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I have had a Rover P reg Rover 600 for 4 years and still have the same rear tyres. I have heard that tyres have a shelf life and should be change after a fixed lenth of time. Any thoughts.
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Ageing shows itself as cracking, usually of the sidewalls but also the tread. It depends on the degree of cracking. It would be subjective to an MoT tester - but even if a car passes an MoT it is no guarantee that the tyre won't blow next day. We see some quite crumbly ones with good tread left - who knows?
If in doubt, replace - you wouldn't want a blow-out on your hands.
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You could pop into your local friendly tire shop and ask them to have a look, although you may run the risk of them blagging you into new tyres whatever.
I agree with Pete, and as has been said before, the tyres are your only contact with the ground.
Mark.
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I posted a reply to an earlier thread a few days ago, where someone needed new tyres & was asking whether they were best fitted to front or rear. Without repeating the thread, the relevancy to your question is that on a lot of front wheel drive cars the rears last forever - still good tread, but definitely look on the sad side! I have never had a satisfactory answer regarding ageing vs. wearing. I'd take a good look at your rear tyres (or get an expert opinion) & bite the bullet wallet-wise!
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Advice in most handbooks on the 'shelf life' of spares is quite conservative. Both Vauxhall and BMW suggest caution in using a spare more than 6 years old. Main aging process for tyres is UV light, and spares inside the boot are unaffected by UV. The previous suggestions regarding checking for cracking is sound, but clearly care is needed after a few years use.
Tyre manufacturing date can be determined from the final digits of the DOT Code on the wall.
Three digit codes indicate a '90's tyre - first two are week number and last is year eg. 439 = week 43, 1999
Four digit codes indicate a '00's tyre - first two are wek number and last two are year eg. 4101 = week 41, 2001
Regards
John
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"the tyres are your only contact with the ground."
So logically if I take the tyres of my car I'll be able to fly?
;-)
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Dave,
Only with a self-levelling Citroen I guess.
David
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For some reason I've got this amusing image of your garden filled with lighter than air Citroens, each one tethered to a LWB landie.
I'll be having supper with JC's daughter this weekend. I'll pass on your regards!
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Dave,
There is always a use for an old LR. Our spare one is down to a chassis and it make a brilliant saw bench.
Yes please do pass on a mention to the JC family.
SWMBO is in the home area today. Staying in Broadway for Cheltenham races today/tomorrow.
David
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On a serious note, surely it makes sense to rotate tyres (as in front to back!)so that they have a chance to wear rather than age. Overall costs will be exactly the same but the worry about ageing disappears.
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I hope the good lady doesn't blow her housekeeping pennies on the nags, DW. Or rather I hope she does and wins! ;-)
I will be driving through Broadway on Friday afternoon. It really is a small world.
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BTW on Salvage Squad last night, Lee Hurst said that tyres last an average of 10K miles. I've had over 45K on a set of Axxium cheap tyres on the Synergie. Even the company cars' fronts seem to last 18 - 20K.
Who are these boy-racers that wear out tyres in 10K?
IMHO tyres shouldn't be used on the road after 6 years old and should be rotated so that you buy 4 at once; good for haggling, bad for cashflow but at least your tyres are to the same pattern, standard and age.
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Once had a set put on by some cowboy in France - after about 40k miles they were pristine but dreadful in the wet. Apparently they were snow tyres made of the hardest compound you can get!!
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Sounds like a set of Michelin ZX's I once had. Virtually no wear, but no wet grip either.
Regards
john
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I ran a pair of conti's down to 1.5mm. Got almost 100 000 kilometres out of them - same thing though, they didn't like the rain!
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See previous thread of a few days ago about rotating tyres (mind you, don't they all :-)....). It's been my belief over recent years that tyres like staying in the same position on the car (bed in to any suspension/cornering/steering vagaries), and in addition, if suddenly asked to rotate the opposite way will wear a lot quicker. But this is only what I've picked up from the "experts".
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I agree - tyres seem to like to stay where they are. On a ZX I had, swapping rears to front (and new ones on the back - at the BRMA recommends, though I suspect partly because this avoids having to re-balance the new pair once they've 'bedded in') made it handle like a pig on skates - and changing them back cured it.
I reckon 5 years is about it for a tyre thats ben on the car, maybe a bit longer for an unused spare, but then think how hot it can get in the boot?
Even if you get 5yrs (or 20k on drive wheels) they're not expensive compared with a failure to kep the thing shiny side up...
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