Tire wear question

[ALPINE2001]

I know that the e46 m3 requires rear tire replacement at a rate of about twice the fronts, but can anyone explain to me why?
Thanks in advance.

[Everett]

Look at the sidewall for the Treadwear figure. It's low compared to other tires.The reason being, its a soft tire - grips well on a dry surface. Tire compound is designed this way so the car can do its designed performance - take the 25 mph curve at 60 mph.

Plus, drive power is applied to the rear tires also. My OE tires lasted 12K miles, but only due to tire punctures, 5 in one year on one tire. These tires do pick up debris from the road again because of the soft/sticky compound.

[ALPINE2001]

What does it look like? Will I find the fronts to be a higher Treadwear figure?

Thanks for the info.

[Everett]

Read here:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=33

Yes, it is numerical and on the sidewall. Part of the UTQG info to compare tires.

[ALPINE2001]

[Robert Hode]

Torque and weight transfer to rear tires upon acceleration, so significantly faster wear on rear tires is completely normal. Especially so on E46's, where you can't help but to accelerate quickly. Soft rubber on performance tires compounds the issue.

On front wheel drive cars, generally, the opposite is true (i.e. fronts wear faster than rear).

I wonder if tire wear patterns would be about equal on all fours if the car ran (in a lab setting) at a constant speed for 15K-20K miles?

[ALPINE2001]