Here’s one more bit of data I should have included.
The car is frequently driven with just one individual in the driver’s seat (left side.)
The curb weight is 3366 / 3375 lbs and the weight distribution F/R is 56/44. Adding 125 to 155 lbs to the left side (4-4.5%) hardly seems to explain asymmetric wear.
thanks
baumgrenze
Why not just extend the rotation schedule? Well with AWD its more important to keep the tires the same and the owners manuals and tire dealer also seems to recommend the 6-7000 schedule. Besides its easier to remember if you just schedule it with oil changes. Of course if you just do it yourself it doesn’t cost anything and its a good chance to clean the insides of the wheels.
Aha, there’s the rub. There are no regular oil changes in an all electric car like the Leaf.
In this case, gathering the equipment to engage in do-it-yourself rotation involves finding a compatible jack and learning the proper points for jack-stands.
I know do-it-yourself well. I pulled the engine in my 1965 21-window VW van and had a short block rebuild done on it, then reinstalled it to the rebuilder’s satisfaction so that he’d stand behind his work. At age 76 and counting it is getting harder to ‘get down and get under’ and do car maintenance. Unfortunately my pension and SS never seem to keep pace with the cost-of-living, so paying others is also difficult. Catch 22 Mr. Yossarian. If I’m going to pay for a service, I want to be able to justify it in terms of the dollars involved. I just went through another thread regarding routine brake fluid replacement. It is easy to see if it looks bad. If it doesn’t, it is easy to use a DVOM and check to see if the DC voltage between the fluid and ground is <3V DC. If you have a friend with a brake fluid boiling point tester, that is preferable.
thanks
baumgrenze
Honestly, I’ve looked at the photos carefully and with the exception of the LF apparently having been run a few pounds low for a long time, I can’t see any difference between the LF and the RF greater than I’d expect from normal variation from the tires themselves. No pair or set of tires will wear exactly the same. As highly consistent as tire manufacturing processes have become, daily variations in ambient temperature, acceptable variations in the compound mix, compound temperature, mold temperature, slight mold variations, variations in the mold pressures and duration times, and other perfectly normal and acceptable manufacturing variations will cause some variation in the end product. Both the left and right are almost down to the wear bars. Tire manufacturing is not as precise as manufacturing microwave components for spacecraft (which I’ve been responsible for). There’s no need for it to be.
I highly commend your attention to detail and your monitoring of your car’s tires. I truly wish more people would pay that level of attention to the condition of their car’s critical safety items. But no two tires will ever wear exactly the same, just as the meatballs I cook (I just made some) will never be exactly the same from batch to batch even though I always use the same formula and process.
Understand. 1% increases are not exactly going to keep up with expenses but then at least its not a 1% reduction yet. Its all math and the ledger sheet is not looking good for the future.
At 76, I concur, you shouldn’t be doing your own tire rotations. For most folks anyway, that job is for the younger diy’er crowd. $$ wise, whether you’d get enough pay-back in reduced tire wear to hire a shop to rotate your tires? Given your driving habits? hmm … Six of one, half dozen of the other. I don’t see much reason for you to change the way your currently doing it. If you wanted to include some tire rotations in your routine maintenance, one idea as mentioned above, extend the rotation interval to 10-20K miles. Or just do it when there’s other reasons the wheels have to come off, like parlay your brake work into a tire rotation job too.
How do you like your Leaf overall? They’re pretty popular here in California. But I get the sense they are becoming less popular.
I agree with thesamemountainbike. That left front looks like it’s been running somewhat underinflated.
From the pictures it appears the left front tire has 4/32" of tread and the right front has 5/32", the difference may be due to the replacement of one of the front tires.
If you rotate the tires now you may get more service from those tires before they must be replaced because of exposure/weather cracks.
For 90% of the driving we do, it is ideal. We like how it handles. It has plenty of room
One day soon I need to create a spread sheet and look at all the costs of maintaining a second car, (2004 Prius with ~76,000 miles on it) that is plates, insurance and other upkeep and decide if we would not do better to use a taxi for a short haul conflict and a rental car for the occasional trip that exceeds the range of the Leaf. A check of the log book says we drove it ~1600 miles in 2015, most of that a trip to Sparks, NV and then up to Quincy, CA before returning home. Thus far in 2016 it has been ~900 miles.
It does provide us with a ‘secure’ place to store some emergency earthquake supplies when it is not on a long trip.
Thanks for asking,
baumgrenze
It is the left front that was replaced at 7 miles after delivery and the right front at ~3,000 miles.
I do my best to check and refill the tires in the cool of the morning on a regular basis, so there should be little pressure difference from tire to tire.
To be sure that I make the point, I did have the tires rotated RF to RR and LF to LR and then LF to RF and RF to LR, but I’ve not yet carefully checked to confirm that the tires that are now in front changed sides. I have no easy way to distinguish the 2 less worn, previously rear tires since both are OEM tires with EL 8K JBC4111 as their DOT stamps.
thanks
baumgrenze
Hey there!
I sent you a message few days ago
The LF does have a bit of alignment wear. So does the RF, but to a lesser extent.
However, there is a significant difference front to rear. It is beyond time for a rotation.
My experience with front wheel drive cars is that the RIGHT front tire does wear more rapidly than the left. Of course, there may be differences between the design of the drivetrains of different FWD vehicles. I do my own maintenance (including rotations) and keep a pretty close eye on these things - use a tread gauge, etc. Been driving the same roads for the past 30 years, and have not seen the same type of wear pattern on rear-drive cars or trucks, so my conclusion is that the vehicle design is the difference.
I posted on mynissanleaf.com and I did not get any helpful feedback:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=22712
That is why I came here.
For the record, I’m really pleased with the feedback here. I guess I should not be surprised.
thanks
baumgrenze
Maybe it’s more likely for a sharp right turn to make body roll lift the inside (right) front wheel and allow it to spin than it is for a less sharp left turn.
I wonder if the situation is reversed in countries where people drive on the left side of the road.
I remember my brother had the same issue due to his spirited exits. I would consider getting new tires and an alignment.
Another alignment? If a portion of this money was spent on one tire rotation this discussion wouldn’t exist.
I have had owners of minivans demand new front tires under warranty because the front tires wore out at 25,000 miles. In those cases it was normal wear for heavy front wheel drive vehicles that had never had a tire rotation.
if car is driven regularly on right turns would left hand side tires will wear more?
Yes, that’s probably a common thing for race cars which always turn the same direction. But for cars driven in a typical way, it would be hard to believe you’d turn one way that much more than the other way enough to cause a noticeable wear pattern difference left to right. Right tires do tend to get a lot of bumps and bruises b/c they are closer to the curb tho.
Thank you very much for your guidance.