Front tire wear

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Squeg

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2018
Messages
5
I have a 2015 Chevy Spark EV. I now have just over 20k miles on it. The front tires are getting close to the wear bars. The rears look great, having about 80% left. I bought the car used with 5k miles on it so I have driven most of the miles. I believe that these are the original tires (Bridgestone Ecopia). I am a very conservative driver.
My questions are these:
Is this wear pattern (so much more on the fronts) within expected range?
Is it safe to replace just the front tires?
 
Squeg said:
I have a 2015 Chevy Spark EV. I now have just over 20k miles on it. The front tires are getting close to the wear bars. The rears look great, having about 80% left. I bought the car used with 5k miles on it so I have driven most of the miles. I believe that these are the original tires (Bridgestone Ecopia). I am a very conservative driver.
My questions are these:
Is this wear pattern (so much more on the fronts) within expected range?
Is it safe to replace just the front tires?
Last question first - YES! It is safe to replace just the front tires.

First, I leased a 2015 Spark EV and turned it in at about 30k miles. I had to replace the worn out [ about 3/32" left] front tires before returning the car to the Chevy dealer. Second, I purchased a used 2014 Spark EV and noticed the front tires had significant tire wear even though the ODO only had 1500 miles on it. This car was a Hertz rental and was probably driven hard. I replaced just the front tires on this car too. Third, I purchased a used 2016 Spark EV with 6500 miles on the ODO. This car was driven hard too as the front tires showed significant tire wear. I replaced just the front tires at 19,220 miles. Today, at 27189 miles, the new front tires have worn about 2/32". The tread depth originally measured 10/32" when new. So, with 8,000 miles of driving, I have worn the tires 2/32" or about 4000 miles per 1/32". The tire wear bar is 2/32" high so I expect to have to replace my front tires about every 32,000 miles [8/32"]. The rear tires on both cars still have considerable tread left.

As a replacement tire, I installed Bridgestone Ecopia 422+ 185/55R15 82V front tires on all three cars and I have not experienced any reduction in mi/kWh attributable to the tires.

I, too, drive conservatively.
 
Squeg said:
...I am a very conservative driver.
My questions are these:
Is this wear pattern (so much more on the fronts) within expected range?
...
Keep in mind ALL the Go Power and up to 60 kW of the Stop Power is handled by those 185's up front.

The car has Blended Brakes which means when using the brake pedal like a normal person driving a normal car ,
most of the braking is Regen to the battery, right up until you see the Regen display max out, THEN the friction brakes blend in to help stop the car.

(Tesla does not have the advanced tech of Blended Brakes. You must adopt to the '1 Pedal' driving style to get regen with their cars.
Some like this style, some want to drive normal style. No taking your foot off the Go pedal and coasting with a T...
The Brake Pedal is just Friction Brakes on a Tesla. Kind of low tech. Try to find that in any of the swooning articles about Brand T. :roll:
You can set regen to Low, but then all brake pedal action is just making heat, old school style....)

I like that my only expense for 75 k miles has been tires and washer fluid !!! :)

And $78.50/yr road use tax in my state...I'm fine with that,, (only my <3000 lb EV wears the roads much less than a >5000 lb Brand T EV...)
I have to pay for electrons when I plug in at home during the cold months..
And I'm not 'a conservative driver', I enjoy this fast, silent, sleeper of an EV Hot Rod.!!!

OK, old joke,,, I tell people my Spark EV is actually a hybrid!
It burns Electrons and Rubber ! :lol:
 
When I got my Spark from Carvana, it had Sailun Atrezzo SH406 tires on the front of my car and the stock Ecopia tires on the rear, which would tell me the fronts wearing out seems to be fairly common. I've always been easy on tires, so I'll see how they work out.
 
NORTON said:
Squeg said:
...I am a very conservative driver.
My questions are these:
Is this wear pattern (so much more on the fronts) within expected range?
...
Keep in mind ALL the Go Power and up to 60 kW of the Stop Power is handled by those 185's up front.

The car has Blended Brakes which means when using the brake pedal like a normal person driving a normal car ,
most of the braking is Regen to the battery, right up until you see the Regen display max out, THEN the friction brakes blend in to help stop the car.

