21" tire tread wear and mileage.

[HJP1]

Growing up in the 60's and 70's I was in love with muscle cars. One of the reasons I buy electric is for the powerful acceleration that only an electric motor can provide (but do miss the sound of a powerful ICE), of course I'm going from one stop light to the next as fast as I can and watching the look on all those Porsche owners faces when they get beat by a pickup truck. Wearing out the tires is the cost of doing monkey business???

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[iansriv]

Growing up in the 60's and 70's I was in love with muscle cars. One of the reasons I buy electric is for the powerful acceleration that only an electric motor can provide (but do miss the sound of a powerful ICE), of course I'm going from one stop light to the next as fast as I can and watching the look on all those Porsche owners faces when they get beat by a pickup truck. Wearing out the tires is the cost of doing monkey business???

Why all the hate against Porsche owners? Stay safe.

 

[FirstStateR1T]

Why all the hate against Porsche owners? Stay safe.

Time to sell my 997tt... LOL

 

[Gsxr150]

This is one of the frustrating parts about the lack of availability of extra wheels/tires from Rivian. I'd really like to have a set of the 20" ATs for winters around here, and keep the 21s for our like 4 months of summer, which is when we do most of our road trips. That certainly helps keep tires lasting longer, too.

Seriously. Agreed.

 

[Gsxr150]

Guys, is there still ZERO other tire options for the 21"?

 

[Don]

Are you going to share your own tread depth after 3500 miles?

Edit: for reference, Tire Rack lists the original tread depth as 10/32".

You mean 5/16”.

 

[electruck]

You mean 5/16”.

No, actually, I did indeed mean 10/32 as that is specifically how it is listed on the Tire Rack web site. In the US, tread depth is measured and referenced in 32nds even though 5/16 is numerically equivalent to 10/32.

Nothing better to do on a holiday than to reduce fractions?

 

[mini2nut]

No 21” tire replacement options is the #1 reason I picked a 20” wheel when configuring my R1T.

 

[Arky]

Question I’ve asked Rivian and have yet to receive an answer. What is the minimum Load Rating and Speed Rating? Is it 116 or 115, and maybe H on speed. I checked with my local Costco and Discount Tire, both said, they will not put on tires that do not meet the minimum load & speed rating for the vehicle. If that holds true, we are extremely limited with the 21 & 22’s and maybe even the 20” wheels.

I hope you actually get an answer. Load range 115 is 2679lbs per corner, easily one ton over the Rivian's GVWR... I can't see why a tire shop would have a problem with it.

 

[Hoo D. Hoo]

Just read a bunch of reviews on Tire Rack website and the biggest complaint about these tires are fast tire wear. Many different vehicles using these tires and same complaint.

I wonder if that's the trade-off with the Low Rolling Resistance. I had originally hoped that there might at least be 1 or 2 decent alternatives from Michelin or Hankook by the time I need to get my first new set of tires but based on what people are reporting for wear that's looking highly unlikely. I know you're probably not going to get 60,000 miles out of any tires on an R1T but I'd like to be able to at least get 40 or so.

Yes, that is the trade-off with Low Rolling Resistance tires. They're made of a softer rubber and wear quicker, even before the weight and driving style issues. But they make a real difference on mileage.

I've had a Prius for 20 years and a Camry hybrid for 12, and have gone back and forth on the tires. For those regular sedans, the OEM tires averaged a little under 29K miles, which seemed short to me. I'd go to Costco and replace them with 800-rated Michelins, and those would last forever and ever, amen, but my mileage would plummet. By like 5+ mpg, a big difference just based on tires. They get that long wear by using a harder rubber compound that just has greater resistance against the pavement.

I did the math, and figured out that even though replacements were more frequent, in the long run the LRR tires were cheaper -- the extra gas cost ate up all the tire-wear savings and then some. That was before $5+ gas. And the money was not even the main point -- I bought a Prius to maximize mileage for environmental reasons, whether or not it was the cheapest. (OK, for the engineers, I didn't calculate the net impact taking into account putting more tires in landfills. It's tailpipe emissions and fuel usage I'm thinking of.)

After a lot of back and forth, I settled on Bridgestone Ecopia and Hankook Kinergy Eco as the LRR tires that offered the best balance of mileage and wear. The Bridgestones used to be available at Costco; eventually I switched to Tire Rack for better selection. I currently have Hankooks on the Prius; they've surprised me at how long they've lasted. (Then again I've barely driven since the pandemic began.)

Unlike the speed and off-road enthusiasts, I'm a suburban commuter, family hauler and summer road-tripper, looking at EVs (even big luxury ones) primarily for maximizing mileage. That's why I went for the 21", despite the severely limited tire selection. I'm hoping the OEM tire is the right one for my environmental purpose.

 

[pc500]

Every truck I've bought, at 30k, get a set of Michelin 80k mile tires put on and they last.

I suspect I'll be replacing tires once a year.

 

[BigE]

I hope you actually get an answer. Load range 115 is 2679lbs per corner, easily one ton over the Rivian's GVWR... I can't see why a tire shop would have a problem with it.

Rivian told me the minimum load rating is 115 but minimum speed rating is H. The speed rating of H vs T is more of a limiting factor when you start looking at alternative options. There a lot of T’s, but not many in H.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Guys, is there still ZERO other tire options for the 21"?

Yes. Can you really fault any tire manufactures?

If I owned a tire company, I wouldn't be rushing to research, develop, manufacture, and distribute tires for roughly 20,000 vehicles...that already have brand new tires.

I've got time to see how this plays out..

 

[Hoo D. Hoo]

This is one of the frustrating parts about the lack of availability of extra wheels/tires from Rivian. I'd really like to have a set of the 20" ATs for winters around here, and keep the 21s for our like 4 months of summer, which is when we do most of our road trips. That certainly helps keep tires lasting longer, too.

Seriously. Agreed.

Wait, Rivian won't sell extra wheels? This strategy makes perfect sense. Looks like the solution is after-market 20" wheels for winter. (Or, if your non-winter is 4 months long, after-market 22's for summer.)

I was wondering why Rivian wouldn't jump at the chance to sell extra stuff, but then, duh -- because they're trying to ramp up production and need those wheels to put on other trucks. Hopefully they'll start selling extras in the future, after production stabilizes. That doesn't help for this coming winter, of course.

 

[Hoo D. Hoo]

Every truck I've bought, at 30k, get a set of Michelin 80k mile tires put on and they last.

I suspect I'll be replacing tires once a year.

Looks like 22's are the option for that. Decent selection, including Michelins, at Tire Rack.

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