[vipinendran]

Originally Posted by Sree73

Have gone through the various view points on what is actual life span of a tyre and when it should be replaced.

The industry consensus is that the safe average to be considered for replacement of a tyre is 50000 KMs / 5 Years. The tyre can very well go beyond the 50000 KM limit and can be used if it is maintained perfectly and runs on better surfaces with good habit driver. Of-course, within the permissible speed limits.

If you are not able to get a professional advice (beyond 5+ years), PLEASE REPLACE the tyre. Your life / your family's life as well as the life of people on road is much more valuable than a set of 5+ years old tyres. DO NOT go by just the appearance and continue with the 5+ year old tyres.

On a lighter note, less than 50K KMs /5 Year old tyres are like boy/girl friends whose behaviour can be predicted by the other half to a great extend.

But, alas... Once the tyre crosses 50K KMs / 5 years, it is more or less like a wife. You can seldom predict how she is going to behave in various circumstances. Since you have a choice to replace the tyres, go ahead and replace.
May not be lucky enough with the other, so mend your behaviour, be an obedient partner, listen carefully, talk slowly and continue gracefully with all the calculated risk factors.

Happy motoring on good condition vehicles with good condition tyres.

Great sense of humor buddy, I dare not tell my wife about this Summed up well.

Let me highlight something interesting about the average car user in our country. Today morning when I filled up petrol, I remembered this discussion in the forum and casually asked the people ( I had a lot of time to spare ) about 15 people driving their cars as to whether they are checking the air when there tyres are cold, and not even one person had any knowledge of this ( a few working in the IT hub of chennai on OMR road) and one person was even checking up his air pressure after a 50km drive Talk about perfect maintenance. Not even 5% of the petrol pumps have calibrated air pressure gauges in our country. This being the situation the tyre industry is perfectly right in saying 50K/5yr limit for our safety. Now if one has a TPMS and only fills air using his own compressor each and every time - an ideal situation then maybe we could extend the tyre life by around 10K max, but anything after that thank your stars.

Taking a leaf from your book, Appearances can be deceptive, good looks do not translate into great marital relationships.

[sumeethaldankar]

Below are some testimonials from the Bridgestone web site bookmybridstonetyre.com (linky below)

http://bookmybridgestonetyre.com/Testimonials.aspx




Some of the testimonials seem to state that their tyres have lasted upto a 1 lac km or more. I do not know if they are credible but considering and assuming this seems to be a manufacturer owned website aren’t the manufacturer ie Bridgestone advocating the idea that their tyres can last for a lot more than 50k kms.

I agree that the performance of 50k kms run tyre would be much lower than when it was brand new but here the manufacturer seems to endorse the notion that tyres can last much longer by publishing such testimonials. Don’t you guys think that if this was not safe then the Bridgestone guys would not publish such info which could lead it to be sued for wrongful information? Also there is a tyre made by Goodyear , Duraplus which is suppose to last a 100k kms I think. Not sure if it is available in India.

Given that, I am myself will be in the market for new tyres in the coming months as my cars tyres have aged 5 years and are on the 45k kms mark. In another 5 to 6 k kms will be considering changing them.

[alphadog]

It may be, as many before have pointed out, that there is more sliding friction and rolling friction with smaller car tyres. More of faster acceleration, driving and brisk braking.
Also, I guess the treads on the smaller tyres are thinner as compared to a SUV type.
My XUV has done 40000 kms so far on the bridgestone duelers, theres enough tread depth left, and I guess will be still good for another 20000 kms atleast, touch wood.
Cheerio!

[gthang]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Why this happens?

Hi there.

Not really that much of a mystery.

As many have mentioned, tire compound and construction has a lot to do with it.

All tires have a "load" and "speed" rating. If the vehicle in question are using tires that far exceed the actual load, which is usually the case for SUV's since their tire size covers a wide range of vehicles, you can expect a longer than normal life.

Similarly, SUV's usually have a lower speed rating, so again longer life.

So, if you are looking for more than normal tread life, next time you change tires, go for the highest load rating and lowest speed rating, and you will be guaranteed longer life.

Biggest tread eaters: low tire pressure and excessive braking.

Cheers.

[Rahul Rao]

I have observed that if I run more in an year the tyres last longer. My 2008 innova did One lakh km in less than two years, infact the car was sold with 1.64 lakh on odo just after 3 years were up. Tyres were replaced at 85,000 km with more than 3 mm tread depth, only two punctures in that period. Second set of tyres had about 4mm depth when sold.
During my tours I used to do 600+ km a day, and did not want to risk any thing less than 3 mm.
Current polo has tyres due for replacement closing on to 4 years and 65,000 km, tread depth is about 4 mm, but the compound has hardened, of 6 punctures till date 3 have occured in the last 5000 km. I have booked an appointment at the service station next week. A complete suspension inspection will be done before the tyres are replaced.
My WagonR which runs less than 10,000 km a year never gets more than 35,000 to 40,000 km tyre life. Even here tread depth is not the issue, it is compound hardening.

Rahul

[rugsrags]

From my limited experience even i'v noticed this trend. SUV's having a longer tyre life than sedans. I have had two scorpios back to back which were on their original tyres till 90-95k kms till the scorpios themselves were replaced. There was periodic maintenance carried on and only one tyre from my first scorpio had to be shifted to the stepney due to negligence of driving 3-4k kms with bad alignment. Infact the second scorpio when it was sold had the buyer asking me if i had changed the tyres 30k kms back and was surprised when i told him they were the original tyres. There was still so much tread left that it would have easily done 10-15k kms more. The time duration on both my scorpios was not more than 3 years hence the time factor never came into play.

On the other hand Honda seems to come with the worst original tyres. My Civic running Bridgestones had their tyres replaced at 22k kms to Michelins which lasted till the end of lifecycle of the car for me at 98k kms with still enough tread left for another 5k kms. I have a honda city with michelins from the company and at 26k kms they look completely bald already. I replaced tyres on my Verna at 35k kms to continentals. My original bridgestones on Octavia were replaced at 26k kms to Michelins which still look as good as new at 44k kms. The rexton was running on Hankook originals which lasted around 63k kms and were good for another 5k kms but unfortunately i had a bad tyre cut and i replaced 4 tyres to MRF wanderers which are holding steady at 85k kms.

All this does show that SUV's in general have a longer tyre life and the original company fitted tyres are definitely of an inferior quality to that sold in the after market.
I also agree that a timeline needs to be maintained for change of tyres irrespective of the mileage. I am in the rubber industry and know for a fact that the natural tendency of rubber and even synthetic rubber is to dry with time jeopardising its strength.