TIRES: how long are you using them for?

...assuming you do not wear them out first!!! LOL

I'm not talking about the regular daily driver stuff here, rather the "weekend toy", you know: the thing that gets at most a couple of thousand of miles a year.

The following are the tires which were purchased back in 2008 and actually started to be used in about 2012:

1) REAR - Nitto - NT555R , 275/60R15 107V
2) FRONT - Yokohama - Avid S/T, 235/60R15 98T

The regular mfg. recommendation is: do not let the tires get over 10 yrs. in age. The rubber deteriorates, cracks show up, etc., etc....which is what I watch for in our family daily rides.

However, this is different.

With these things not exactly being cheap I do not want to spend the $$$ on unless it's necessary. But...given that I am way past the industry recommendation here as far as tire expectancy goes I have that nagging feeling like I should bite the bullet here: safety first!

Car is stored in the garage at all times, not temp controlled - although house attached so it never gets below 10C, but at least away from the sunlight and more extreme changes. Tires still "look like new", but I know there is more to it as far as compound chemistry and materials aging goes.

So is this the industry 'speak/marketing' getting to me, or is this the right time to caugh up the dough for new rubbers?

Thanks everyone!

Most all my vehicles' tires age out while there's still plenty of tread - so far this year I've spent $2,000 on tires.
One set was actually worn, being the daily driver, but the tires on my Dually - which towed loaded car trailers last year - I couldn't recall how old they were.
They looked fine, and had more than 50% tread, so I went through my file on the truck.
Turned out they were 21 years old. I figured that's as far as I want to push my luck; I really like that truck, the trailer, and my other vehicles...

They are 15 years old

The tires on the back of my 65 Cuda are more than 20 years old, but I only use them as rollers around the garage. They will never see the end of my driveway, for a reason.

I run drag radials on the rear of the Cuda and I change them every 2 or 3 years just like the fan clutch. The drag radials get harder with time and lose some of their bite. The fan clutch loosens some with use and it helps to have it as tight as possible. My car needs all the 'bite' it can get and needs all the air it can get through the radiator when driving slow in the summer heat.

On the fronts, I have Michelin Defenders. With premium tires not out in the sun like on most daily drivers, I run them for many, many years. If the manufacturers are okay with 10 years for the typical situation, then they would last much, much longer on our classics due to the different environment they live in. But even at that, 20 years is probably plenty. Who knows for sure? But we do know that direct sunlight is really tough on plastics and rubbers.

Some of that is my experience and some is just my opinion.

have a customer with a69 charger,3 years ago told him he needed tires ,looked like new but were cracked in the thread area .1 month later one rear one came apart,just about tore the quarter panel off.very costly lesson for him.check your tires,replace if old.

I use mine until it is time to re-tire.

mine are right at the 10 year mark, and I have been looking around for replacements and debating.
right now there are not many 15 inch tire choices for the sizes I want.
so debating the wheel size upgrade to get a few more choices.

of course another 10 years on cooper cobras as replacements is a long time.

The tires on the car my wife drives, age out befire worn out. Its a 2008 with 73,000 miles. On 5th set.
Funny you posted this as we ordered a new set last night online. Sams Club ship to store with install package as they do not stock tgst size and when do have it sell out fast or don't have 4.
Sale of 70 off and free install package ( free mount-balance, road hazard, rotation) so saved 88 bucks on that too.
I posted asking how to read tire date codes so I know before mounted they are freash OR older.
Was was under $700 for knowing she's safe.
They also had if i wanted 205, 215, and 235-60r15 275-60r15 they could also send old car tires checked just to see what they had.

7-10 years for an average street tire. That being said if a tire is 7-8 tears old and you are driving on the highway for long enough for them to get hot,that is when they are more likely to fail.

A hot rod or performance application is a little different to me.Is it worth the risk? Can you afford to lose your car or life because your tires look fine?

Putting around town is one thing. High speed or throwing one into a corner at speed on an old tire is asking for trouble.

I just had the tires on my Challenger replaced last week. They were about 20 years old and dry rotted. Lots of tread left but cracked very badly in the tread and sidewall.

My wife’s 2015 Subaru has on its second set, 185,000 miles and still look great. Changed out my 87 Ford box truck duely tires last year (50,125 miles), the old ones were new in 1997. Trailer tire are 5 years but 2 are already going flat, LT tires next time. My 2015 SRT might be needing a set soon (not sure what type to buy) 30,000 miles. The 06 one ton Dodge 4x4 is on its third set 134,000, originals lasted 96,000 miles (Michelin's). New tires are designed to deteriorate to not fill up land fills. Guess who buys ALL the junk yard tires now? Arabic and third world countries, big money for them.

