Flash5

https://www.tirebuyer.com/education/...-front-or-rear

It’s just a known fact that under normal circumstances, a RWD car will go through the tires on the rear much faster than the front tires and vice versa. The power is being transferred to the pavement by the rear tires for our cars so that’s why the rear tires wear out faster than the fronts. My rear tires right now are almost completely shot (even wear not inside tire wear)) and my fronts are like at half tread left. This also happened to my G37S which was RWD. Both vehicles are staggered so of course there is no mitigating it. I’m about to get a square setup so I can rotate. Obviously if you have a square setup whether FWD or RWD you can just rotate and get even tire wear on all 4 tires over time.

LaZeR

That article implies/suggests that with RWD lack of proper tire maintenance, inspection, and driving behavior contributes to & results in the rear tires wearing out faster.

Many of my posts on here express that I'm a huge RWD fan, and owned only RWD cars for over 20+ years. Right now I have two cars almost always driving mostly in hot climates: 1) IS350 FSport RWD - the front tires were shredding and HAD to be replaced at 34k miles (the Lexus dealer actually comped two new front Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ but I had to pay them a lot for a 4-wheel alignment), but still to this day have the original OEM Bridgestone tires on the rear going strong, and 2) GS300 RWD (also still going strong knock on wood *knock* *knock* *knock*) - and the fronts always wear out faster than rears, even after several cross country trips, back & forth to/from Canada, and always had to replace the front tires a couple times, with the rear tires staying strong.

I often drive fast, push my cars, and in my long term experience driving RWD the front tires always wear out first so would like to hear others' comments on this topic.

Flash5

That’s pretty weird. I’ve never had a “sports” orientated car that’s RWD and staggered have the fronts go out before the rears UNLESS it was inner tire wear related.

Sasnuke

For what it's worth, I think you are both right...which I realize is no help lol
It's tough to have a cookie cutter position as to which wheels wear out faster on a RWD vehicle, cause there are so many variables.
First, and most obvious, what type of vehicle is it. I doubt you can realistically compare the tire wear you get on a Miata to a Hellcat...there is a truck load of difference in HP, Torque, and wheel size.
Second is driving style...if you're the person that's pedal to the metal every time the light turns green, then really how much wear will the front tires take.
If you're someone that likes to go bombing through the canyon roads, there's likely not a lot of instances where you are pedal to the floor, but sure as hell you're giving the steering and braking a workout.

If you've been driving RWD for 20+ years and the fronts always wear out first, then likely you have a driving style that is conducive to that occurring.
And if you're someone that has the rear wheels wearing out first, likely you have a style of driving conducive to that.
That is said with no judgement about driving styles...just an observation likely bordering on a statement of fact.

LaZeR

k well wasn't implying or suggesting anyone is right or wrong, in fact @ @yohan81718 also chimed in on this matter. It's just that @ @Flash5 wrote "If you 'research' it, most RWD cars that are sports cars the rears wear out faster" and "It’s just a known fact that under normal circumstances, a RWD car will go through the tires on the rear much faster than the front tires", after 25+ years of enjoying driving, and commercially available sports oriented RWD cars on the market, under normal driving conditions or even aggressive, I've never come across any 'research', or articles, that suggest rear tires wear out faster than the front regardless of transmission layout, or drivetrain - NOT including talkin bout stock car drag racing or Formula 1 - in fact it's always the opposite that's stated, as well as results from personal experience, which is why that research/articles was requested, so if anyone has it please post.

PS >>> for me this is analogous to saying "research" states AWD is lighter, involves less mechanisms, and lesser new car cost $$$.

Flash5

I guess I should have clarified that it was based on personal experience and for the most part research as in me looking up different sites and seeing other people etc saying their rears wear faster. I too wasn’t saying anyone was wrong I was simply stating that in my experience my rear tires have ALWAYS gone out first on my staggered RWD vehicles. I definitely do not drive conservatively so that’s most likely the reason for this. I literately hadn’t met anyone who had a RWD staggered setup who said their front tires wore out faster so this is pretty interesting to me. I literally didn’t think that was possible personally haha. You learn something new everyday though.

LaZeR

Don't mean to beat a dead horse but look at my thread here https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...new-tires.html @@Flash5 you even contributed to that thread. As posted above @ 34,000 miles on my IS350 FSport RWD the front tires were balding, shredding, and the Lexus dealer agreed to comp a new pair of front tires - the ones in that thread. Also posted above "... I had to pay them a lot for a 4-wheel alignment, but still to this day have the original OEM Bridgestone tires on the rear going strong", and a similar experience always applies with my GS300 RWD. Once again I'm a pretty aggressive driver in hot climates so seriously have no clue wtf this is coming from. Anyway, will report back at 40,000 miles.

Flash5

Yeah I believe you, I was just saying I personally have only seen the rears wear out faster than the fronts with most of the people I know and for both my cars. Like I stated, my rears are pretty much completely gone and my fronts have about half their tread left. That’s been my personal experience with RWD staggered cars.

Sasnuke

@LaZeR and @Flash5 ...likely my bad suggesting that either was wrong or right, by saying I thought you were both right...I meant to say that i think you both have a valid point...that's my "you're both right" meaning.
​​​​@LaZeR to your point...if you are a more aggressive driver during the hot weather, and yo have real hot weather, not like us in the north north, and the tires are shredding, then I think this would explain why the fronts are wearing out more for you. Possibly your front brakes might even be wearing faster than some of us also.
Where I am the weather doesn't get crazy hot...maybe for one month a year we might hit 30-35C, and the roads are pretty much in a grid as I'm in an area that's a blend of city and farm country...so there's not a whole lot of corners you can attack.
My tire wear is in line with Flash5's as I wear the rear more than the front. My only real chances to get on it are in a straight line, so the fronts are just decoration at that point.

Once again I think the wear is going to come down to driving style on top of the setup of the vehicle.

Flash5

I don’t think there’s necessarily a right or wrong answer here. I think the best answer is “depends on your driving habits and other factors such as alignment etc.”

arentz07

Feel free to learn/discuss tire wear more over on the dedicated thread: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...tire-wear.html

The thread is mostly about front inner tire wear, but rear wear is mentioned due to a few reports of it being an issue.

PJSnow

So back to the Simple/"Dumb" question topics:
Coming form the ISF, I'm used to the transmission holding a gear and bouncing off the rev limiter until you upshift. I read that people have the same experience with the 3IS but all I have experienced in our 2016 IS300 AWD F Sport is an auto up shift before redline when I'm in manual mode. And yes I have tried normal and sport modes. Am I missing something or does the 3IS have a "fake" manual shift mode?

arentz07

Have you tried it with traction control fully off?

LaZeR

I might be ignorant or stupid coz I'm confused by your post. It sounds like you're talking about pure manual transmission. As quoted, was your ISF manual transmission?

Now you mention "manual mode" in the IS - are you referring to "paddle shifting"? If you're paddle shifting then I've never experienced the car auto upshifting. However, still in paddle shifting mode, when coasting / slowing down for a red light for example, then yes the car will automatically downshift.

I might be way out in left field here...

PJSnow

Ah is that the key? I have not tried that. Now questions regarding that... to turn off traction control is it just a click, a long click, or the pedal dance? I'll have to try next time I go out.

ISF is automatic. I'm talking about "paddle shifting" (you can also use the gear selector to change gears +/- so I don't refer to it by this but sorry for the confusion).
Yes I am familiar with the auto downshifting. ISF does the exact same thing. I'm referring to the transmission upshifting but it might have to do with traction control as arentz07 mentioned. My ISF does not auto upshift even with traction control on so this is new to me.