How many miles do you get on a set of tires?

[Midpack]

Though I know the warranties are pretty worthless after "prorating" and other caveats (must be even wear and down to 2/32"), there seem to be lots of tires with 60, 80 and even 90K mileage warranties. I am a very average driver, I rotate tires every 10K, and usually replace at 3-4/32" remaining tread depth. I usually get 40K miles on a set, worst experience was 30K, best about 50K. Dies anyone actually safely get these really high mileage numbers?

 

[aaronc879]

Living in an area with many months of ice and snow I don't take a chance by running the tread really low. I get new tires at around the 40K mark.

 

[Dawg52]

I usually get around 50-55k. I don't buy the over 60k mile tires.

 

[sanfanciscotreat]

I just got rid of four Bridgestone dueler AT tires from my 4WD truck with 63000 miles. Replaced with the same as I was well satisfied. They had just worn down to the wear indicators.

 

[Andre1969]

I think the best I've ever seen was the tires on my house mate's 2006 Xterra. First set lasted something like 72,000 miles. When it came time to shop for new tires, I told him he should get that same brand, because I'd never seen tires last that long. He's up in the low 140,000 range now, so probably due for a new set soon.

I had a 2000 Intrepid that I bought new, and its OEM tires were racing slicks by around 30,000 miles. The next set of tires made it to around 76,000. Probably could have gone further, but one tire had two plugs, another had a slow leak, and another had worn unevenly when the car went out of alignment. Had similar luck with the next set, which lasted from 76000-130000, when I had to start replacing them. One wheel got stolen right off the car! Another one got a puncture. And I forget what happened to the other, but by that time that car got totaled at 150,000 miles, its tires were pretty badly mis-matched.

Before the Intrepid, I had mainly older cars that would be hard on tires, although I think I had one set last around 40,000 miles. I had them on an '89 Gran Fury, but when I got rid of that car I put them on a '79 5th Ave, until they got too old and worn.

 

[W2R]

I only drive about 3500-3900 miles/year. Right now, at 22,000 miles in a little under 6 years, the tires on my Venza have had a couple of nail holes repaired. Still, the treads are fine. So far they haven't rotted from old age yet, but that is something I'm concerned about at some point.

 

[Andre1969]

Just out of curiosity, if you don't drive a lot, at what age should you stop trusting a tire? I have a friend who has an '89 Cadillac Brougham, in pristine condition, and he had a high-speed blowout that did at least $1000+ worth of damage to the car, as it ripped the plastic fender liner, damaged some trim, and I think put a dent in the fender.

I bought a '76 LeMans about 10 1/2 years ago, and haven't changed its tires since I've had it. I don't think they were all that old when I bought the car though, as the previous owner didn't have it for very long, and he sent me some pics of it with different tires on it (whitewalls versus raised white letters). They still look good, and I've only put maybe 6-7000 miles on the car since I've owned it. However, I'm planning to get new tires put on before I take it on any serious trips.

 

[Ian S]

I wouldn't trust tires over 10 years old. On tires more than 5 or 6 years old, I'd be watching carefully for signs of cracking in the sidewalls.

 

[Andre1969]

One of my friends has a '78 Mark V with only 20,000 miles on it. He's had it at least 10 years now, and has no idea how old its tires are. We went up to the car show in Hershey PA a couple weeks ago, and he tends to peg the speedometer on that old beast. I know, it's not hard to peg the speedo when it only goes up to 85 mph, but the thought of just how unruly that big mastodon could get with a high-speed blowout scares the holy sugar out of me!

 

[JoeWras]

About 40k.

One of the dumbest frugal things you can do is push your tire life/tread limits.

Tires are life.

So many accidents are due to bad tires. Be smart. Replace early. This is one area in life to not push it.

Maybe on MMM they boil resin and set molds to recap tires. Well, not me.

 

[aaronc879]

I can't remember the source but I heard from an 'official source' that tires over 6 years old put you at a increased risk for blowout regardless of the number of miles. That's 6 years from manufacture not 6 years worth of miles.

 

[W2R]

I can't remember the source but I heard from an 'official source' that tires over 6 years old put you at a increased risk for blowout regardless of the number of miles. That's 6 years from manufacture not 6 years worth of miles.

Yikes. Looks like I'm in for a big expense soon.

I don't want to take even the slightest risk with my tires, though. I agree completely with JoeWras about that.

 

[Ronstar]

35k on the corvette. 44k on my truck


Sent from my iPhone .using Early Retirement .//82339)

 

[Andre1969]

I've been trying to talk my buddy with the Mark V into getting new tires ASAP. Considering how much he paid for the car, and even though it's low mileage he's also put a lot of money into it, it seems foolish to skimp on tires. My buddy with the '89 Caddy found that out the hard way...he's another one that loves his car and goes OCD over caring for it...yet for some reason, skimped on the tires.