(Tesla does not have the advanced tech of Blended Brakes. You must adopt to the '1 Pedal' driving style to get regen with their cars.
Some like this style, some want to drive normal style. No taking your foot off the Go pedal and coasting with a T...
The Brake Pedal is just Friction Brakes on a Tesla. Kind of low tech. Try to find that in any of the swooning articles about Brand T. :roll:
You can set regen to Low, but then all brake pedal action is just making heat, old school style....)

I like that my only expense for 75 k miles has been tires and washer fluid !!! :)

And $78.50/yr road use tax in my state...I'm fine with that,, (only my <3000 lb EV wears the roads much less than a >5000 lb Brand T EV...)
I have to pay for electrons when I plug in at home during the cold months..
And I'm not 'a conservative driver', I enjoy this fast, silent, sleeper of an EV Hot Rod.!!!

OK, old joke,,, I tell people my Spark EV is actually a hybrid!
It burns Electrons and Rubber ! :lol:
Norton - I am curious. With 75k miles on your 2014 Spark EV, what is your current HV battery capacity? I currently have 22k miles on my 2014 Spark EV and my battery capacity is 15.4 kWh with my trend line showing a loss of 1 kWh every 4500 miles meaning I will never see 75k miles. What is your secret to battery longevity?
 
We changed the front tires (factory Bridgestone Ecopias) on our 2015 Spark EV at ~ 19k miles in August 2019 with another set of same tires when we had alignment checked. Car now has 23k miles & still on good tread / condition rear factory installed tires.

Bought the car with 178 miles on it -

Bryan in North Carolina
2015 Spark EV 2LT
 
MrDRMorgan said:
... I currently have 22k miles on my 2014 Spark EV and my battery capacity is 15.4 kWh with my trend line showing a loss of 1 kWh every 4500 miles meaning I will never see 75k miles. ..

I don't know how your car can be degrading at the rate....
Isn't there an owner on here that passed the 100k mile mark?

Maybe all this babysitting with the "charges to <80%" are not the way to go.
I answered this in some other thread. I don't do anything but plug in and walk away.
You know about the Cell Balancing that only takes place after 100% SOC, correct?
 
didget69 said:
We changed the front tires .... at ~ 19k miles .....still on good tread / condition rear factory installed tires.

Bryan in North Carolina
2015 Spark EV 2LT
Back on Topic !!

Bryan,
You sir, know how to enjoy this car !! :lol:
Tires are cheap.
Electrons are cheap.
Why tip toe you way through the streets? :p
 
NORTON said:
MrDRMorgan said:
... I currently have 22k miles on my 2014 Spark EV and my battery capacity is 15.4 kWh with my trend line showing a loss of 1 kWh every 4500 miles meaning I will never see 75k miles. ..

I don't know how your car can be degrading at the rate....
Isn't there an owner on here that passed the 100k mile mark?

Maybe all this babysitting with the "charges to <80%" are not the way to go.
I answered this in some other thread. I don't do anything but plug in and walk away.
You know about the Cell Balancing that only takes place after 100% SOC, correct?

I have not yet been able to figure out why the batteries in my 2014, 2015 and 2016 Spark EVs all dropped to about 15 kWh at around 30k miles. My friend's leased 2016 Spark EV dropped to 14.8 kWh too before he turned it in. Yes, I know about cell balancing and I do charge to 100% some of the time but that does not seem to help. I wonder if driving in L all of the time could be a cause??
 
MrDRMorgan said:
.... I wonder if driving in L all of the time could be a cause??
Slowing down at ~30 kW of Regen displayed in L is no different than slowing down with your foot on the brake and displaying ~30 kW of Regen.
These cars have Blended Brakes! Tesla's do not....

I wouldn't give that a second thought.

Geez, but seeing your car's death spiral in the numbers must be a bummer. :(
You must be doing something wrong.... :lol: JK.....

I routinely flog my car.
Do you tip-toe in the car everywhere you go? Are you one of these guys that always get better than 5 mi / kWh?

Batteries are electrochemical devices.
Could it be they enjoy stretching their legs and working hard once in a while? :?:
 
NORTON said:
MrDRMorgan said:
.... I wonder if driving in L all of the time could be a cause??
Slowing down at ~30 kW of Regen displayed in L is no different than slowing down with your foot on the brake and displaying ~30 kW of Regen.
These cars have Blended Brakes! Tesla's do not....

