When do you buy new tires?

[skyl4rk]

How do you decide when to get new tires?

 

[ccbreder]

#1 Bank balance. #2 Tread depth. #3 Year of tire manufacture. #4 How much sidewall worn off by curb contact.

 

[Almost There]

#1 Bank balance. #2 Tread depth. #3 Year of tire manufacture. #4 How much sidewall worn off by curb contact.

#2 and #3 come first and second. Bank balance isn't the crucial part, having safe tires is more important. I'd rather have to put them on the charge card for a couple of months than drive on questionable tires.

I've not ever had to replace a tire because of curb contact wear...apparently I don't either parallel park enough or take my corners in the parking lots wide enough to avoid the curbs...

 

[highdesertranger]

when they are worn out. I get about 3 years out of front tires and about 5-6 out of rears. I have a dually and do not rotate, that's why there is a difference. if I ruin one I turn it in for road hazard and buy another. then I take the good one I just replaced and make it a spare. I have only ever ruined a front tire I have never even had a flat on the rear. when I replace the rears I always buy 4, I never mix old and new in the rear. highdesertranger

 

[SternWake]

Time will dictate when I 'should' replace them.

Finances dictate the actual date of replacement, barring road trips in summer crossing deserts at high noon.

 

[ccbreder]

Dodge's wisdom. The front wheels are wider apart than the rear wheels. They actually are past the fenders. I have had this thing for over a year, and still have problems.

 

[skyl4rk]

How much tread depth and what age would make you replace tires?

 

[ArtW]

there are 'wear bars' in the tread
If they're close to ground contact, it's time

 

[rvpopeye]

There is a date code on the sidewall (usually just on one side) required by the DOT.
It starts off with the letters DOT .
Then a group of letters and numbers , these are a code for where it was built.
Then 4 numbers , these are the date code for when the tire was manufactured.
It will only be 3 numbers if it was from 2000-2009 , the first two will still be the week.
(On a tire I just looked at they are 2514 , the 25 is the week of the year and the 14 is the year.)
So that tire was made in the 25th week of 2014 !
Tires experts say any over 7-10 years old should be replaced regardless of the tread depth .
The rubber compounds will break down (even if it was just sitting on a shelf at the store) this might not show on the outside either.
Also , if the sidewalls show cracking , they are near the end of life too.
They "might" self destruct.

Now all this said , I have some old tires on my rig (almost 20 yo) and I still haven't replaced them , BUT I don't take the rig very far (usually under 25 miles at a time )OR go very fast ( I try to keep under 45mph).
I do plan on getting new ones but am working on getting a set of 16" wheels first (they're 16.5" now).
It's hard to find 16.5" tires that were made in the last couple of years. So I'm going to switch to 16" .........

 

[MrNoodly]

there are 'wear bars' in the tread
If they're close to ground contact, it's time

Before there were wear bars (the things that run sidewall to sidewall down in the tread) they used to say to stick a penny in the grooves, and if the tread didn't touch the top of Lincoln's head it was time for new tires. (I don't know what they told people in other countries. Queen Elizabeth's head?)

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Of course, if you're slightly obsessive, you'll skip the penny and spend a few bucks on a tire depth gauge like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Milton-S448-...063520&sr=8-3&keywords=tire+tread+depth+gauge

Once a month or so, check across each tire, measuring at each edge and in the center.  This will tell you if your tires are under or over inflated for the load they are carrying, and can also help you find front end alignment problems before it becomes visually obvious.