I just sort of forgot about them with my '76 LeMans. I don't drive the car a whole lot, as I have others that I take to shows more often. And, the time just crept up on me, and before I knew it, 10 years had passed since I bought it!

 

[RunningBum]

Living in an area with many months of ice and snow I don't take a chance by running the tread really low. I get new tires at around the 40K mark.

Yeah, I tried squeezing out another year the winter before last. Lost control driving slowly on a slight downhill and some fresh slick snow and slid into a ditch and the front of a guardrail. Totaled my 10 year old Pilot. Luckily even though that car would have been recalled for the dangerous airbags, they went off and didn't injure me. Not going to be cheap with tires again.

 

[Internally_Combusted]

Depends on the car. My miata that also sees track time only gets about 20k miles out of aggressive street tires before I am on the wear bars. My daily driver will get 50-60k out of a set of commuter tires without any noticeable performance degradation like hydroplaning in the rain but I am also in Florida which has good weather and smooth roads. YMMV.

 

[W2R]

Midpack, thanks for starting this thread since like Andre, I hadn't been thinking about the swift passage of time and its effect on my tires.

I'm going to research this a little further, and will probably get new tires quite soon. I needed to get a slow leak fixed anyway, so might as well do it now if it's nearly time.

 

[RunningBum]

I only drive about 3500-3900 miles/year. Right now, at 22,000 miles in a little under 6 years, the tires on my Venza have had a couple of nail holes repaired. Still, the treads are fine. So far they haven't rotted from old age yet, but that is something I'm concerned about at some point.

I put a little less on my Miata. It was riding pretty rough and I asked my mechanic about it. I think the tires were 7-8 years old and he said to replace them, and if that didn't work we'd look at the alignment and other things. New tires fixed it. I also agree about the blowout risk.

 

[RunningBum]

To answer the OP question, I get 30-40K normally but I don't think I've bought any that claimed 60-90K. Seems like I get less than they claim generally.

 

[Andre1969]

Yeah, I tried squeezing out another year the winter before last. Lost control driving slowly on a slight downhill and some fresh slick snow and slid into a ditch and the front of a guardrail. Totaled my 10 year old Pilot. Luckily even though that car would have been recalled for the dangerous airbags, they went off and didn't injure me. Not going to be cheap with tires again.

I had a similar incident years ago. In 1993 I bought an '82 Cutlass Supreme coupe for $800. It had some wear on its tires. The winter of '93-94 was about the iciest I can ever remember us having. Never more than an inch or two of anything on the ground at any one time, but we had record colds temps, and it just stayed hard-packed ice. That was the only time in my living memory I remember temps below -10F.

Somehow, I made it through that cold, icy snap with no trouble. But, on the day I went to get new tires, I ended up sliding in my grandmother's driveway, getting stuck, trying to rock the car out but only getting further off the driveway, and taking out one of her azalea bushes.

And then, about a month after I bought those new tires, the damn thing lost all its oil pressure, and began a rapid death spiral.

 

[braumeister]

I get anywhere from 50-70K on my tires. When the originals get in that range (2-3 years for me) I replace them with Michelins.

 

[JoeWras]

I put a little less on my Miata. It was riding pretty rough and I asked my mechanic about it. I think the tires were 7-8 years old and he said to replace them, and if that didn't work we'd look at the alignment and other things. New tires fixed it. I also agree about the blowout risk.

Right. Old tires have issues. The compound gets hard (bad for winter especially), the structure gets wonky (you get a bad ride), and there is the blowout risk from just drying out and rotting.

Tread life is another matter because it is hard to compare depending on the amount of city vs highway driving. Some people can get 70k if it is a lot on the highway.

One other thing: I always replace all 4. I think replacing only 2 of the 4 is asking for trouble since it upsets the handling.

 

[BBQ-Nut]

The media just had a story on tire age and tire recalls on the CBS and NBC nightly news.


The NTSB declared the current industry method of issuing tire recalls 'broken'.


Several cases of tire stores selling tires over 6 years old and that several deadly accidents were due to 'old' tires (again over 6 years old).


It did not matter if the car was only occasionally used and garages - the tires still become a risk with age.

 

[Car-Guy]

Depends a lot of the brand/type of tires, vehicle and driving styles. For me, I'm probably harder on tires than most. Also, I won't keep a set of tires that's older than 5 years old and I replace them well before the ware bars are even with the tread. With that said, even with some of the best tires (Michelin'shttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelin or Pirellie's) the best I get is 40k miles. Usually it's closer to 30k miles.

Example, when I would run Goodyear's on my Corvette, I would "need" to change them in 12 to 15k miles. However, if I would put the equivalent Michelin's on the same car I could easily get 30k+ miles.

 

[JoeWras]

Hey Car-Guy, most car guys I know are lucky to get 20k. That's just one of the "joys" of being a car guy!