I wouldn't give that a second thought.

Geez, but seeing your car's death spiral in the numbers must be a bummer. :(
You must be doing something wrong.... :lol: JK.....

I routinely flog my car.
Do you tip-toe in the car everywhere you go? Are you one of these guys that always get better than 5 mi / kWh?

Batteries are electrochemical devices.
Could it be they enjoy stretching their legs and working hard once in a while? :?:
1. I don't smoke the front tires but, occasionally, I do "goose it" on the freeway.
2. 5 mi/kWh??? My average is usually higher than that! That is except for today. 44 degrees outside, cabin heater on, headlights on, wipers on. Mi/Kwh = 3.4.

Someone knows the secret to battery longevity - I don't! :lol:
 
I've got a 2014 LT1 that I bought two years ago with 10,000 on the clock. I replaced the original front tires at roughly 20,000 and then the next year with about 38,000, I replaced all four after I apparently destroyed one of the rear tires with something on the road.

Made a trip last weekend to pickup a computer at a store that the round trip with no charging was within a dozen miles with no recharge, had a little diversion and returned home with 2 miles of range left and usage of 13.4 Kw with 99 percent of the power used.

Notable about this particular spark EV is that it was first registered in Michigan in February 2013 meaning it was an early production unit (the VIN ends in 00067 if memory serves) tagged by GM in Detroit so it is one of the oldest batteries. And as I think about it, I seem to be losing about a KW of storage a year of usage.

Winter-time range varied from the high 50's mostly but on the milder days low 60's this year whereas last year range was always in the mid-60 mile range as winters are relatively mild in Georgia.

I did decide to try using cheap-o tires bought online from walmart for right at $40/tire as, at least on the fronts I'm only getting about 15000 miles (rear tires were replaced with cheepo's too as one had succumbed to a road hazard.)

BTW: 2014's battery warranty is supposed to be invokable when you lose 35% of the batteries capacity. I just never quite grasped what that amounts to in Kwh storage ... Also the warranty is good through next January.

Funny thing I'll add. I'm not sure I want to return to the local dealership as the last time I took the vehicle in (only chevy store service needed) to refill the coolant level in the battery maintenance system, (it wouldn't accept a level 2 charge) then sent it back with some rather odd off-hours charging schedule that would mean five minutes of charging at 3 am. When it wouldn't take a charge I had the sense at the time to check and found the software setting for delayed charging. I'm pretty sure the dealership (they used to be an advertiser of mine) was jerking my chain and figured the tech would be too much for a 69 year old man :)

Anyway, the question that spurred that was who at GM would I contact (mychevy has no listed service outlet and obviously I'm in GA, not CA (but remember this car was first registered in MI. so it entered the distribution system as something other than a new car delivery.)
 
neomaxcom said:
I've got a 2014 LT1 ....
>I did decide to try using cheap-o tires bought online from walmart for right at $40/tire as, at least on the fronts I'm only getting about 15000 miles ......

>>BTW: 2014's battery warranty is supposed to be invokable when you lose 35% of the batteries capacity. I just never quite grasped what that amounts to in Kwh storage ... Also the warranty is good through next January.

>>>.....I took the vehicle in (only chevy store service needed) to refill the coolant level in the battery maintenance system, ....

>>>>Anyway, the question that spurred that was who at GM would I contact...
> You, sir, are enjoying this little EV Hot Rod! :cool: I tell people it's a hybrid. It burns electrons and rubber!! :lol:
I too went the cheapo tire route, only thru amazon... No Problem Found!

>> Yikes... 8 years already? :eek:

>>> Are you saying you had the battery TMS coolant changed? Or was the level down and they topped it up? (That shouldn't happen. Keep an eye on it.) :!:

>>>> Keep us posted if you try to use the warranty!
For some reason my '14 is churning along great. Although I haven't logged it's capacity in a while because I use less than 50% per one way commute and plug in at both ends due to the cold weather. :|
 
Norton asked:
Are you saying you had the battery TMS coolant changed? Or was the level down and they topped it up? (That shouldn't happen. Keep an eye on it.)

I'm assuming they just topped the coolant off although the work, all under warranty, was not detailed suggesting the top off.

I've not had an issue with charging since.
 
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