What is the typical life of a set of tires?

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Hey everybody. I know this is a broad question but I have a set of Hankook H727s that still have great tread but I am noticing small cracks in the pockets of the treads and the tires are roughly 6 years old. They have roughly 50k on them (100k is the tread life warranty.) I know without pictures it is hard to diagnose but given the description would it be worth throwing a new set of rubbers on my car?
 
See how they work in the wintery stuff.

I find old tires(6-8 yrs) tend to harden (natural with rubber) and wet traction and winter traction seems to be seriously diminished.
 
Are the tires parked outside or in a garage? UV tends to cause accelerated deterioration and 5 year old tires stored outside will be drastically different than tires stored indoors.
 
I mainly go by wet grip, when that goes, so should the tires.
I've got a set of old X-ice on the CRV right now that don't look good, down to 6/32 with minor surface cracking on the treads and some weathering overall, but they still work well in the wet and snow.
On the other hand I have some 4 year old starfire all seasons that I use in the summer on the Focus that look great! No cracking or weathering, but they are hockey pucks in the wet. They won't be going on in the spring.
 
Originally Posted By: Reddy45
Are the tires parked outside or in a garage? UV tends to cause accelerated deterioration and 5 year old tires stored outside will be drastically different than tires stored indoors.


Outside the whole time. I noticed a change in the ride quality/noise. They are certainly more loud than before and they do seem to be more on the stiff side. The wet traction has been so/so. It was better before. Fortunately we haven't had any snow in Boston so I am unsure how the snow traction is.
 
I have a similar dilemma. Pirelli P4 H 30K 8 yrs old, no cracks anywhere, only ever washed with soap and water no chemicals or coatings that would strip the brown wax that is normally secreted over the life of the tire and when stored parked on wood not the concrete.

They look and ride perfect with no unusual wear at all, always rotated and correct PSI.
Do i toss them because they 8 yrs old? Maybe member CapriRacer can chime in, he is the resident expert on tires and tire related issues.
 
If you still have sipes (little squiggly lines) you should still have decent winter traction. However, if you don't, and you don't run snow tires, that's your cue.

Tiny cracks happen a lot. You want to look out for a crack on the edge of the tread where it meets the sidewall.
 
Most people will say 6 years is maximum. some as high as 10. I replaced the Michelons on my BMW at 5 years because they were terribly cracked.

Hankooks on my Corvair are 5 years old and show no sign of cracking, but it is normally garaged and has flat-free in them that helps mitigate the migration of air from the inside out, reducing oxidation and cracking.

Sun, salt, low profile/rough roads are enemies.
 
No

But it depends who you ask. I looked at this a while ago when I noticed cracking. Here's my notes, in case you're interested.


Discussion of tyre age:-

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=138

The article refers to two tyre industry associations that have made recommendations

“The British Rubber Manufacturers Association (BRMA) recommended practice issued June, 2001, states "BRMA members strongly recommend that unused tyres should not be put into service if they are over six years old and that all tyres should be replaced ten years from the date of their manufacture."

The British Tyre Manufacturers Association current recommendation, in contrast, says bugger-all, referring the reader to the vehicle owners handbook.

http://www.btmauk.com/data/files/Tyre_service_life_recommendations_31_May_2011.pfd

Mine is in Chinese. I'd bet the price of a new set of tyres that it says bugger-all too, but then its 25 years old.

Perhaps more relevantly for local (to me) conditions, they also refer to The Japan Automobile Tire Manufacturers Association (JATMA) who's recommended practice issued May, 2005, is quoted as stating:-

" it is recommended that all tires (including spare tires) that were made more than ten years ago be replaced with new tires." though they also attempt to pass the buck to the owners handbook.

So both these recommendations, including the one from the famously anal Japanese, [EDIT: That should perhaps be now be "famously (at least until Fukushima) anal Japanese"] are for 10 years.

These are of course general recommendations and not necessarily best current practice.

Bridgestone-Firestone has apparently adopted the Japanese recommendation, with the caveat that there is/was no specific technical basis for it.

http://www.safetyresearch.net/2006/01/01/number-of-tire-age/
“we believe it is appropriate to follow the JATMA recommendation in the interest of further encouraging consumers to focus on the importance of maintaining and properly replacing their tires.”

They also defer to the owners handbook.

Ford and Chrysler apparently recommend 6 years regardless of tread or use. They get sued a lot, as you might expect.

This gives them a vested interest slightly different to that of the tyre producers, who don't want to get stuck with ageing inventory.

http://thesafetyrecord.safetyresearch.net/2010/11/18/tire-age-issue-still-languishing-in-us/
 
I don't think there is a "typical" usage pattern for a set of tires. UV degradation is dependent on how much sunshine the tires are exposed to, whether they are in service in Miami, FL, or Seattle, WA. And different rubber compounds have different resistance to UV degradation. Some cars are parked in garages, and some sit outside.

I think Indylan had the best standard for the real-world user: When the wet traction goes away, it's time to change tires.
 
My 7 year old tires on a car parked outside look worse than my 1998 tires on a car that is garaged. If I lived in the southwest, these tires would probably all be bad long ago.
 
The Michelins that came on my '11 Regal are at least 5, maybe a little older if the car came off the assembly line in mid-2010. My mechanic says not to worry yet; they don't seem any noisier or more slippery than they did 2 years ago, and the treads still look good.
 
Take it as a cue to get those junky H727s off. OEM on my Fiesta and horrendous tires. They have no buisness being in snow and they hydroplane with alarming frequency.
 
Change-out when 6 to 10 years old. If you don't have confidence in them, replace.
 
When you start seeing cracks in places like that, the tire is basically aging out. It may still have usable tread on it, and it might drive okay, but you're starting to push the envelope, so to speak.

.. If you have to ask if they're still okay, then odds are good they're probably not. Trust your gut.

If it were me, I would start looking around for good deals on new tires.
 
Quote:
Re: What is the typical life of a set of tires?


200 to 125000 miles.

Ask a very generic question get a generic answer.
 
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