Do tires on cars with CVTs last longer?

"Berang" (berang)
07/29/2017 at 02:01 • Filed to: None

Here’s a question that came to my head while I was reading some old Stanley Steamer advertisting lit. Do tires on cars with CVTs last longer? I’ll explain the tangent:

The Stanley brochure claimed longer tire life on a steam car, as many as 5,000 miles more (this would be like claiming 10-15,000 extra miles on modern tires) - the reasoning behind this claim? Steam cars run smoother. The steam car lacks a gear box and delivers smoother torque to the wheels, meaning the strain passed through the tires every time a car is shifted through a gear is avoided. The car starts and accelerates in one go to cruising speed. The “jolt” of changing gears supposedly causes more tire wear.

Supposing this were true, it would also be applicable to cars with CVTs. So I’m wondering, is there any record of tires living long when on cars with CVTs? Or has anybody heard/read a similar claim before?

DISCUSSION (12)

Nauraushaun > Berang
07/29/2017 at 02:12

The same would be true of using cruise control and probably self driving cars as well

Flavien Vidal > Berang
07/29/2017 at 02:23

It surely does... Bring bored to death and on the edge of killing yourself at the wheel had it’s advantages: you drive slow as fuck and therefore, save on tires!

pip bip - choose Corrour > Berang
07/29/2017 at 02:28

Haven’t read anything like that but I can’t disprove it either

In theory it sounds right

Berang > pip bip - choose Corrour
07/29/2017 at 02:33

Too bad mythbusters doesn’t exist anymore.

Berang > Nauraushaun
07/29/2017 at 02:34

Well if you only ever drove on the highway, I guess that would be true. But it wouldn’t apply in normal stop and go driving, since the gearbox still has to shift through gears every time you stop then go again.

Kiltedpadre > Berang
07/29/2017 at 03:17

I think that would probably be true. Would it be as drastic as it was then since tires wouldn’t have lasted nearly as long as they do now; most likely not.

This leads me to another subquestion that came to me. Would the tires on a CVT that is calibrated to drive as a true CVT last longer than one that is calibrated to have artificial shift points? The “jolt” of the artificial shift is probably not as “damaging” to the tires as it is in a typical automatic transmission, but it’s still there.

Nauraushaun > Berang
07/29/2017 at 04:04

Yeah of course, you probably wouldn’t benefit much from it in the city. But the more time you spend cruising the better off you’d be.

I imagine

Interesting thought. I usually think of saving fuel when I consider cruise control and whatnot, but that’s probably not where it ends!

jimz > Berang
07/29/2017 at 08:03

Doubtful. Whether the ads for the Stanley Steamer were truthful or not, keep in mind what primitive garbage tires were back then.

LongbowMkII > Berang
07/29/2017 at 08:14

Hell no. Pegging the gas at every intersection in the hopes that the motor fairies will give you power meant that every start was a potential one wheel peel.

hedbutter > Berang
07/29/2017 at 08:21

You’re in luck (i cant find anything else though)

https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/27/mythbusters-revival-hosts-unveiled/

wafflesnfalafel > Berang
07/29/2017 at 10:12

nah - marketing bull. Making sure the car is aligned and not hotshoeing it everywhere have a much larger affect on tire life than which transmission a vehicle has.

tromoly > Berang
07/29/2017 at 10:58

Garbage science, a CVT can break the tires free as well, we sure did in our FSAE car years ago. If the gearbox car isn’t doing burnouts or other things to break traction, there is no reason the tires should not last as long as a CVT car that is “smoother.”