ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Our car (we have only one) is 6 years old and on its original tires (46,000 miles) so this is in the cards for us, too. The tread appears to be adequate, but it's easy to tell the difference when driving in heavy rain. So it's time to order a new set and hope they are not too delayed.
This week DW's car was in for regular automotive maintenance. The service indicated the front tires are approaching replacement time. their distributors cannot give them an ETA for the tires. They are likely in the containers off the west coast.Fortunately it is not urgent, and now that DW is retired she drives less than 50 miles a week. They have the tires on order for us. No need for a deposit, they said if for any reason we find the tire make/model somewhere else they will have no problem using our order for someone else.
Goodyear. The shop is trying to match the same model as the rear tires (which were replaced early last year and do not have an issue. They are a small local chain. Since we started with them early in 2020 they provide excellent service at a great price. We might be able to hunt it down from or go with something different from Walmart or Target, but the cost including installation would be higher, and we want to keep supporting local businesses like this one.
Try Tirerack.com. If your local installer is agreeable (many are), Tirerack will ship the tires directly to them.
I damaged the sidewall on my car recently, and needed to have the tire cut down to match the wear of the others. Yes, it hurts to make a brand new tire 'worn' (and pay extra for the 'privilege'!), but I'm told the drive-train can be stressed by constantly adjusting for the different rotational speed. But Tirerack did that for me too, I just gave them the average tread depth of the other tires.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=259
-ERD50