Do you replace tires due to age?

[badatmath]

I have a flat so I will be visiting my local store this week and guessing they will tell me the others are "too old". Of course I can't guess what tread is left on them. . . but do you consider "age" a valid reason if tread is sufficient. . . Just curious.

 

[Beststash]

I was having an issue recently where it sounded like I had a tire out of balance (wobbly) so I had the tires balanced and rotated - it didn't help. This was a car that we seldom drive, and the tires had plenty of tread but the DOT code showed they were 8 years old. FYI - The last four digits indicate the week and year of manufacture. For example, "0309" means the tire was manufactured in the 3rd week of 2009.

So I decided to get a new set after reading it was a good idea after about 6 years? I really didn't expect it to fix the problem but.....it did. I'm thinking that maybe one of the tires was "separating" although you could not feel anything - out of round, etc.

Not saying that is always the case but it was in my instance.

 

[brett]

I have been led to believe that the climate where you live has an impact on tires.

I am very fussy about tires. They are the only things between me, my car, and the road.

I rely on a trusted tire shop to give me a heads up.

 

[badatmath]

I'm kind of thinking I will go ahead and replace honestly but I was curious what other people did.

I had sort of planned to get them checked but the flat pushed up the urgency.

 

[braumeister]

Yes, you definitely want to replace tires that are six years old, regardless of how much tread they have left.
They may still be OK, but why take the chance?

 

[pb4uski]

I have a flat so I will be visiting my local store this week and guessing they will tell me the others are "too old". Of course I can't guess what tread is left on them. . . but do you consider "age" a valid reason if tread is sufficient. . . Just curious.

Yes. We replaced the tires on our family camp's pool car last summer only because they were 10 years old even though they still had a lot of tread left. There is no way we wanted to have a tire failure end up injuring a family member so we just replaceed them.

 

[Koolau]

I don't recall ever having tires last long enough to replace based on time. My current tires have 20+K on them and 7 years. They look perfect, but if they go to 10 years, I'll replace them. I rarely exceed 50 mph here in the Islands so I'm not too concerned about them but I guess we'll see.

 

[Jerry1]

I’ve never had the issue, but I’m sure if there were obvious signs of aging, I’d replace them. In the absence of a shop or someone telling me they are bad, I think somewhere before 10 years I’d replace them. 6 to 7 years sounds about right. As was said, that’s where the rubber meets the road, literally, so I’m pretty particular about my tires. I’ve never waited until my tread has warn thin.

 

[imjustawarrior]

Yes. Tires can die of old age. I quick google says heat, sunlight, and ozone age tires. Tires should be replaced after 6 years from start of use or 10 years from when they were manufactured.

 

[Car-Guy]

Never scrimp on tires or brakes.

 

[FIYes]

Last fall my 6 years old tires sprung a slow leak after I drove over some rough road in a construction zone. I decided to replace the tires. Several months earlier when I had routine maintenance done I was told I needed to think about replacing the tires due to age. My mileage was low, 30000 miles. DH thought the tires were still good but I wasn’t willing to risk it. Blow the dough!

 

[aja8888]

Never scrimp on tires or brakes.

Or cheap cologne.

 

[razztazz]

Yes, I do. Usually 5+ to 7 years. The guy at the tire store showed me an article in a trade magazine about a study done by Michelin which indicated 7 yrs was still. As somebody said above the local WX conditions might accelerate the dissipation.

 

[aja8888]

I don't recall ever having a set of tires last long enough for them to be too old since I drive about 24,000 miles per year, on average.

 

[Dtail]

I would say on average that we drive 2 of our 3 cars enough where the lack of tread will show before its old age.
As for the 3rd car, we check with the dealer.

 

[COcheesehead]

Tires make a huge difference.

 

[ERD50]

I don't doubt that age is a factor, but I hate these "one size fits all" statements. Our cars are low miles, few highway miles (high speed increases heat, heat increases degradation, exponentially in many cases) and garage kept.
So our tires are not being subjected to as much UV and heat as many others. And I'm careful to keep them properly inflated.

I'm guessing that advice is based on worst case, to provide safety for all. So I feel confident that we can stretch that rule-of-thumb age limit safely.

 

[sailor]

Depends on the climate and parking place.
No for the tires in the garage.
Yes for the tires outside (especially trailer tires)

 

[badatmath]

I do live in a pretty toasty place so I'm very familiar with seeing tread separations all over in summer. But as I expect them to push it I thought I'd read a couple articles and run it by my "experts" here first.

 

[GenXguy]

I replaced 9 year old tires 1 1/2 years ago. They still had some life based on the tread, but they were old enough I went ahead and replaced them along with all 4 air pressure sensors when I got the deal mentioned at this link: Black Friday/cyber Monday?

 

[surprising]

I recently bought new tires for my travel trailer. When it's in storage (out in the open with full sun), the wheels are covered with wheel covers. Will these tires last longer than normal if they are covered?

 

[Aiming_4_55]

I would check to see if the current flat is caused by a nail or age/cracking of tire. If your tires are over 6 years old, I would probably replace if you do any highway or long distance driving. If local only driving, and you are ok with dealing with a flat tire here and there, then you can delay. I was in a similar situation with my kid's car battery, 4 years old and during dealership promotional oil change, the inspection noted the battery reading was low. Original battery typically last 3 years, so ok. Dealership wanted $325 so I found one at a non-dealership store for $180. I picked up and replaced it myself. I didn't want my kid having an unplanned car issue while I'm traveling. YMMV

 

[FlaGator]

I recently bought new tires for my travel trailer. When it's in storage (out in the open with full sun), the wheels are covered with wheel covers. Will these tires last longer than normal if they are covered?

From experience with travel trailers (campers for those in weird parts of the country), yes they will, compared to uncovered tires on a vehicle that doesn't move much. But still won't last as long as an auto tire being driven periodically. I never covered mine and sidewall rot was a problem.

 

[badatmath]

Flat is from a road hazard. I have a beautiful long big of metal something or other sticking out. . .

 

[AudiDudi]

I recently bought new tires for my travel trailer. When it's in storage (out in the open with full sun), the wheels are covered with wheel covers. Will these tires last longer than normal if they are covered?

Most RV'ers replace tires at 5-7 years. Covered does help some. Trailer tires are different than passenger tires. Michelin says 10 yrs max on passenger tires. I replaced some Hankooks on my pickup (garbage hauler) at 11 yrs that had tons of tread left. I have an 5th wheel that sits in AZ year round and never moves with tire covers. 3 of the 2009 tires have blown just sitting there over the last 3 summers. They have about 50 miles on them