My Charger tires ( Goodyear) were right at 18 years old when I sold it. They looked good with no signs of aging. I could feel an uneveness at highway speeds that was not normal for the car. I told the buyer to put tires on it ASAP.
My 38 went 21 or so years and I decided to change them just because of age.
both cars probably had 5-10K miles on them.


Just thinking about the two cars, the Charger saw daily driver duty for the first 1-1/2 years and was parked outside in Ca.. They 38 was a garage queen that the Charger joined after our move. May have had some impact on the Chargers tires

I put tires on my Cuda last year. The set that was on there I installed in '97. They looked perfectly fine...no cracks and plenty of tread.....figured it was time. My DDs got tires as well..both are 10 yrs old but had hit the wear bars at about 50k miles. My other toy is a '18 Mustang GT with Z rated stuff on it. The car has 20K on it now and the tires are about done. It'll get new shoes next spring.

For my wife and I, the tires are usually pretty near being wore out as they get neat that 6 year old mark. Replacing them just before the next winter is always a good plan, we get snow here that our daily drivers will see. We have 3 vehicles, I have things set up that we usually only have to buy 1 set of tires any given year, and hopefully that only happens about every other year. Working pretty well so far.

https://www.hagerty.com/media/opinion/jay-leno-needs-about-1200-tires/

I would have been more impressed if he had bought 5 tires instead of 4, because that spare is just as old as the original tires that blew out on him.

I just bought all new tires for the BMW, and a real spare for it. About $1500 all told. Michelin Pilot Sports.

My son, who is definitely my son, told me he got it up to 128 passing someone this past week.

Good thing I bought good tires, lol.

Most will only try to outsmart the set in stone tire standards only one time and then they learn the hard way.... "Oh ive a u joint going bad" then reality hits as five seconds later they have a rear quarter panel folded up filling the rear wheel well or worse.

After reading the leno article I was just thinking about how the quality has slipped on rubber in general, like ball joint / tie rod end seals and Suspension bushings. Doesn't seem to matter what the brand is. I've seen name brand rubber components / parts fail within 3 years of install.
The originals lasted years. The newer cars to my knowledge don't have this issue. So is it the sources supplying these components at fault? trying to keep this politically correct
Could tires also be following this same path ?

The above is true of heater cores and many other parts as well.
If a tire has never been mounted and stored in a climate controlled environment is it going to deteriorate at the same rate as a daily driver parked outside? Think of all the motorhomes (YIKES) there's some 💲💲💲💲💲.

Like most things these days, if a manufacturer can save a fraction of a cent on anything, they will.
Fool with compositions, eliminate a supposedly not-needed element, etc.
1 less belt loop on pants, tag on pair of briefs, etc.

My Barracuda rools around the yard on 20 year old tires (give or take). They are worn out, as well, but they won't be used on the road. I also won't buy tires for the car until I absolutely need them. No sense in having tires sit around before the car is ready to use.

FWIW - on my '93 Pathfinder, I replaced the 31-10.50R15 tires - which wore out before they aged out - with a set of General Grabber 265/75R15s.
The old tires, which had a square-shoulder profile, would follow highway ruts and had a fairly harsh ride.
The new ones addressed both issues, and at .40 less OD & tread width, no negative influences; as an added bonus, less expensive, too.
(I don't drive it on sand dunes or rock-crawling or anything that requires the flotation tires.)

I was going to mention the Leno article.
I replace them when they're worn out or show signs of age.

When I bought my Barracuda, it had Goodyear wing foot radials on it. They were 23 years old but still looked like brand new with nearly full tread. I D.Q.'d them and put B.F. Goodrich radial T/A's on it, since I plan on driving it.

Bought these wheels & tires new in 1985.

Still use them in 2023 ....LOL

This article was written for motorcycle tires, but rubber is rubber:

https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/debunking-the-tire-age-myth

Once I start to see dry rot on tires I typically replace them, especially for my motorcycles and my Fury.

The tires that were on mine are about 15 years old, maybe more. And always stored indoors and on carpet before I bought it.
They looked like new and drove perfect


When I switched mine to redlines radials. The old tires went on the other car

Would I take them on a across country trip, No
But have no fear to drive on them around town