Wonder if age is catching up with tires

[daves87rs]

I've noticed something that caught my attention, and has me thinking..

Currently, my cobalt is in the midst of getting updates done to it. One of those items were shocks and struts. (car currently sits short of 70k) Starting to feel bumps, thinking it's time...

Car is currently on Sumtitomo HTR 4s, bought in march 2009, with a production date at the end of Jan 2009. Tires have just over half of treadlife left. Short of the odd way they wear (wear a bit like they were overfilled), they have been a good tire for the money. But I started to notice if I added a few extra PSI to the tires, the car rides much better on the bumps. After a while, you might feel them again. Struts have no bounce-and look good. No bounce from the shocks on the back, though one might have a little leak....


So I am wondering, can older tires give the effect that things are going bad? The Sumis are showing their age on the outside, with no major cracks (plenty of little ones though) I was planning to wait until fall for a new set, but I am thinking a new set of tires will keep me from replacing stuff I might not have to....


That, and the older tires Vs. Pot holes may not end well...

 

[ThirdeYe]

Sorta off topic but I used to have those tires on my old Integra and thought they were awful. Awful in the snow/rain and you felt every little bump in the road. Switched to Arizonians from Discount Tire instead and sold the Sumis and it was a night and day difference. I am surprised they worked so well with your Cobalt as it is similar in size to my Acura was as well. We also had a set of the same Sumis on a Grand Am and they were pretty much useless on that vehicle as well and wore out quickly.

 

[spk2000]

U have Michelins on my Sable and they are getting olderprobably about the same. This 01 Sable has relatively low miles and I used to get great buys on Michelin when FIL worked for them but now he is retired an deals are gone. The Michelins seem to get harder with years and performance ride and handling go with this aging . I don;t have a scientific proof oand have not test hardness other than feel but there is definitely a difference and tires have only lost about 25% of tread so treadwear is fine but tires are not feeling like they did when new.

 

[IndyIan]

Only 70k and new struts sounds like money down the drain to me. I imagine the interior of the car is getting a little looser and noisier. I've taken my Focus from 30k to 65k in the last couple years, and its certainly loosened up a bit, but I'm not doing the shocks until one is obviously blown. We have only had shock failures closer to 150k miles in any of our vehicles over the years.
I also suspect that capriracer will say that tire carcasses only get more pliable as the tire is used, the tread hardens for sure, but that creates more of a noise issue than ride.

 

[zzyzzx]

You bought cheap imported tires, and now you are complaining about them, correct? Try something made in USA by a name brand next time. My tires are way older than yours (some go back to 1998) and they are all fine.

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
Sorta off topic but I used to have those tires on my old Integra and thought they were awful. Awful in the snow/rain and you felt every little bump in the road. Switched to Arizonians from Discount Tire instead and sold the Sumis and it was a night and day difference. I am surprised they worked so well with your Cobalt as it is similar in size to my Acura was as well. We also had a set of the same Sumis on a Grand Am and they were pretty much useless on that vehicle as well and wore out quickly.



They were pretty decent in the snow here, but then again I'm on the opposite side of the state..

That, and comparing your car to mine is like comparing a cavalier to a caddy....lol. Maybe it was the sucky soft ride the car gives kept me from noticing that....who knows.

Funny how I mentioned this to a few friends (and my friends here

), and it's really starting to look like the tires...

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Only 70k and new struts sounds like money down the drain to me. I imagine the interior of the car is getting a little looser and noisier. I've taken my Focus from 30k to 65k in the last couple years, and its certainly loosened up a bit, but I'm not doing the shocks until one is obviously blown. We have only had shock failures closer to 150k miles in any of our vehicles over the years.
I also suspect that capriracer will say that tire carcasses only get more pliable as the tire is used, the tread hardens for sure, but that creates more of a noise issue than ride.



It's a Cobalt...not much to say there...

Foci beats it hands down...

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
You bought cheap imported tires, and now you are complaining about them, correct? Try something made in USA by a name brand next time. My tires are way older than yours (some go back to 1998) and they are all fine.


Hmmm...they weren't that cheap! (Few bucks under the big boys-when you lose two tires at a time to a pothole, you gotta take what they have)

Well, I could run out and get a set of Goodyear Integs...

That said, I do really like my wife's American made Yoko Avids on her car- and I find myself leaning more toward the RT43s (usa made in my size) or the C3/C5s....

 

[Bamaro]

Originally Posted By: daves87rs
Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
You bought cheap imported tires, and now you are complaining about them, correct? Try something made in USA by a name brand next time. My tires are way older than yours (some go back to 1998) and they are all fine.


Hmmm...they weren't that cheap! (Few bucks under the big boys-when you lose two tires at a time to a pothole, you gotta take what they have)

Well, I could run out and get a set of Goodyear Integs...

That said, I do really like my wife's American made Yoko Avids on her car- and I find myself leaning more toward the RT43s (usa made in my size) or the C3/C5s....

Good choice, I have them on my Cobalt.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Most of the cheaper brands I have used degraded quickly as they age and wear. Sometimes the difference was quite dramatic.

With better quality tires you seem to have a much flatter curve to the loss of performance over time/miles...

 

[CT8]

My wifes horse trailer tires were 12 years old ,when one day I saw a bubble on the tread of the spare so she bought a tire. About a month later I noticed another bubble on the tread of another tire. so she bought 4 new tires. They were Goodyear tires. Tires may deteriorate with age .

 

[ThirdeYe]

Originally Posted By: daves87rs
Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
Sorta off topic but I used to have those tires on my old Integra and thought they were awful. Awful in the snow/rain and you felt every little bump in the road. Switched to Arizonians from Discount Tire instead and sold the Sumis and it was a night and day difference. I am surprised they worked so well with your Cobalt as it is similar in size to my Acura was as well. We also had a set of the same Sumis on a Grand Am and they were pretty much useless on that vehicle as well and wore out quickly.



They were pretty decent in the snow here, but then again I'm on the opposite side of the state..

That, and comparing your car to mine is like comparing a cavalier to a caddy....lol. Maybe it was the sucky soft ride the car gives kept me from noticing that....who knows.

Funny how I mentioned this to a few friends (and my friends here

), and it's really starting to look like the tires...


Im really surprised you had no issues in the snow as we had problems with both the Integra and the Grand Am in the snow. With the Integra I was sliding through lights and stop signs (even going very slow) and I had no such issues with the tires I replaced them with. Even when they were brand new they were sliding in the rain.