How long do tyres last?
Discussion
thehappyotter said:
useyourdellusion said:
I once heard that 25000 miles is pretty much the life of the average tyre.
As a fellow Focus ST owner, you're very lucky if you think that's true! 
Mine eats fronts in 10-12k if I'm lucky!
duckers26 said:
My car is 6 years old and has done 27,000 miles. At the last service they said that the front tyres were about 60% worn and the back 40%, so it sounds like there is a fair bit of life left in them. Then a friend said that you shouldn't keep tyres on a car once they're over 5 years irrespective of wear. Is this true and should I change them? Thanks!
If you are worried change them. They will have degraded over time but I dont buy into the thinking that they are all about to explode underneath you. duckers26 said:
Thanks for the help. The car is hardly used around town as I live in central London and get the tube, it probably moves around 4 times a month for longer runs out of town. Had a look at the tyres and they look fine with no pressure loss since I last checked.
there's your reason then i guess!i'm pretty sure car manufacturers came up with the 5 or 6 year tyre life thing, and advise to bin any tyres in stock at this age
if you have a quick look on the net you'll find how to read a tyres date of production - the tyre wasn't neccessarily born the same time as the car was registered, it's likely even older!
i'd probably change tyres, as said already, after 4 years irrespective of wear. seems daft if there's still tread left but just like the cambelt mentioned, these things tend to fail pretty spectacularly, small price to pay for keeping you out of a crash barrier/tree
CraigyMc said:
My old elises' first set of tyres were about 6 years old when I got it and they had similar levels of flex to concrete.
C
My god that must have been driven by an old dear or been a weekend only silly low miler. 10,000 miles (admittedly including 4.5 trackdays) so far and 3rd full set of tyres on my VX fronts wore out as quick as the rears.C
I've heard the five year rule too. I was advised to change the tyres on my Elise at 29k miles and 6 years old, even though they only had 50% wear, purely based on age. I did notice a big difference in grip from the fresher rubber that went on.
Whilst it is true that driving style contributes hugely to tyre wear (I received an emergency call last year asking if my team mate could buy some 5 race old tyres off me because he'd wrecked a set spinning at high speed. That being near the lifetime of my tyres anyway, I agreed, and was amazed to hear the next day that they had more grip than the 1 race old set he was running beforehand!), with a road car, there are too many variables to get smug about it - namely the sort of roads that you drive on and what car you've got (weight and geometry are the main factors) - I'm sure that those factors will play a bigger part than driving style.
Whilst it is true that driving style contributes hugely to tyre wear (I received an emergency call last year asking if my team mate could buy some 5 race old tyres off me because he'd wrecked a set spinning at high speed. That being near the lifetime of my tyres anyway, I agreed, and was amazed to hear the next day that they had more grip than the 1 race old set he was running beforehand!), with a road car, there are too many variables to get smug about it - namely the sort of roads that you drive on and what car you've got (weight and geometry are the main factors) - I'm sure that those factors will play a bigger part than driving style.
jon- said:
If it's of any interest, the average mileage reported on tyre reviews (for reviews with distance greater than 3000 miles as a lot of people put initial reports on) is 21,995 miles.
Mean averages don't really apply here though, because the sort of driving that makes tyres last a long time is also the sort of driving that racks up high mileages - so the data is scewed.kiethton said:
On my astra i get through fronts in about 22k and the rears are still the ones it left te factory with (3 years and 73k later) They are still above 6mm of tread and all.
The tyres are sport contact's btw
That speaks volumes about the inherent balance of a front wheel drive car! The tyres are sport contact's btw
As a comparison, the wear on the BMW saloons that I've owned has been exactly equal wear front/rear, and my Elise tends to wear out the rears faster than the fronts, being effectively rear engined. On the road of course if you're driving safely one can't achieve a neutral balance in corners all the time, thus static weight and power distribution that tends to reflect in the tyre wear.fronts generally wear out faster than rears so swapping them round is a good idea after 10,000 miles, you'll get more life out of all. If you have worn the fronts but the rears have some life then I'd buy 4 new & just change the fronts; when the rears eventually go put the fronts to the rear and put the other 2 new one's on the front, you'll get good use & wear from all.
AND, check the pressures every month, very few people do, they'll last much longer.
AND, check the pressures every month, very few people do, they'll last much longer.
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