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If you're getting only half the rated mileage, your driving style is more spirited than you realize.
I think road surface also makes a lot of difference. I'm not an aggressive driver. I drive fast enough, but jack rabbit starts and hard braking are rare in my cars. I don't believe I've ever had to replace brake pads on a car I bought new. My F250 had over 150K miles on it when traded, and the original pads were only half worn. My Saab had 180K on it, still with original pads. But when I took a job a few years ago that required frequent driving on gravel and crushed rock roads, down went the tire life. I'd I think that's particularly true of high performance tires and snow tires, which use a softer rubber for better gripping. I can't prove that's what's caused the more rapid wear, as less than 10% of my driving is on these roads, but nothing else in my driving habits has changed, so it just makes sense.
Tire life seems to be very different between Cape Cod and Arizona. In AZ, tires tend to "time out." Most folks I speak to about this tell me I ought to replace tires after around six years of use, as the heat of the area is tough on them (and batteries as well, another topic).
Therefore, I purchase modest quality tires for my vehicles as I do not expect to use them to the life of the tread, but rather to the life of the material they are made of.
I have personally witnessed (yes, witnessed) a friend's Jeep's tires blow out its sidewalls, once on a desert trail and, a week later, while I was following him down a secondary macadam road at about forty miles an hour, the tire on the opposite side blew out its sidewall as well.
Both tires had lots of tread left but were relatively old (forget their age, but well over 6 years). He purchased four new tires after number two blew out!
I think road surface also makes a lot of difference. I'm not an aggressive driver. I drive fast enough, but jack rabbit starts and hard braking are rare in my cars. I don't believe I've ever had to replace brake pads on a car I bought new. My F250 had over 150K miles on it when traded, and the original pads were only half worn. My Saab had 180K on it, still with original pads. But when I took a job a few years ago that required frequent driving on gravel and crushed rock roads, down went the tire life. I'd I think that's particularly true of high performance tires and snow tires, which use a softer rubber for better gripping. I can't prove that's what's caused the more rapid wear, as less than 10% of my driving is on these roads, but nothing else in my driving habits has changed, so it just makes sense.
"Off road" type driving wears tires more as there is a lot more slip and sudden loss/gain of traction than solid concrete/asphalt
WOW . . . lots of mileage being thrown around here.
Since retiring and moving "in town" years ago, I find myself replacing tires due to age (6 to 7 years max) long before mileage becomes an issue. I would much rather be Safe than Sorry.
No offense, but I've seen enough ignorance from John Stossel to make me question anything he has reported on. If it was 1 A.M. and he told me it was night outside I would feel I needed to open the curtains and check for myself.
Especially disturbing is the tendency to assume that tighter standards advocated elsewhere are invariably correct, and the stubborn refusal to understand that manufactured goods are "brand new" by definition until they are sold, regardless of when they are made. The term doesn't mean 'freshly manufactured'.
That said, age certainly plays a part in the safety of a tire.
Last edited by rugrats2001; 08-14-2017 at 06:43 AM..
Now, where/how did Walmart get these new "old" tires?
They were old inventory.
I've never gotten the whole life out of them. Too often, they wear prematurely, OR I get a flat or two and don't like mismatched tires...
Also, when I lived in the midwest I liked to keep newish tires on the car for winter time. "The warranty is good for 20K more miles" doesn't help you when the car gets squirrelly in the snow.
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