Old tires squealing and fishtailing

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My wife's 2005 4WD Toyota Tacoma pick-up has four Michelin LTX A/T2 tires, size 265/70R16, purchased by her late husband. Although they have 48K miles on them, the thread wear is pretty decent with 6-7/32" (4.5 - 5.5mm) remaining. I noticed, however, that they have been squealing when making the sharp turn onto our asphalt driveway, and last week she had severe fishtailing on a wet asphalt paved road. In digging through her paperwork I discovered the tires are actually nine years old.

Could the age of these tires alone cause the apparent loss of traction we are seeing?

If so could you recommend good quality replacement tires? The truck does little hauling and is driven fairly gently, seeing about 70/30 of paved vs gravel roads in a hilly environment with a few snow and ice storms each year (Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia at 2,500 - 3,200' elevation). The gravel roads can sometimes be a bit rough and steep and it is not uncommon to have to park on grass.

Thanks!
 
How "gently" and "fishtailing" describe the same person's driving?
;-)
It is quite possible that rubber is toasted and provides less traction on wet pavement. I can only imagine that it will be worse in the snow.

Was the truck parked outside?

KrzyÅ›

PS I am not truck person but probably some kind of AT tires, probably with 3MPS sign would be a good choice for year round use. If you drive in ice and deep snow proper winter tires would be better for winter service.
 
I think most manufacturers recommend a mileage or "service life". Depending on if the tires are garaged and shaded from UV rays, they may be serviceable longer, but UV exposure causes the rubber to harden and can cause similar symptoms. At 9 years old, they are probably done especially in rainy/snowy locations since you likely value her safety. I have personally had really good experience with the Continental TrueContacts, now replaced by TrueContact Tours, which addressed some treadlife & noise complaints on the originals; however, I had 66k on my longest-owned set of TrueContacts and they showed every indication of making it to the 80k treadlife warranty without issue when I sold it. I've bought another two sets since then and will likely buy more. Toss in that they review really well on TireRack, and are usually 30% or so less than Michelin of the same tire class, it's a go-to tire for me.
 
Originally Posted by Tom NJ
My wife's 2005 4WD Toyota Tacoma pick-up has four Michelin LTX A/T2 tires, size 265/70R16, purchased by her late husband. Although they have 48K miles on them, the thread wear is pretty decent with 6-7/32" (4.5 - 5.5mm) remaining. I noticed, however, that they have been squealing when making the sharp turn onto our asphalt driveway, and last week she had severe fishtailing on a wet asphalt paved road. In digging through her paperwork I discovered the tires are actually nine years old.

Could the age of these tires alone cause the apparent loss of traction we are seeing?

If so could you recommend good quality replacement tires? The truck does little hauling and is driven fairly gently, seeing about 70/30 of paved vs gravel roads in a hilly environment with a few snow and ice storms each year (Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia at 2,500 - 3,200' elevation). The gravel roads can sometimes be a bit rough and steep and it is not uncommon to have to park on grass.

Thanks!

Tom-I've had multiple sets of Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revos, and they have been great in snow, rain, gravel, even had the Ram in an ice storm in central IL a few years back, they did great. I haven't tried the Revo 3s yet, but my first set of Revos actually ran for 70,000 on a work van, still have 2 of them left, still not cracked or to the wear bars. The 2 Revo (1s) I have on the front of the F-450 are actually 13 years old now, still look pretty much new! The Michelin LTs I've had seemed to be crack prone, they seem to lack UV resistance.
 
Originally Posted by krzyss
Was the truck parked outside?


The truck was garaged for about seven years of the tires' life and parked outdoors for the last two years. Since we also have a 2019 AWD Nissan Altima and a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse, the truck only sees about 1,500 miles/year so tread life is not an issue at all. Priorities are first traction (dry, wet, and snow) with ride comfort/noise second and price third.

Plugging these criterion into Tire Rack, the top two performers are the Pirelli Scorpion All Terrain Plus and the Continental TerrainContact A/T. Anyone have experience with these tires?
 
Is she driving in 4x4 on pavement? Also if the front end is out of whack and toed out, there will be squealing and "push" on ordinary turns.
 
Tom, does the truck have a limited slip differential? If si It might be time fluid change with proper multigrade diif fluid

and also un-laden trucks are sensitive to rear tire pressure, make sure it's not too high if you are not carrying a load.
Drive over sand or dirt as a check and it should paint the tires right out to the edge.

Also insure there is NO 4WD engagement in the rain or dry if possible.

Make sure its getting out of 4WD

Good luck.
 
Originally Posted by mk378
Is she driving in 4x4 on pavement? Also if the front end is out of whack and toed out, there will be squealing and "push" on ordinary turns.


No, we only engage the 4WD when needed (rarely). Good point about the alignment - I'll look into that.
 
