New Tires for the Z?

[jackkpts]

My wife and I bought a one-owner 2001 BMW Z3 a couple years ago with only 13,400 miles. It will cross 17K miles later this week. It has spent it's entire life in the Midwest (Chicago and now SE Wisconsin) and only driven from April until November. Always garaged. Should I be thinking about new tires because of the age of the tires or is it safe to go another 2 years or so since it hasn't seen much sun, little if any rain and no snow? Thanks!

 

[dparm]

The rubber just hardens from exposure to the air. I'd replace them. You can probably wait until next spring, at this point.

 

[mopar_monkey]

personally i start thinking about new rubber after they are 6 yrs old, the rubber nylon and binding compounds could be breaking down at this point, in my opinion it's better being safe then sorry and your tires are the most important safety feature of your vehicle.

 

[HTSS_TR]

The the tires on the car is OEM then you should buy new tires, 10-11 years old tires is not very safe to drive on highway. If you don't drive the Z3 much a year, consider buying a high performance tires with lower tread life.

 

[CapriRacer]

Recent bulletins from the tire industry indicate that tires degrade simply due to time. The age of a tire is important even if the tire is unused. There some disagreement over how to best express this age limitation, but my take is:

If you live in a hot climate (AZ, CA, NV, TX, and FL) then the limit is six years. If you live in a cold climate (MN, ND, WI, MT, etc), then the limit is 10 years. States in between are ..... ah ........ in between.

 

[SteveSRT8]

I would not be pleased with the age of those tires. Please consider replacements soon!

 

[jackkpts]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll be putting on a new set of Hankook Ventus V12 Evos next week.

 

[CivicFan]

Originally Posted By: jackkpts
Thanks for the feedback. I'll be putting on a new set of Hankook Ventus V12 Evos next week.


Good choice. I got a set 3 weeks ago for my Z4 and they are very smooth tires with great grip.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Just mounted my new V12's, very impressive tire for the money.

 

[jackkpts]

Got a big surprise today when I got my Hankook Evos mounted. Hankook now has an $80 rebate on a set of 4! I was very happy with the fully loaded price of $441 (mounted, balanced, disposal of old, taxes, etc). Totally in love with the net $361 cost now! Rebate is for purchases 9/1/11 through 12/31/11.