Average life of tires

Hi everyone,

I have had my 97 F355 Spider for about 8 years now (I'm the first owner), and I have not changed any of the tires till now. the car only has 7,000 miles. The tires are Pirellis P zeros and the tread on the tires still look new. After a few years, is it required to change all the tires because the quality/performance decreases? Is there a risk of the tires blowing out? The tire pressure is regularly checked and I have not done any track events in this car. The dealership also has not advised anything in this matter, even after doing my major belt change service.

I would appreciate any advise since everyone here is more experienced about cars than I am.

Thanks in advance.
mani

 

For tyres which have been in starage for considerable time, I was under the impression that you would see cracks along the sides of the tread pattern. These are caused by the rubber losing some of its elasticity over a number of years. Like any cracks these obviously reduce the strength of the tyres and increase the risk of problems.

Have you any of these?

 

The problem with old tires is often the damage is on the inside, and can't be seem until you remove the tire from the rim.

My dino had old WXW radials on it. They looked perfect on the outside, but had hardened and started to rot from the inside.

Yes, tires that are very old will crack on the outside.

I think we've talked about this somewhere on Fchat before and had decided that ten years was the limit for tires. Tread good or not, rubber just doesn't hold up forever and ten years was the consensus of opinion for how long to hang on to them.

DM

 

I would guess that the conditions would influence the life, certainly sunlight would have an effect and I suspect humidity also plus if static for long periods of time they form flat spots that are detrimental.

 

30,000 km. or 3 years whichever comes first....

 

What tyres do you use ??? 30.000km ???

Pirelli p zero : max 10.000km , mostly 8.000km

 

Go to a couple track days to finish them off. I say 5k miles or so. Old tires run rougher I think and the car hadles a lot better with new tires. I think 5 years or so tops.

 

Take a real good look at the center of the rear tires. I think 7000 miles should show quite a bit of wear.

 

7K miles on P-zeroes? I have 5200 miles on mine and the rears are down to the wear bands. It was a bit wet when I drove this weekend and the back end is on the loose side. This was all street driving, so 7K miles seems like a lot to me. I'll probably hit the track and finish mine off as I consider them unsafe for the street at this point.

For age, I consider 5 years the max, though I have never had to toss tires due to age before. I have always worn them out first.

 

Rubber on your tires will have hardened quite a bit. So change them if you want the best handling and stopping power from your car. I changed 4 year old P-Zeros on my 550. Still lots of tread left, side wall in excellent condition, but night and day difference in grip compared to new tires.


Try driving someone else's F355 with new tires and you'll notice the big difference.

 

You guys are correct...its about time to change the tires because I have noticed the handling of my car has really gotten worst over the years, especially in rain. I am going to order some new tires this week from Tire Rack. This give me a good excuse to try out the new Bridgestone SO2 A.

Thanks a lot for all the advice.

mani