Issues with Rivian advice vs America tire advice

[irvineboy]

Rivian told me to put regeneration mode on low instead of standard or high, in order to maximize tire tread. They told me when you rotate tires to put the newer tire with more tread in the front. I told America tire that, however they declined and stated that they always put newer tires in the rear. Anyone else have this issue or should we force them to do what customer wants? Not sure how that impacts the mileage warranty’s. Don’t want them to say I told you so but you didn’t follow their best practice.

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[NY_Rob]

You generally want the better tires on the rear to prevent fish tailing when in or coming out of a turn.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Rivians wear out the front tires faster. Tires with more tread should get rotated up.

 

[irvineboy]

You generally want the better tires on the rear to prevent fish tailing when in or coming out of a turn.

So what you’re saying is consistent with what america tire is telling me. That’s what I told the Rivian tech when he told me this. He said that is true on non-EV cars but with Rivian and the regen braking, Rivian advises to have newer tires in the front NOT in the rear.

 

[CANCERDOC]

Because of the regen is balanced, the front has higher regen than the rear, which makes sense since thats how conventional brakes proportion the pressure as well. Because of this, the front tires will wear out more quickly than the rears, even if you are in AWD all the time such as in a quad or a trimotor.

It is also correct the newer (more tread) tires should go in the rear because it prevents fishtailing during evasive maneuvers. This has been sound advice from tire shops for a long time now. It has nothing to do with which tires wear out more quickly. This is why tire rotations are important, to keep the tread even for the most part even. Nothing bad will happen if the front tires are 9/32" and the rears are 7/32". You just don't want bald tires on the rear since it compromises safety.

 

[NY_Rob]

If your tires are wearing normally and you're rotating them regularly there isn't a heck of a lot of difference between the front and rear tread depth so it doesn't make much of a difference. With that said, physics tells if you start to get close to breaking traction in a turn the vehicle will pivot around the front axle the rear will want to kick out so you want the best traction on the rear end.

 

[irvineboy]

If your tires are wearing normally and you're rotating them regularly there isn't a heck of a lot of difference between the front and rear tread depth so it doesn't make much of a difference. With that said, physics tells if you start to get close to breaking traction in a turn the vehicle will pivot around the front axle the rear will want to kick out so you want the best traction on the rear end.

That isn’t true. I roasted my tires at 6k miles and two still wore out quicker than the the other two. They aren’t always even.

 

[NY_Rob]

That isn’t true. I rotated my tires at 6k miles and two still wore out quicker than the the other two. They aren’t always even.

That 6K miles rotation schedule seems a bit too long for a heavy/powerful vehicle with soft OEM tires. Time to get a digital tread depth gauge and take monthly measurements till you get a handle on when you should be rotating your tires. You may need to rotate them at 4K miles, you won't know till you start tracking wear on a periodic basis. Always better to rotate based on actual wear vs. the factory miles recommendation which is not based on your use pattern.

 

[CANCERDOC]

That isn’t true. I roasted my tires at 6k miles and two still wore out quicker than the the other two. They aren’t always even.

“Roasting” tires has that effect on tread wear.

 

[mkg3]

So what you’re saying is consistent with what america tire is telling me. That’s what I told the Rivian tech when he told me this. He said that is true on non-EV cars but with Rivian and the regen braking, Rivian advises to have newer tires in the front NOT in the rear.

Many tire stores have policies that's outdated. Costco has the same policy.

The reason for putting the new tires in the rear stems from when all vehicles were RWD. The rear wheels propelled the vehicle forward and needs more traction to accelerate and avoid wheel spin; hence put the new tires on the rear. With FWD, you'd expect to put the new tires onto the front - the driving power wheel.

In the case of Rivian, since its a AWD with a bias towards FWD in conserve or freeway condition in the dual motor, and more regen is done by the front wheels (there is a weight transfer as you slow down to the front so it makes sense - the reason why Rivian told you to put low regen setting is to minimize the tire wear by not slowing down as strongly as the standard or high regen setting).

With the traction control on just about every vehicle, one has to really try intentionally to get into an oversteer (fish tail) situation - like turn off traction control.

We had a Saab 9-8 that needed new front tires (FWD) and Costco insisted putting the new tires on the rear (trailing wheel with no power). The tire tech knew it made no sense but that is the policy. He told me to make an appointment for tire rotation the following week to get the tire onto the front, which we did. It was just added inconvenience.

 

[Magicbus]

The previous post says it all. Rivians spend a lot more time in FWD than AWD so the better tread should be on the front.

 

[Mathme]

If someone at Rivian said, when rotating tires (as the OP said above) , to put the newer ones on the front, then ask them how they resolve that statement with the rotation guide in the Owners Manual (page 378).

Standard rotation in the industry starts with the right rear tire and then rotates tires in the order shown in the manual. When you have a full size spare and do a 5-tire rotation, the spare comes out and goes in the right rear, then you follow the diagram, and the left-front comes out and essentially becomes the spare.

Here's the diagram from the owners manual...

 

[irvineboy]

“Roasting” tires has that effect on tread wear.

lol I just saw that. Rotating.

 

[captainjp]

You generally want the better tires on the rear to prevent fish tailing when in or coming out of a turn.

No. In all purpose, Rivian defaults to FWD unless all four are called for. Fronts wear sooner

 

[Singletracker]

Seems to me, with the Rivian drive system, the front tires are always going to wear faster. If one is consistently placing the tires with the least tread on the front, it won’t be long before one has two bald tires up front and two perfectly good tires in the rear. If one wants all tires to age out at the same time, seems like the tires with the most tread should be up front. Assuming tires are rotated regularly, in good shape, and with modern stability control systems, it seems to me that any performance/stability sacrifice will be inconsequential. This is a different beast than an old ICE muscle car. For me, the goal would be to have all tires wear at the same rate.

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