride, I would say that it all depends on the vehicle. My old Jaguar XK8 sports coupe tourer had very low profile tyres but suffered little for it. Huw >>> During the late 70s, early 80s VW Rabbits equipped with radial tires >>> typically achieved 60,000 mile longevity on the front axle and 100,000 [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Huw I owned two early edition Rabbits and your report about tire life is a pure myth! Mine were equipped at the factory with 70 series tires that went about 30,000 miles on sets that were properly rotated and inflated. Richard. >>>> During the late 70s, early 80s VW Rabbits equipped with radial tires >>>> typically achieved 60,000 mile longevity on the front axle and 100,000 [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > pure myth! Mine were equipped at the factory with 70 series tires that > went about 30,000 miles on sets that were properly rotated and inflated. Was yours a GTi driven as it was meant to be on rural minor roads? How in Hell can you say that my tyre life is a myth? If I say I never got more than 10,000 miles from the fronts that is what I got. No skin off my nose if others got better. Huw >>>>> During the late 70s, early 80s VW Rabbits equipped with radial tires >>>>> typically achieved 60,000 mile longevity on the front axle and 100,000 [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > > Huw I think he was probably replying to the original poster.  SignatureMauricio raub-kudria-com (if you need to email me, use this address =) Actually, the last Rabbit I owned was a Platinum Edition that I converted to GTI Euro specs but installing the factory rear sway bar and variable rate rear springs from the VW parts bin. The wheels and tires were already the same size as those on the Euro GTI at the time. Perhaps the factory GTI's were delivered with "performance" tires that were not good on wear. The French tires mine wore lasted 30,000 miles or so. Richard. > Actually, the last Rabbit I owned was a Platinum Edition that I converted > to GTI Euro specs but installing the factory rear sway bar and variable > rate rear springs from the VW parts bin. The wheels and tires were already > the same size as those on the Euro GTI at the time. Perhaps the factory > GTI's were delivered with "performance" tires that were not good on wear. > The French tires mine wore lasted 30,000 miles or so. Was the engine uprated to 1.8GTi spec, around 112hp which gave a 0-60mph time of just over 8 seconds? Huw > Actually, the last Rabbit I owned was a Platinum Edition that I converted to > GTI Euro specs but installing the factory rear sway bar and variable rate > rear springs from the VW parts bin. The wheels and tires were already the > same size as those on the Euro GTI at the time. Perhaps the factory GTI's > were delivered with "performance" tires that were not good on wear. The > French tires mine wore lasted 30,000 miles or so. My that is low tire mileage for such a light car. On my last two Chrysler's, leBaron GTS 86 and Concord '95, I changed the Michelin all season tires at about 70K miles because they were 8 yrs old and showing aging, but still had adequate tread for winter driving. If I put mileage on more quickly I'm sure I could get 100K miles on a set. > My that is low tire mileage for such a light car. > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > If I put mileage on more quickly I'm sure I could get 100K miles on a > set. Tires have significantly improved since the 1970's in just about every respect. It is true you could pick up a Michelin X-Stop in the late 40's that would go 90,000 miles, but you would not want to take a sharp turn on those stiff, unforgiving tires. Richard. |
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