Replace tires or wait?

[leadcounsel]

My driving is mostly interstate and highway, ~1000 miles annually, and my car currently wears 2017 above average tires around 5 or 6 32nds, about Washington's scalp depth. It would probably take a year to drive 'em down to 4/32nds. In which case my replacement tires are 5 years old. I have a set of very good replacement tires dated 2019, approximately depth to Washington's forehead or eyebrows on the Quarter test (about 8-10, 32nds). Of course tires are extremely important. I'm inclined to swap now to have the better tires on the car. Then again with my luck, I'll swap to newer/better and get 3 unfixable flats... LOL.

6 years - my current tires age dated 2017 - is a point in time where one should start considering swapping tires.
My replacement set dated 2019, will continue to age in the garage and and a better set is wasting value.

Swapping now, can give away to someone who can still use them for a season or two, helping them and saving me the disposal fee.
Swapping later does not seem to save me money as these are at the end of service life and there's a disposal fee to pay. I'm frugal, not cheap, but want to consider all views.

Swap now or later? What say you?

 

[Nick1994]

I say option 3. Sell your current replacement set while they’re worth something and ride these ones out until next winter and buy new, start the cycle over again but with fresh rubber so you aren’t back at square 1 so soon with old tires. The mounting and balancing will be the more expensive part.

 

[leadcounsel]

I had considered that but aside from age these newer tires are essentially brand new replacements and would be more beneficial on the car, than the paltry 2nd hand money they'd bring in. I would need to get new ones in a year in that instance so the funds would not go far I wouldn't think. Considering I can generally run my tires around 8 years between replacements, putting them on now, however, gives me at least 5 years of "newer" tires with excellent tread depth and foregoes replacements or a long time.

 

[LostInTransit]

I'm no good with numbers rather see pics of the treads to respond.

 

[Lubener]

I would run your present tires for the summer months and replace them in the fall before the snow falls.

 

[The Critic]

Mounting a 4 year old set of tires seems like a waste of time - they’re more than halfway past their lifespan anyway.

 

[benjamming]

6 years in Ohio wouldn't cause me to think twice, by age alone. Arizona/Florida, then yeah. But I would suspect you've got a couple more years anyway to go on this set. I would keep running them.
As an aside, you shouldn't be wearing 1/32-2/32" every 1k miles. Perhaps you're just being loose with the numbers, which is fine of course, just wondering.

 

[Escape08]

If there are no cracks (dry rot) and there are still thread...if it was me, yes, why not. Believe me, there are a lot of cars out there with bald tires that are still on the road. That's a no no, but there are who people take the risks because of financial problems.

 

[javacontour]

I had considered that but aside from age these newer tires are essentially brand new replacements and would be more beneficial on the car, than the paltry 2nd hand money they'd bring in. I would need to get new ones in a year in that instance so the funds would not go far I wouldn't think. Considering I can generally run my tires around 8 years between replacements, putting them on now, however, gives me at least 5 years of "newer" tires with excellent tread depth and foregoes replacements or a long time.

It's more than the 2nd hand money, it's the cost to swap them unless you can mount and balance them at home. Leaving out the interim swap to the stored tires would save you $50-$100 depending on the cost to M&B those. That's probably close to paying for one of the new tires if you skip that step. Any money you get for the set in the garage is a bonus.

Of course, my pattern is about 20k/year so I look at this differently. With that said, if I was spending my money, I'd sell the set in the garage tires and replace the ones I currently have as suggested as option #3

 

[krzyss]

There is one basic question:

Why do you have two sets of tires if you drive "~1000 miles annually"?

Your tires age out before you wear them down and in the mean time you have 2 years younger tires in the garage which are not getting any younger.
Why?

I think I am with Nick1994. Break the cycle. Start with fresh set, sell your both current sets.

Krzyś

 

[Sequoiasoon]

maybe you left out a zero? 1/32" for every ~ 1000 miles is a serious issue. That is new tire > legally bald tire every 8-10,000 miles depending on brand/model.

What car? What size? What brand/model tires x8? Are the ones in garage mounted on rims (I presume not). Tire mounting/balance by me is $25-30 per tire.

The age cycle vs depth cycle I would probably get new and break the cycle up. For frugal and financial reasons I might just do the almost full depth garage ones until you feel it's time to replace. If the new ones on sale are less than $600 than I would much rather have new rubber for highway trips. If $1200+ to replace 4 new than those used 4 year old are much better option in my wallets opinion.

 

[IndyIan]

Put on your 2019 set now and give away the current tires, and run those until wet grip is getting noticeably bad. Could be 1 more year or 8 years, you'll find out. Age is just a number! but wet traction actually matters.

 

[leadcounsel]

Seems with my low driving, I'm getting rid of tires based more on age, than miles. Makes more sense to buy used/newer and get what I can out of them age wise. Cycle thru them as they have higher tread depth then give them away rather than disposal fees, hoping the next owner disposes of them responsibly. I'd have to really run the numbers.

True that there's always the cost of swapping, about $15-20 per tire.

I got this 2019 essentially new set for very little money in 2020, and given supply chains, soaring prices, scarcity, etc. I'm always of the mindset to have extras of known goods on hand if possible.

