I am thinking about a new CRV but see several riding around with rear wheels leaning in when full of people. Worried about tire wear, etc. Any one aware of these isues? I know part of it is due to it's car based suspension.
CRX
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Tire wear is a complicated trade-off
Occasional heavy loads will not affect wear much. But if you often carry heavy items or 5 passengers it might wear the inside edge slightly faster as the rear suspension 'squats' in a /\ camber angles. It is common to most rear independent suspension for better handling while cornering as the vehicle rolls. Some do it more than others depending on suspension design. I have read that camber does not affect wear but that has not been my experience on cars that with no load camber setting at a few degrees as opposed to near zero camber. However it is hard to say what actually is causing the wear due to the simultaneous change in camber and toe-in during normal driving and cornering.
It is true that toe-in error from no load to full load causes more wear than camber changes. As the toe-in changes positive or negative you literally are scuffing the tire sideways. It can be calculated how many feet the tire is driven sideways per mile (scuff) with the toe-in not set properly during alignment or due to component wear. . Turning complicates the calculation since the outside tire for minimum wear, rolling resistance and better handling should be at a larger turning diameter than the inboard tire. It turns over a larger arc.
Most of the time a vehicle is driven with one or two passengers. Under that load the wear is normally even between the inside and the outside edge.
As I see it tires are relatively cheap expendable item. It would be nice to have them last 80,000 miles. For the sake of argument if you pay $400 for a set of 4 tires, at 40,000 miles it cost $.01 per mile for the wear on the set of four tires. If they last 20,000 miles it cost $.02 per mile. In contrast at $2 per gallon and 25 MPG, the gas cost $.08. So the cost of gas is between 4 and 8 times as significant.
As Bob Marley used to sing; “Don't worry, be happy!” in that unmistakable Jamaica maa-nn accent.
Occasional heavy loads will not affect wear much. But if you often carry heavy items or 5 passengers it might wear the inside edge slightly faster as the rear suspension 'squats' in a /\ camber angles. It is common to most rear independent suspension for better handling while cornering as the vehicle rolls. Some do it more than others depending on suspension design. I have read that camber does not affect wear but that has not been my experience on cars that with no load camber setting at a few degrees as opposed to near zero camber. However it is hard to say what actually is causing the wear due to the simultaneous change in camber and toe-in during normal driving and cornering.
It is true that toe-in error from no load to full load causes more wear than camber changes. As the toe-in changes positive or negative you literally are scuffing the tire sideways. It can be calculated how many feet the tire is driven sideways per mile (scuff) with the toe-in not set properly during alignment or due to component wear. . Turning complicates the calculation since the outside tire for minimum wear, rolling resistance and better handling should be at a larger turning diameter than the inboard tire. It turns over a larger arc.
Most of the time a vehicle is driven with one or two passengers. Under that load the wear is normally even between the inside and the outside edge.
As I see it tires are relatively cheap expendable item. It would be nice to have them last 80,000 miles. For the sake of argument if you pay $400 for a set of 4 tires, at 40,000 miles it cost $.01 per mile for the wear on the set of four tires. If they last 20,000 miles it cost $.02 per mile. In contrast at $2 per gallon and 25 MPG, the gas cost $.08. So the cost of gas is between 4 and 8 times as significant.
As Bob Marley used to sing; “Don't worry, be happy!” in that unmistakable Jamaica maa-nn accent.
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