Aged Tires

There was an extended and learned thread a month or two ago somewhere here

Conclusion unless you only drive in the dry at 55 mph change them

 

Best to get rid of it from a safety standpoint. The tires have a 6 year life. Maybe you could take the car over to a good tire shop and ask them to check the tire condition.

 

Change them, you're talking about spending $1,200 to protect your life and your $55-90k car.

I'd hate to end up in a wheelchair for the rest of my life over something as simple as tires so I always change them if they are over a few years old.

 

How much tread is left on them after 15K miles?

I'm a cheap SOB, so I tend to want to use stuff up instead of replacing them before they "have" to be replaced. I've used tires that were older than that and wouldn't have an issue doing it again. That is assuming there's no visable issues with the tire. FWIW, you can feel a tire that is coming apart from damage to the internal structure.

How fast do you drive? If you were driving the tire at speed and/or under severe use I'd probably change them. If I were just rolling around town I'd be tempted go use them up.

 

Apart from potentially saving your life, which is a good thing, there's nothing that transforms a car like new tires. I swapped out a set of 7-year old Michelin Sport Pilots for new Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3s and the improvement was dramatic.

Tires and batteries are just about the only parts on a 348 that aren't stupidly overpriced -- I'd ante up and do it.

 

+1
I install old tires on my cars for winter storage. Tires are moved to this duty after 5-6 years no matter how much tread is left.
I understand not every sports car owner is a speed demon, but I really question buying a Ferrari and not caring about the contact to the road.

IMO this is like changing your oil every five years because you only put on 700-800 miles on the car.


At my last car club meeting I was reminded why I stopped hanging around car clubs. A local tire dealer was there answering questions.
The question that had the most people interested was: "I never drive over 70mph so why should I buy Z rated tires over the cheaper H rated"?

 

Watch out for some of these tire places!! they will sell you a 6 to 8 year old tire. There is a code on the tire that tells you when it was made, its in a circle with numbers (0493) its a tire built in April 1993, If it says (0408) Then you should be ok. I heard if the tires are over three years old, they are junk.. Any opinions from our tire experts out there??

 

Depends on your budget.

Michelin PS2/Pirelli PZeros would be fantastic if you can afford it. I personally put on Kumho Ecsta SPTs - they are Z rated, cheap and very decent.

 

Find a school or safe skidpad and go have fun learn a few things and burn them up. Its really fun! Sometimes I do race practice sessions or race school on street tires just to fry the rubber. It is a fun change from the grip of slicks.

 

I just had my tire looked at this past weekend before the run with the So. Cal group. I stopped in to have the tire pressure checked and they told me the tires on the front of my car were from '94... the code was somthing like (0494) he said they might be originals... needless to say I still went on the run... got her up to 135. I am now getting new tires (all 4) in the next week or so. I guess I was really lucky...

 

see 14 years old!!! Wow!!