A main consideration is the irreparable flat, which necessitates replacing at least a pair. On the spot that can be many hundreds of dollars. Having a inexpensive set in the wings is reassuring to me.

As an aside, you shouldn't be wearing 1/32-2/32" every 1k miles. Perhaps you're just being loose with the numbers, which is fine of course, just wondering.

I was estimating. Given the faster rotation evolutions combined with thinner material, the wear on tires becomes exponential as they get smaller. They revolve faster, and there's less material to wear away. On a 50,000 mile tire, of course you can't really use it for the last 25% of its rated miles. And the next 25% is getting very low wear. So it's really only a 25k mile tire for practical use. The beginning of tires you might get almost no wear at 1000 miles. The first 10k miles you've probably worn 3/32nds or so. By the end, in the last 5/32nds, you might be wearing 1/32nd every 1000 or so miles. Not a perfect science or answer, just a estimate. And at 4/32nds they are due for replacement.

I'm inclined to replace these now, let someone else get the final couple thousand miles off them.

Thanks for the input.

 

[javacontour]

Seems with my low driving, I'm getting rid of tires based more on age, than miles. Makes more sense to buy used/newer and get what I can out of them age wise. Cycle thru them as they have higher tread depth then give them away rather than disposal fees, hoping the next owner disposes of them responsibly. I'd have to really run the numbers.

True that there's always the cost of swapping, about $15-20 per tire.

I got this 2019 essentially new set for very little money in 2020, and given supply chains, soaring prices, scarcity, etc. I'm always of the mindset to have extras of known goods on hand if possible.

A main consideration is the irreparable flat, which necessitates replacing at least a pair. On the spot that can be many hundreds of dollars. Having a inexpensive set in the wings is reassuring to me.


I was estimating. Given the faster rotation evolutions combined with thinner material, the wear on tires becomes exponential as they get smaller. They revolve faster, and there's less material to wear away. On a 50,000 mile tire, of course you can't really use it for the last 25% of its rated miles. And the next 25% is getting very low wear. So it's really only a 25k mile tire for practical use. The beginning of tires you might get almost no wear at 1000 miles. The first 10k miles you've probably worn 3/32nds or so. By the end, in the last 5/32nds, you might be wearing 1/32nd every 1000 or so miles. Not a perfect science or answer, just a estimate. And at 4/32nds they are due for replacement.

I'm inclined to replace these now, let someone else get the final couple thousand miles off them.

Thanks for the input.

Huh? Cannot use last 25% of a 50k mile tire? Maybe if that point comes at winter, sure.
I just retired two 65k mile warranty General Exclaim HPX (Walmart's RT43 IIRC or at least close, the specs look very similar) with 69k miles on them.

The center bar wasn't even down to REPLACE TIRE at this point. They were starting to get noisy and it was time to get two new shoes for the Mazda.

Apparently, I'm on the "replace two every other year" plan. I bought the car used and the tires didn't match, so I replaced two at a time and have been doing that for almost 6 years now.
I do think your estimate of wear is very pessimistic. A tire with a staring diameter of 25" is going to be 24.5" at 2/32nds assuming it started with 10/32nds of tread.

That's a 2% change in diameter. So the additional rolling isn't going to play that large a factor.
Time and exposure to the atmosphere can rear its head, making the tire wear faster at the end of life.

CapriRacer, our local tire expert indicates the reverse of what you suggest, if I understand what is said

reference for tires wearing faster when new?

Hi all: It seems to me I have read some posts here where folks claim new tires wear faster when new and then the rate slows down and stabilizes. Does anyone have a reference for me that demonstrated this (at least for conditions they studied)? I just got some GoodYear WeatherReady all-weather...

bobistheoilguy.com

2) The wear curve is indeed a curve, however it is a slight curve.. It starts out wearing faster, then gradually the rate slows down. This makes sense if you consider that the part of the tread that is being worn is at the end of a column - and the taller that column, the more movement takes place. That also means that the wear rate change is going to be dependent what changes as the tires wear. Some tires have - more or less - vertical grooves, where others have tapered grooves. Some have "tie bars" - that is, in the groove there is a raised portion that stiffens the tread element thereby reducing the rate of wear. In other words, different tires will have different shaped curves. The same applies to sipes. Some are full depth, some are quite shallow, and some are stepped. 3) For practical proposes, the wear curve is slight enough that using a straight line method is close enough

There is more to read there, but I don't think your assertion that tires wear MORE at the end of life holds up to the data collected by the tire industry.
Now, if you would want to be on those tires as they've aged, hardened, have less tread depth and so on is a totally different question.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Drive the tires until next fall but start looking for sales now. You have two big Holiday sales before fall. When fall comes mount the new tires and still enjoy a good sale price.

 

[PandaBear]

Disposal only cost me like $3 per tire, mounting alone is $26. 6/32" seems good still as is 2017, I would wait instead of replacing now.

 

[JeffKeryk]

My tire decisions revolve around safety. Tires are the only part of the car that is supposed to touch the ground. They are a key braking component; handling, etc. That is more important than a few bucks either way. Safety first. All good.

 

[totegoat]

Did you have a plan when you bought the new tires?

 

[dumkid]

I've noticed with michelins once they get pretty worn out 4/32 or so they get louder and more slippery in the rain and the wear almost stops. i think the last few 32 are a harder compound