danmm7

On a 2WD car i would know the answer right away, but since the GX470 is full time AWD, i am trying to figure out if the front or the rear tires get more wear under normal conditions..or is it pretty equal due to the AWD setup.

Under normal dry road driving, is the GX more RWD biased or is it more Front Wheel drive? Somewhere i read that the Torsen center differential does a 40:60 split, where 40 is the front and 60 is the rear.

The reason i am asking is that i just got a pair of new Michelin tires since 2 of my older tires (30k miles on them) were showing some cracks. Michelin sent 2 new tires under the pro-rated warranty.
So now i have 2 new tires and 2 older tires with 30k miles on them. I want to put the newer tires on the axle where they will be wearing off faster, so hopefully i can get some more life out of the older tires. i hope this makes sense.

Thanks!

chiph9

Take a string and measure the circumference of the new tires vs. your old tires (after mounting and inflating). It shouldn't be hugely different, or you will make the differentials work harder (they will see the rotation difference). Ideally, all 4 tires should have pretty similar wear amounts.

The GX is full-time AWD, but I would expect the fronts to wear slightly faster because they also do the work of turning the truck. But like you said, the Torsen center diff is rear-biased. So there's a good case for putting them on the back.

IIRC, the owner's manual specifies a 5-wheel rotation pattern. I doubt anyone does that. :/

Chip H.

danmm7

Surprisingly, even after 30k miles, the "older" Michelins have plenty of rubber on them. I would say at least 70%. Impressive wear, but then again, the Michelin LTX M/S2 tires are highly rated. I guess their high $$$ cost is justified.

Yet... i had sidewall cracks @ 30k miles. Partially covered under warranty, (this is why i got 2 new tires) but why would such expensive tire have sidewall cracks @ 30k miles! I don't live in the desert.