Replace tires or ride it out?

[StealthRabbit]

OP, glad you got your tires, spendy size in Michelin (based on their volumes / sales) and you were near your 7 yr life from date of Manf. Michelins are known to ALL fail nearly the same time due to age. They are quite consistant at that.

for future reference (and other posters... )
1) always deal with your tire place and KNOW their margins (probably low on Michelins)
(I often get tire places down 20- 30% from list) ALWAYS offer to do the deal to meet their BEST advantage... bring car in on a slow day, delay shipping... usually this is a few hrs difference for you; and BIG savings for dealer... higher volume sales during peak times). Ask for rebate / discounts / incentive, ESPECIALLY if buying as a set.

2) Check online (Tire rack and Discount tires direct are my usual places, also eBay)

3) offer local dealer to MEET online + shipping / mounting / taxes + 7%) .. so he can make profit and YOU get a local resource and $$ are spent to support local economy.

4) Don't be afraid to buy online. I buy tires all the time, shipping in 2 -3 days, and I'm in the boonies(I have 30+ vehicles)

5) Always be ready to WALK away from dealer or online. Tires are EZ to find, even odd sizes. there is TREMENDOUS profit / bonuses in tire business (BTDT in last 40 yrs).

BTW:
Dunlop, Yokahama, Kuhmo are all EXCELLENT tires and ~ 1/2 the Michelin price. BUT... nothing wrong with the Michelins, I have gotten exceedingly good service from the few I could afford (usually ONLY by getting with a used vehicle).

It is also nice to have my own tire and balancing machines, but not everyone is such a GEAR-HEAD... that too comes with a Price... (TIME and MONEY). Tire stuff cost me well under $500 which I recouped VERY fast, having a fleet and doing MANY favors for neighbors. Just think of the profit in LABOR... takes all of 5 minutes to change and balance a tire @ $20 !!! = ~ $200/hr ALMOST 1/2 what I pay my attorney...

[M3 Mitch]

Originally Posted by Thinking-man

After doing some more research on the reviews on the Nexen, i decided to go with the Michelines........the Nexens would have ended up costing me 600 out the door, but they had very bad reviews from what i read.........and the reviews were on an Acura forum too......
I decided the 400 extra was worth the peace of mind......i'm at the shop now.

Thank you everyone for your help nonetheless. Donn, thank you for your comment because it made me doubt (which is always a good thing IMO) and did more research.

Cheers!

Glad this worked out for you - something that did not come up in the discussion is the region, at least, where you live - if you live in snow country well-worn all-season tires don't work well at all on snow. You will get better answers if the collective understands your operating environment. In a no-snow, dry environment, you can get away with a lot less tread, you can run the tire down to the legal limit of 2/32 no problemo, but in a wet or snowy environment not so much.

If this is a FWD car, you really need to rotate the tires occasionally or you will end up wearing out the fronts while the rears wear very little, and "age out" ie you end up replacing them because they are so old, maybe weather-checked.

Another thought - if money is tight, used tires can be a good deal. It's true that they can have hidden damage, but I have had good luck with used tires from reputable local used tire shops - these guys look at the tires before they buy them, they inspect them inside and out, while it's true they can't see every defect, they catch the vast majority.

Check, too, if there is a Tire Rack installer nearby. These guys will mount and balance tires from Tire Rack for a reasonable fee.

[mortpes]

Replace every 6 years, check date on tire. Replace if thread indicates if less than 6 years old.

[Padgett2]

We needed a new set once. There was NOooo way we could have afforded them. Our solution was to buy a set that was a little larger size. Messed up the milage indicator,etc. but they rode just fine!

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by mortpes

Replace every 6 years, check date on tire. Replace if thread indicates if less than 6 years old.

I have over 50 vehicles so replacing every 6 years would be impossible... also, some of the tire sizes are no longer made or made in very limited numbers.

What I don't understand is why a tire from 25 or 30 years ago will not have age cracks or checking and a 4 year old set of Uniroyal will... In credit to Uniroyal... they replaced the tires at no charge... I have also seen similar with Michelin's...

Seems the older American made tires just didn't have the problems of modern tires...

[M3 Mitch]

The 6 year thing is just a rule of thumb, if a car is kept garaged (out of the sun) and driven occasionally, the tires will last a lot longer than 6 years.

Frequently the tire manufacturer will not warrent a tire at all once it goes past 6 years from date of manufacture - but that is a different issue.