Kelly Tires really?
- Thread starter AZjeff
- Start date
No new battery too? She didn't get fleeced all the way.
IMHO-I would replace those tires.
Last month I got new Continental tires for my 86 year old mom's 7 year old prius. She puts about 2000 miles a year on it and takes it to the dealer for its annual oil change. Although 16,000 miles were not a lot for 7 year old tires, they were about 1/2 worn out and had some minor cracking. The new 80,000 mile Continentals will last her the rest of her life, and she now has safe comfortable tires to drive on.
Kelly's are like the house brand of Goodyear
The owner of my local Goodyear shop refers to them as "last year's Goodyear's"
Whenever they come out with a new tire, the old tread mold/design gets moved over to the Kelly line
The owner of my local Goodyear shop refers to them as "last year's Goodyear's"
Whenever they come out with a new tire, the old tread mold/design gets moved over to the Kelly line
That sounds like a vote of confidence from Goodyear then
Shel_B
Site Donor 2023
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2020
- Messages
- 5,167
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
We disagree on this. The scare tactic used was unethical to begin with. Our climate here is mild by Arizona standards. The car is garage kept 97% of it's life, the tires never see summer highway use and the pressure is always correct. She never leaves town. She gets out a couple of times a week so they don't flat spot. The tires had at most 15k miles with lots of tread, no I didn't gauge them, and looked like new tires. They probably never see 0.5G. Nobody else ever drives the car anywhere. She's not poor but has to watch her expenses. If there were ever tires that could go another year or two and be perfectly safe in Arizona in this particular usage these would be them. She liked the 55k mile warrantee on the new tires. I thought to myself yeah they'll have 12k on them when you replace them again.
Tire Rack says: "In our experience, when tires are properly stored and cared for, most street tires have a useful life in service of between six to ten years." I can't imagine what would cause these tires to be dangerous and need replacing at the lower time interval.
True no harm was done replacing the tires other than to her bank balance but it was unnecessary. Same with the 2k mile annual oil change, no harm done but certainly not needed. She asked, I said change oil every 2 years, she had it done anyhow. I guess maybe it gave her piece of mind even while complaining of the cost. Maybe next time she asks about car maintenance I'll very politely decline offering my opinion and not muddy the water. She's a dear neighbor.
Them doing a coolant flush, not burping the system and having the temp gauge peg on the way home might be a different story however.
Oops! We ran into some problems.
Well, at least she's taking care of the car. I suppose it would be worse if you saw your friendly neighborhood grandma out driving a car so non-roadworthy and unsafe you wouldn't use it for a golf cart! I suppose it could be worse!
And AZjeff, keep doing what your doing, even if she seems to ignore your advice. It's nothing personal. Your value will be keeping her safe. If you saw something dangerously wrong with her car I know you'd take care of her.
Scott
Edit PS: My no longer neighbors across the street. We moved in our house when they were in their late '60s, twenty years ago. They were nice people in a nice neighborhood. As they aged we saw their driving skills slowly diminish. The wife drove a BMW 740. Nice car. But one evening she somehow drove off the side of the road into a ditch. It's semi-rural where we live. This was about 4 or 5 miles from home. But she drove the car home with two completely blown out right side tires, bent rims, and ripped up right side nose and rocker area. She made it home, her pretty three piece looking BMW OEM wheels leaving 4 or 5 miles of grinding marks on the pavement. I was at home and didn't notice anything until I saw the Sheriff's Department there. They followed the grinding marks to their house because they thought it was a DUI driver. This was once a capable woman who liked nice things, like her big, shiny BMW and her artwork. Wicked what age does to us.
And AZjeff, keep doing what your doing, even if she seems to ignore your advice. It's nothing personal. Your value will be keeping her safe. If you saw something dangerously wrong with her car I know you'd take care of her.
Scott
Edit PS: My no longer neighbors across the street. We moved in our house when they were in their late '60s, twenty years ago. They were nice people in a nice neighborhood. As they aged we saw their driving skills slowly diminish. The wife drove a BMW 740. Nice car. But one evening she somehow drove off the side of the road into a ditch. It's semi-rural where we live. This was about 4 or 5 miles from home. But she drove the car home with two completely blown out right side tires, bent rims, and ripped up right side nose and rocker area. She made it home, her pretty three piece looking BMW OEM wheels leaving 4 or 5 miles of grinding marks on the pavement. I was at home and didn't notice anything until I saw the Sheriff's Department there. They followed the grinding marks to their house because they thought it was a DUI driver. This was once a capable woman who liked nice things, like her big, shiny BMW and her artwork. Wicked what age does to us.
Last edited:
Kelly tires to me is a discount brand. They don't advertise(except signs at tire shops) and that's it.
Discount as in lower cost to purchase ? Sure, because they don't spend money on advertising which in turn makes products cost more.
Too many environmental factors to come up with one.
We can disagree on this. If this was my Grandma I would want the tries replaced. Some guys just enjoy being "thrifty".
If the vehicle was covered by a service contract or extended warranty, then the provider probably recommends the replacement on age to avoid a liability situation. If the owner had a failure due to an aging tire, and worse yet was involved in a collision because of it, a defense attorney acting on her behalf may go after the warranty / service contract company, and or their provider. It's sad that in our world today, that most decisions come down to risk and liability reduction regardless of common sense.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
It's a 15 year old Fusion, there is no service contract. Non issue.
6 years is a fluid number for tire age out. IMHO in this instance it was early. I wouldn't let my Grandma buy tires from these clowns because of how they went about it.
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
I don’t think she did too bad. 6 years is time for new tires here. If she was my grandma I would have let her go another year on them, but in the end she would have bought the tires anyways so financially, not really a difference.
I’d do annual oil changes too. Sure the dealer sells unnecessary stuff but it at least gets someone to look the car over. Even with low miles CV boots tear, leaks happen, etc.
I’d do annual oil changes too. Sure the dealer sells unnecessary stuff but it at least gets someone to look the car over. Even with low miles CV boots tear, leaks happen, etc.
I work for a government agency, we have a few pool vehicles that are 10-15 years old with very low mileage.
We replace tires for cracked sidewalls all the time. Tons of tread but cracked sidewalls.
Sun kills rubber.
We replace tires for cracked sidewalls all the time. Tons of tread but cracked sidewalls.
Sun kills rubber.
