How fast can you wear out tyres?

[DavidUK]

I'm looking at buying a 3 year-old Honda Civic 1.4 with 18,000 miles on the clock. But - all four tyres are near the legal limit (1.6 mm). That seems to me an incredibly high rate of wear.

Is it really feasible that someone could have worn out a full set of tyres in 18, 000 miles?

The thing is that I am suspicious of the mileage. How easy is it for someone to clock cars nowadays?

[woodchopper]

If they are a good make - michelin, goodyear etc and not some far east european crap, then no they shouldn't have worn out in 18k - to wear them out at the same time he would have probably had to change them from back to front to wear them out at same time, as the fronts will always wear out first.

[YvonneM]

MY husband says it depends how the car has been driven lots of braking sharp cornering etc would cause the tyres to wear out quicker

[gsr600]

Hi
call me mad, but i once wore out a pair of rear tyres on my MGB in 3 months & it wasnt due to high mileage.
& my MK2 Jag tyres in 10k.
i've grown up since then (i think) : )

[Toureman]

I would be wary of buying the car as it has been driven quite fast for it's short life.

Not to fast though as tyres can only do a few hundred miles if driven really fast.