"Paperwork" says tires are 9 years old?....That is the purchase date, correct?

Read the actual mfg date off of the tire sidewall. They could be years old when installed.
 
Yes, tire compounds harden with age, and that can definitely affect traction, especially wet/cold traction. Time for some new shoes... LTXs are still among the best truck/SUV tires IMO.
 
Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
Tom, does the truck have a limited slip differential? If si It might be time fluid change with proper multigrade diif fluid

and also un-laden trucks are sensitive to rear tire pressure, make sure it's not too high if you are not carrying a load.
Drive over sand or dirt as a check and it should paint the tires right out to the edge.


The truck has the Off-Road package which has an electronic switch activated locking rear differential, not an LSD. I always set the tire pressures to just three pounds over the recommended pressure on the decal.
 
That pressure is likely too high.

What is the decal pressure and does it have allowance for laden and unladen?

I would try to spin the tires in the rain and see if its on wheel or two grabbing out back.

Maybe your E diff is messed up.
 
Mine do the same thing when making a sharp turn. They have decent tread. They are about four years old. Firestone Destination AT2. Next set of tires will be a highway tire.
 
Originally Posted by 440Magnum
Yes, tire compounds harden with age, and that can definitely affect traction, especially wet/cold traction. Time for some new shoes...

^ This.
 
Originally Posted by Tom NJ
Priorities are first traction (dry, wet, and snow) with ride comfort/noise second and price third.



Then don't be picky about specific tires as much as how old they are, replacing them from age around the 5-6 year point rather than tread wear. The less often you drive them, the more the tread and sidewalls will harden and decay.

However given the following below, suggesting a moderately aggressive A/T tread would be beneficial, I'd suggest Cooper Discoverer AT 4S. They'll do better on the gravel, light pack snow, and off-road, but a little less traction on ice and hard pack snow than a new set of Michelin LTX. Any tread pattern is going to sacrifice some of one for the other. The LTX is pretty much one of the least A/T tires you can get that still gets called A/T, is what I'd recommend first if you never went off pavement more than flat fire roads.

Quote
bout 70/30 of paved vs gravel roads in a hilly environment with a few snow and ice storms each year (Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia at 2,500 - 3,200' elevation). The gravel roads can sometimes be a bit rough and steep and it is not uncommon to have to park on grass.
 
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The Bridgestones I just pulled off our Traverse did exactly that. At 7/32" they had near zero grip in snow and would skip on wet roads.
 
To answer your question, yes, 9 year old tires can be dangerously hard. My BFG AT/KO tires were quite hard by 7 years. On my pickup, burnouts were easy and fishtailing a definite possibility whenever it was wet.
 
Originally Posted by Tom NJ
My wife's 2005 4WD Toyota Tacoma pick-up has four Michelin LTX A/T2 tires, size 265/70R16, purchased by her late husband. Although they have 48K miles on them, the thread wear is pretty decent with 6-7/32" (4.5 - 5.5mm) remaining. I noticed, however, that they have been squealing when making the sharp turn onto our asphalt driveway, and last week she had severe fishtailing on a wet asphalt paved road. In digging through her paperwork I discovered the tires are actually nine years old.

Could the age of these tires alone cause the apparent loss of traction we are seeing?

If so could you recommend good quality replacement tires? The truck does little hauling and is driven fairly gently, seeing about 70/30 of paved vs gravel roads in a hilly environment with a few snow and ice storms each year (Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia at 2,500 - 3,200' elevation). The gravel roads can sometimes be a bit rough and steep and it is not uncommon to have to park on grass.

Thanks!


My answer to your question is a resounding yes. Just replaced the tires on my 2015 4Runner; the original tires had about 58,000 miles on them and still had legal tread. But they were getting sketchy in the rain, and starting to squeal around corners.

Replaced them with the same style tire, same size, and all those problems are gone. The new tires handle better on wet and dry pavement, and stop better both dry and wet.

Hers were great tires when new, and the current Michelin Defenders are excellent tires also; wouldn't hesitate to replace the current ones with the same brand.
 
Those trucks are tail happy in the rain even with new tires, honestly. I have a new set on my truck and I have to watch my throttle taking off and turning or I'll send it sideways. Also have to take care driving in the rain overall really... The rear locker in those trucks will only work in 4-lo so that's not the issue. Walmart has a sale now on Falken Wildpeak AT3W's for about $110/tire, they seem to be one of the favorites on the Tacoma forums. Even though I just bought tires for mine I'm looking into a set since the set of Yokohama's I bought are worthless on this truck.
 
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Look closely at the tire rubber and see if it has many little cracks. Then feel the surface. Old tires, the rubber hardens and cracks. It should be real obvious if you look closely. But I have driven on old tires and not noticed such handling issues.
 
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