Tyre wear on xtrail

The rear tyres will always wear faster than the front when towing. Keep them at the correct pressure for what they are carrying. Rotate them regularly, say every 10,000ks.

Make sure you aren't overloading the tow ball. I've had both dual and single axle vans and as far as I'm concerned it is personal choice, providing the suspension can handle the load and the ball weight isn't excessive.

There is a chance the tyres are rated at a high speed which usually means they may be softer and really only suitable for the vehicle alone.
Perhaps it's worth investigating alternate, lower rated but still legal tyres, to give more tread life. ie, More AT than just road.
They will possibly be cheaper than a higher rated tyre.

All the items mentioned previously are still valid too.

Independent rear suspension is terrible on tyre wear while towing vans. Talk to a pajero owner. Independent suspension can only be aligned at a given height. You either need to control the tow height (adjustable air bags etc) or get it aligned every time you put the van on, or just put up with a bit of premature tyre wear.

Hi Johno,

Obviously, some tyres are softer than others & wear very quickly.

The Bridgestones that came with my last 2 new Utes are pefect examples!

I tow a dual axle work trailer with very heavy loads, day in, day out. I also tow a single axle CT when I go away. The work trailer weighs around 400kg when it's empty, just carrying tools (chainsaws, leaf blower, fuel cans, First Aid Kit, chaps, PPE, yadda, yadda) The CT weighs around 700kgs when loaded, BUT the dual axle work trailer is MUCH harder to take off from a standing start with, even when empty. The difference between the single axle & dual axles of my 2 trailers is simply HUGE, but I need the carrying capacity of the dual axle for my work.

Keeping tyre pressures up around 40 psi on the work trailer certainly helps, but the rear Bridgestones on my last Ute wore out at around 17,000kms & I'm very much an old man when driving.

I put Goodyear AT3's on my last Ute after the Bridgestones wore out & they did quite well by comparison. They had around the 42,000km mark on them when I traded it in & were still quite good. Same daily workload & touring as the Bridgestones, but they were just simply more durable. I didn't notice ANY difference in performance between these 2 brands doing what I do with the Ute.

I'm thinking of putting Toyo's on this Ute when the Bridgestones wear out, but I'm still very undecided. The Bridgestones currently have 12,000km's on them & are showing very obvious signs of wear on the rear wheels.

Others will have different experiences to mine I'm sure, but my Ute tows big loads everyday & is probably an extreme case.

Hope this was of at least some help!

Cheers,

Kevin.