Replacing original tires on '05 Park Ave

[carviewsonic]

Made an appt. with my local auto shop for tomorrow to replace the original tires on our '05 Park Ave. Only 30k kms on the car, but the tires are 14 years old now (car was built July '04) and I think they are getting too old to be safe at highway speeds anymore. Had them off to rotate last week, and saw some cracking between the treads. Replacing with General RT 43's. Had those same tires on our Lesabre which was totalled last fall by a deer hit. I liked the RT 43's, I thought they were pretty close to the Michelins that I usually buy, but hundreds of dollars less for a set of four.

Just wondering what others here have to say about tire age and the General RT 43's.

 

[marine65]

Really?
14 year old tires?

Carmakers such as Nissan and Mercedes-Benz tell consumers to replace tires six years after their production date, regardless of tread life. Tire manufacturers such as Continental and Michelin say a tire can last up to 10 years, provided you get annual tire inspections after the fifth year.

 

[carviewsonic]

I should have replaced them when we bought the car 3 years ago, but they still 'looked' like new. We don't put a lot of miles on this car, so I just didn't make it as much of a priority as I probably should have.

 

[Nick1994]

On a squishy old Buick, squishy General RT43's will ride and drive just fine. I've got them on my Camry. While I'm not thrilled with the handling of them, they'd be perfect for a Buick since you likely won't be driving it like a Nascar.

Also have a 3-1/2 year old set on a 1970 VW Beetle, maybe 2,000 miles on them. Sits in the Phoenix sun 24/7/365 and there is absolutely no sign of cracking whatsoever.

 

[carviewsonic]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
On a squishy old Buick, squishy General RT43's will ride and drive just fine. I've got them on my Camry. While I'm not thrilled with the handling of them, they'd be perfect for a Buick since you likely won't be driving it like a Nascar.

Also have a 3-1/2 year old set on a 1970 VW Beetle, maybe 2,000 miles on them. Sits in the Phoenix sun 24/7/365 and there is absolutely no sign of cracking whatsoever.


Squishy is good for our old Buick, since it will never handle like a McLaren anyway.

Good to know the RT-43's don't start cracking early on, since we don't put a lot of miles on this car.

 

[Lubener]

I am still running original Michelins on an 03 grand marquis w/ 31k miles with no problems. Plenty of tread, no cracking and still work great. If they were cracking, I would replace them however.

 

[Dave9]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
On a squishy old Buick, squishy General RT43's will ride and drive just fine. I've got them on my Camry. While I'm not thrilled with the handling of them, they'd be perfect for a Buick since you likely won't be driving it like a Nascar.


I feel the opposite is true, that on a poor handling vehicle you need the extra grip of quality tires a LOT more.

Granted I am talking about safe public road driving, not being a moron and breaking laws with a high performance vehicle. When you have a vehicle with a mushy suspension it needs all the help it can get to keep up with other vehicles and by keep up I mean braking as much as anything else.

However there is a breaking point, where it's a bad value to buy high performance tires that go to waste from old age dry rot before you get the mileage out of them.

Considering that I would go for a value brand, sport tier tire. It will have worse mileage than top tier performance tires, but if the ticking clock is years not mileage, that's the safest bet on a budget.

 

[Dave9]

Originally Posted By: carviewsonic

Squishy is good for our old Buick, since it will never handle like a McLaren anyway.

Good to know the RT-43's don't start cracking early on, since we don't put a lot of miles on this car.


I feel opposite about this too, that with such a supple suspension on a Buick sedan, you can put the harshest tires imaginable on it and still not horribly corrupt the ride quality, while a McLaren has terrible ride quality to be used on public roads and could use the softest riding tires possible if that is the purpose for it.

To me the difference is road versus track. It is silly to equip a road vehicle like it should be for a track, but an older road vehicle can be upgraded closer to modern road vehicle standards by using better performance tires than factory equipment. It will not become a race car, just handle closer to the rest of the pack (other vehicles) on the street, which are the main obstacles in real life driving.

 

[carviewsonic]

We live in a small prairie town, straight flat highways in every direction, so precise handling (in the BMW or sport sedan sense) isn't a big issue. I think the Park Ave handles well enough, for its intended use. Our Honda handles really well, but that car just tires (bad pun intended) us out on a trip (road noise, firm ride). If we lived in a large city or in a mountainous region, the Buick would not be the best choice in a car.

 

[tcp71]

The Alberta climate is pretty easy on tires. I still have the original tires from our 05 sienna. They’re fine.

 

[SeaJay]

Any noticeable cracks in the treads or body?

 

[CapriRacer]

A word of caution:

Some tire manufacturers use a different rubber compound on the sidewalls in order to prevent weather related cracking. The problem is that what is inside the tire is what is most important while the outside is used only as an indicator. (Hint: No tire failed because the sidewall was cracked, but many tires have failed because the rubber inside got too old and degraded.


So a tire might look OK, but inside it is a disaster!

 

[Pew]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
On a squishy old Buick, squishy General RT43's will ride and drive just fine. I've got them on my Camry. While I'm not thrilled with the handling of them, they'd be perfect for a Buick since you likely won't be driving it like a Nascar.


Pretty much sums it up for me too. The dry and wet performance of the RT43 is more than you never need in that car, but it is squishy. Like winter-tire in 80F squishy.

 

[carviewsonic]

"So a tire might look OK, but inside it is a disaster!"

I checked out your website, lots of good info there. I appreciate your input.

No way to know for sure when a tire crosses the line from safe to unsafe, too many factors I suppose. The tire's age is really all a consumer can go by.