21" Road Tire and Brake Wear after 10K Miles -- tread / brake pad remaining measurements

[tyfly867]

We just crossed 10K Miles in the R1T! We took delivery around Memorial Day, so 6 months. A few service items but, overall, smitten.

I did my first tire rotation this weekend, rotating in the full size spare. These are my measurements with tread/brake pad remaining so far after 10K miles.


21" Road Tires (Pirelli Scorpion Verde)
Spare (brand new, unused): 12/32"
Rear Tires: 10/32"
Rear Brake Pads: 10mm
Front Tires: 9 to 9.5/32"
Front Brake Pads: 9mm

This is 10k miles of casual everyday driving, with a sprinkle of max acceleration here and there (good for the soul). Additionally, about 2,500 miles have been with a light trailer in tow.

Looks to be getting some rust in parts of the hub already, assuming that's normal? (See Pics).

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[kizamybute']

What are the brake measurements when new. If driven properly.....maybe "properly" is not the right word, but being an EV capable of "one pedal" driving, theoretically, if driven as it's potentially designed to be driven, shouldn't have to use the brake pedal at all, except in emergency situations. Have heard of Tesla's going 200,000 miles without replacing brakes and brakes. Assuming the Rivian could be the same if purposely driven in manner that takes advantage of not using the brake pedal. Curious what the original pad measurements were when new to see how much wear there has been in 10,000 miles?

And, have you "one pedal" driven it? Or just driven it normally with low regen?

 

[Rousie13]

It is perfectly normal for uncoated steel parts to get surface rust. You better not look under a car that has seen a few winters…..the salt destroys coated and uncoated steel parts.

 

[PowerBugs]

Service technician one told me that high regen will cause a lot of thread wear on your tires. Not sure if that correlates to brake pads.

 

[tyfly867]

What are the brake measurements when new. If driven properly.....maybe "properly" is not the right word, but being an EV capable of "one pedal" driving, theoretically, if driven as it's potentially designed to be driven, shouldn't have to use the brake pedal at all, except in emergency situations. Have heard of Tesla's going 200,000 miles without replacing brakes and brakes. Assuming the Rivian could be the same if purposely driven in manner that takes advantage of not using the brake pedal. Curious what the original pad measurements were when new to see how much wear there has been in 10,000 miles?

And, have you "one pedal" driven it? Or just driven it normally with low regen?

Good question, not sure about original pad thickness. But I would venture to say pad wear has been minimal.

I use one pedal regen on high, but have to use the brake every once in a while, such as when I miscalculate deceleration at a red light or when I get cut off.

 

[Guy]

I am very impressed with the tire west measurements. Looks like you will get 30k+ miles out of them.

 

[Tonicart]

What are the brake measurements when new. If driven properly.....maybe "properly" is not the right word, but being an EV capable of "one pedal" driving, theoretically, if driven as it's potentially designed to be driven, shouldn't have to use the brake pedal at all, except in emergency situations. Have heard of Tesla's going 200,000 miles without replacing brakes and brakes. Assuming the Rivian could be the same if purposely driven in manner that takes advantage of not using the brake pedal. Curious what the original pad measurements were when new to see how much wear there has been in 10,000 miles?

And, have you "one pedal" driven it? Or just driven it normally with low regen?

I think the R1T uses a combination of motor Regen and pad braking to slow down at certain speeds. Before I purchased an EV, I had believed the hype that the brakes last longer etc..., But now I'm not so sure. Very interesting thread and now curious to track both my tread depth and pad thickness.

 

[DJG]

Service technician one told me that high regen will cause a lot of thread wear on your tires. Not sure if that correlates to brake pads.

Well, a couple things. High Regen is just a setting for maximum potential regen. Ultimately, the amount of regen braking is entirely controlled by the driver using the pedal. So, in and of itself, the regen setting has no real bearing on the amount of tread wear. I am going to decelerate at the same rate regardless of what setting of regen I use, and that is what wears the treads.

That is unless of course, the High Regen setting is really the same amount of regen as Standard, but it just blends in friction braking even at the lowest level to make you think it is higher regen.

Brake pads will only be correlated to the amount of engagement you have with friction brakes, which in theory has nothing to do with regen (other than if the high regen is actually blended as noted).

 

[Monkey]

Service technician one told me that high regen will cause a lot of thread wear on your tires. Not sure if that correlates to brake pads.

Regen braking is no different than regular braking as far as your tires are concerned. resistance is applied to the wheel's rotation, end result to the tire is the same...

Of course, with regenerative braking, the brake pads and rotors should last much longer.

Most tire wear on these vehicles comes from the heavy vehicle weight weight combined with full time AWD and high torque applied on acceleration. Heavy braking, regen or brake pads, also increases tire abrasion. Tire formulation and being purpose appropriate helps a ton. I replaced my first set of tires on my Model X right at 20K miles and really I needed to replace them much earlier than that. The Continental Cross Contact Sport AS tires that Tesla was (and I think still using) as their OEM 20" AS tire are just plain junk. Switching to Pirelli Scorpion Verde AS II+ and I managed over 45K miles on the tires. Likewise on our Model Y, OEM tires (Goodyear Eagle F1) were junk. Now running Michelin Pilot Sport 4 touring AS tires and swapping to Pirelli Scorpion Winter at this time of year. Very happy with both.

 

[bmedfo1]

I never though about this but its a huge question. Is one peddle driving applying any friction braking? I really hope that it is not. can anyone answer this question? if not how can we test it?

 

[Tejkalra]

Service technician one told me that high regen will cause a lot of thread wear on your tires. Not sure if that correlates to brake pads.

Applying breaks will do the same. Breaks or re-gen both are meant to slow down the vehical and both are related to tires. So regardless.

 

[MooneyPilot]

Do you have to get rotations at or with Rivian or can anyone do it?

 

[Tejkalra]

Do you have to get rotations at or with Rivian or can anyone do it?

Any one can do it. I took it to les Schwab. It's free too.

 

[tyfly867]

Do you have to get rotations at or with Rivian or can anyone do it?

I did it at home, albeit I found the tires to be really heavy and cumbersome.

 

[ipadl]

I never though about this but its a huge question. Is one peddle driving applying any friction braking? I really hope that it is not. can anyone answer this question? if not how can we test it?

My truck is currently at the service center (again) but before it left I had the chance to play around with it a little in the snow. My observation is that on high Regen on slick surfaces I could get the vehicle to slide by letting off the accelerator (and turning the wheel). In this state there was no ABS active unless you push the brake pedal. This leads me to believe that there is no friction braking taking place unless you physically press the brake pedal.

The downside to this is that it may be a little more difficult to control in snow and ice than a manual or automatic ICE. My guess is that it will be predictably different and just take some getting used to.

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