General Cycling Discussion - Why bike tires serve 4 times less distance than car tires? Why?

I would expect the bike tires to last more than car's ones, as the bike is lighter. But I noticed that I have to change the bike tires after about 5000 km, while the car tires last about 20000 km.

Any particular reasons for this?

yes. road bike tires are usually designed to be fairly light which means there isnt as much rubber there. also depending on if the tire has a softer compound it willl wear faster...cars dont really care about weight because the engine can always help it along.
mountain bike tires get worn by rocks and crap getting stuck in them.
im sure there are more reasons but i cant think of them

Car tires have multiple layers (belts) of wound steel. Check out a used tire and notice how thick and heavy it is.

while the car tires last about 20000 km.


If you're only getting 20,000 km from car tires, either you have an extremely heavy right foot, or they are really cheap. I never get less than 64,000 km from a set of car tires.

The mileage you are getting from your bike tires is about the average.

Car tires are only inflated to 30-40psi bicycle tires are inflated to 110psi. The thickness also comes into play as a car tire is very thick and very heavy a bicycle tire is around 220 grams and very thin. I am amazed at how many miles a bicycle tire will last.

Contact patch. A road bike tire has maybe three square inches of rubber touching the ground. With a two hundred pound rider/bike you get about 34 pounds per square inch force. My car, at 3200 pounds, has contact patches around 18 square inches. This gives about 44 ppsi force. A little higher than the bike, but the bike tire has a tread depth of maybe two millimeters, while the car tire has a tread depth of about 15 millimeters. Then there is compounding. If you compare a racing car tire to a racing bike tire, the bike tire wins every time. A Hoosier track tire might last 250 miles but even the lightest Continental bike tire will make it 3-400 miles.

*The contact sizes are guesses, the bike tire is probably smaller and the car bigger, but I didn't want to "load" the answer

3-400 miles for tires, what do you ride on, glass? Hot coals?

3-400 miles for tires, what do you ride on, glass? Hot coals?

I think he might have missed a zero. My Conti GP3000s make it out to 4000 miles although I'm probably better off replacing them after 3000 miles.

My roadbike tire has .5 * 3 = 1.5 in^2 touching the ground. (Ride it, tail slide and lock it up to a stop, look at the patch).
Two tires = 3 in^2. 200 lbs / 3 in^2=67psi.
A car tire might have a contact patch of 6" x 3"=18in^2 each. Or 72in^2. At 3400 lbs, you get 47 psi. Less than a bike tire.
Plus as stated, the bike tire's significantly thinner than a car tire. Not to mention every little thing you go over cuts down into the tire more than a car tire which has less pressure on the object.
Kind of like a goretex jacket and a leather jacket.
As a general rule of thumb though, the higher performing and more expensive something is, the more delicate it is, even if its properly designed.
I've seen $10 timex and casio watches thrown out of 2 story buildings and survive. Also seen a $4000 omega watch fall off a chair and break.

I was thinking Continental Olympic tubular, 185g

I considered getting out some sheet paper and doing contact patches. It would be easy to do the bike but I didn't feel like jacking up the car. Also the only car sitting on concrete right now would skew the results as it only weighs about 1500 pounds.

It is a simple answer ... vehicle tires wear as a result of compound, design, weight, driving style, and air pressure (there are more but these are the most common reasons). Because a vehicle tire goes typically at a higher speed more heat is generated. Add in the road condition (abrasiveness of the road surface to name one) the loaded weight of the vehicle and the tire will (it takes a high speed camera to pick it up) what is called jounce. That is when the sidewall flexs. Every time it flexs that movement generates heat. Then if as most people drive throw it into the cloverleaf at speeds higher then posted (most people drive according to their seat of the pants). All this adds up to tire wear. On a bike you don't experience the high speeds nor the jounce. Bike tires don't have as much tread depth as compared to passenger tires. (most passenger tires depending on the make/model and size vary from 9 - 11 /32nds of tread. The cheaper the tire the less the tread depth when new.) There are other factors but I don't want to write war and peace!

I wonder how hard a compound a bike tire would be to last 10,000 miles? Wow!