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Are Minivans Hard On Tires? How Long Should They Last?)

The people who drive minivans select this vehicle because of a lot of reasons, including the spacious second and row seating that offer ample space for accommodating a full family, the cargo room where you can accomplish all your work while simultaneously moving all around the town, and complete safety. Whichever reason makes you choose this vehicle type, you need to be conscious about the tires for your minivan. 

Tires must be suitable for the driving conditions and the driver asks of course also for your minivan but even if you find the perfect tires many people report that they tend to wear out really quickly. 

Is that true? Are minivans extremely hard on tires? 

Minivans are not any harder on tires than other vehicles are but people often misuse minivans without realizing it. Minivans are only designed to carry up to 1,500-1,800lbs inside of them but many people end up putting much more weight in them than that. 

For example, my family and I have taken road trips many times with 5 adults, 2 children and the luggage stacked to the ceiling in the back. That is borderline if not over the recommended payload amount which means the tires will wear out faster because of the excess weight on them. This will also cause the suspension to wear out faster which in turn will cause the tires to wear out faster as well. 

Often people have used their minivans for a variety of things in the past that have caused them to be overloaded which in turn means that they will naturally be harder on tires the older the minivan is. If your minivan is more than a few years old then it’s likely that the suspension, front end parts, etc. are all a contributing factor to why your minivan’s tires wear out faster than they should. 

The only way to fix that is to spend a ton of money replacing parts that are likely still fine for everyday use but they are causing the tires to wear out prematurely. For most people, the easiest thing to do is simply replace the tires every few years rather than spend thousands of dollars trying to replace parts on the minivan instead. 

There are a lot of points to be considered while choosing the right tire for your minivan. If you are fed up with being uncertain about choosing the topmost tire for your minivan, then this post is going to be helpful for you. You can find several online websites that will offer you the best set of tires that are sure to match the requirements of your minivan. 

How long should tires last on a minivan?

If you just bought a new minivan or you’ve had one for a while you might be wondering how long you should expect the tires to last on it before needing replaced. 

Your minivan tires should last you between 40-70,000 miles. However, this is greatly affected by the type of tires you have on your vehicle, how you drive it, and how much weight you typically put into it. 

There are some tires that are designed to last for 60-80k miles so if you put those on your minivan you would get a lot more use out of them then if you put 30k mile tires on it. Obviously the 60,000 mile tires should last twice as long as the 30,000 mile tires but typically they won’t be twice as expensive. 

If you are planning on keeping your vehicle for a while or it has lower mileage then going for a higher mileage tire is typically worth the investment. 

As mentioned above, how long your minivan tires will last also depends on your driving habits and how much weight you typically haul around. If you accelerate and brake hard while going around corners pretty fast then your tires will naturally wear out faster than if you drive more conservatively. 

If you are also always hauling heavy equipment or a lot of people in your minivan that will also cause the tires to wear out faster as well. 

Do I need an alignment after replacing tires on a minivan? 

If you are getting ready to replace the tires on your minivan you might be wondering if you should get an alignment done as well. Afterall, the last thing that you want is your brand new tires to wear out prematurely because they aren’t aligned. 

An alignment isn’t necessary when replacing the tires of the old tires were still wearing evenly. However, if the old tires had portions that were bald and other portions that had plenty of tread left then you will want to get an alignment done. 

It doesn’t hurt anything to get an alignment done every time that you replace your tires but it will of course cost you some extra money. Some tire service businesses actually offer free alignment when you buy new tires there so be sure and check around to see if you can find a deal like that in your area. 

If it has been a long time since you got an alignment or if you are buying pretty expensive tires with a long life then spending the extra money for an alignment is probably worthwhile for you. 

Should you replace two tires at a time? 

Buying tires for your minivan can be an expensive thing, believe me I know. I just recently replaced all four of my tires and the cost for the “inexpensive” ones was near $500! Good thing those were the cheap ones! 

When people see how expensive it is to replace four tires at a time they are often tempted to just replace one or two of them instead, but is that an okay practice? 

Will replacing two tires at a time hurt anything? 

Most car and tire manufacturers recommend replacing all four tires at once so that way they all have even tread on them. However, you certainly can just replace two tires at a time instead of four and it likely won’t cause any issues for how the vehicle drives or how smooth the ride is as well. 

If you do replace only two of your minivan’s tires then you will want to put the new tires on the back and the used ones on the front. This will allow your car to not slide around in the rear during rainy, icy, or snowy conditions. 

Replacing one tire at a time on your minivan is not recommended as that could seriously affect how it handles in poor weather conditions. The minimum that most experts recommend is replacing two tires at a time. 

Conclusion

These are just some of the basics that you should know when you own a minivan. Also, the driver of a minivan should be well acquainted with all the information related to minivan tires since tires are a very important component of a minivan which just cannot be neglected. 

There are a lot of dealerships who will sell you different minivan tires but you just need to choose the best one for yourself which can offer you the reliability you need. 

You must be very conscious about the tires of your minivan because the function of your minivan largely depends on the tires and if the tires are not right for any reason then things can go wrong. So, to ensure a safe and comfortable road trip, be careful about the tires on your minivan and make sure you know how long they should last so you don’t end up on the side of the road with a blowout.