[sagarpadaki]

The tyres are 8-year-old. Lifespan of a tyre is max 8 years from reputed brands. So replace.

[Turbohead]

Originally Posted by Car-go-man

Dear Tyre gurus

Following are the pics of my stock 2014 Wagon R tyres (Apollo Amazer 155/65 R14).

My car is seldom used post 2019 due to lockdowns and now since my employer has granted permanent Work From Home, the usual home-to-office daily routine no longer exists. It only does an occasional within-city trips.

However, I am planning for a 700 km trip (roundtrip, God-willing) and I feel its time to change the tyres.

Although there is good amount of tread, you'll be better off with new pair tires. The old tires would've hardened and wouldn't perform as expected during emergency maneuvers.

Fresher tires will always be more comfortable, safer, quiter and better engineered compared to the 8 year old one's on the car. You'll be after and arrive fresher at your destination especially in long trips.

[zeng]

I would retain them until the tread wear till Tire Wear Indicator level (1.6 mm depth), as recommended by tyre manufacturers.

[MT_Hyderabad]

Originally Posted by Car-go-man

My car is seldom used post 2019 due to lockdowns and now since my employer has granted permanent Work From Home, the usual home-to-office daily routine no longer exists. It only does an occasional within-city trips.

However, I am planning for a 700 km trip (roundtrip, God-willing) and I feel its time to change the tyres. But I have been getting conflicting opinions

I am no tyre expert, however, will suggest what I would have done.

I would have driven with this set for the upcoming 700 km trip. Kept a close watch for the next 1500 odd kms (which would be an year, as per the details you provided). Changed all four after 12 odd months. There is no point in putting new set which are not used much.

I regretted changing my 6 year old tyres just for age and selling the car after 6 months.

8 years is an indicative time, as your car doest run much and the tyres look OK to the experts, adding one more year does no harm.

If you plan to change, please change all together.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Car-go-man

Kindly advise.
]

In my country the legal minimum thread depth is 1.6mm. But I will change my tires at less than 3mm or 5-6 years max, whichever comes first. A set of tires every 5 years isn’t really going to break the bank in terms of overal cost to own and run a car. When it comes to safety I would rank good tires first, good brakes second and good suspension third. And I would never ever contemplate being cheap on any of these three. I would not be able to live with myself if anything happened due to me waiting to long to replace something to save a bit of money.

I can guarantee you will notice a considerable difference with four new tires fitted. Better more comfortable ride, better grip. That alone should be ample motivation.

These four tires is all that keeps your vehicle grounded on the road. It is just about the last item you should be worrying about cost. You need to worry about safety! Safety for your loved ones, yourself and innocent bystanders.

You have got a lot of use out of your current set of tires, why are you even contemplating anything other than just replacing them all four?

Safety is a different mindset to cost conscious. Here you are, you have the choice to actually increase the potential safety of your car by a good margin. All it takes is a bit of money.

Jeroen

[shankar.balan]

The tyre is your first line of defence in your vehicle’s contact with the surface you are driving on. Will you for example wear a pair of torn-soled worn-out rubber slippers and walk across a stony patch of ground?

Your tyres are absolutely frightening. As a member on this forum, you ought to definitely take a lot more interest in the condition of your tyres. Ideally you must change them every 4-5 years. The rubber compound does get hardened and this affects braking and traction and makes the tyre puncture prone too. If I were you I would change all the 5 tyres. NOW. Taking shortcuts on this, is the perfect recipe for a lot of misery.

The best thing you can do for yourself in this case is to change all the 5 tyres immediately to nice new ones. In any case they are several years old. It’s definitely the right time to switch to new ones. Your car and your passengers will bless you abundantly.

Don’t be penny wise (being miserly with money) and pound foolish (taking chances on safety).

Originally Posted by Car-go-man

Dear Tyre gurus

Following are the pics of my stock 2014 Wagon R tyres (Apollo Amazer 155/65 R14).

My car is seldom used post 2019 due to lockdowns and now since my employer has granted permanent Work From Home, the usual home-to-office daily routine no longer exists. It only does an occasional within-city trips.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by MT_Hyderabad

I am no tyre expert, however, will suggest what I would have done.

I would have driven with this set for the upcoming 700 km trip. Kept a close watch for the next 1500 odd kms (which would be an year, as per the details you provided). Changed all four after 12 odd months. There is no point in putting new set which are not used much.

I regretted changing my 6 year old tyres just for age and selling the car after 6 months.

8 years is an indicative time, as your car doest run much and the tyres look OK to the experts, adding one more year does no harm.

If you plan to change, please change all together.

I just noticed this post and I am sorry Sir, but this is just poor advice. Do not be penny wise and pound foolish. In a few of my earlier posts below this one, I have suggested why it is absolutely necessary to take the age of your tyres very seriously indeed.

Here is an YouTube video which may help you to understand why I am consistently advocating this approach.

https://youtu.be/LV8bZ2qwDeg

[MT_Hyderabad]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I just noticed this post and I am sorry Sir, but this is just poor advice. Do not be penny wise and pound foolish. In a few of my earlier posts below this one, I have suggested why it is absolutely necessary to take the age of your tyres very seriously indeed

There is something called inspection.

I did my research long time ago but realised how wrong I was only recently.

If you read my post carefully, it is relying on the inspection performed by the experts.

If we all start changing tyres unnecessarily, the world will become a dead planet.

Please note: Changing tyres just before a highway trip is extremely dangerous. Tyres also have a break-in period. New tyres grip less and going for a highway drive on them is equally dangerous, just like driving on bald tyres.
Moreover, what kind of enthusiast recommend changing tyre every 4 to 5 years? This person is extremely careless towards the environment. Tyre manufacturers recommend inspection every year after 5 years and recommend changing when it reaches 10 years.

https://www.michelin.in/auto/tips-an...e-my-car-tyres

I maintain a balance between safety, cost, environment and practicality. I can recommend changing tyres, brake pads etc every year for the sake of safety. But, I won't.

Regarding cost, I requested to change all four together, which is not that cost effective.

[Car-go-man]

Thanks everyone for sharing candid feedback.

Just wanted to clarify few things- cost is not a factor behind me posting the above question. I am not a miser, nor am I a spendthrift, but I am more like my car (Wagon R)- a practical, no-non-sense man in his 40s with family and therefore, safety of myself, my loved ones and everyone else is absolutely on top of my list.

Had I not consulted the opinion of 2 different reputed tire shops nearby who said the same thing (of replacing just 2 of them and retaining the other 2), I would not even have posted this question and would have simply replaced all the tires and would not have wasted anybody's time.

Now, of course I see your points and it makes sense to swap all of them ASAP, but few folks have noted here that heading out for a long drive on the highway with brand new tires is as dangerous as driving with the ones I have, and therefore I am still as confused as before since I need to head out coming Monday anyways.

Perhaps, I should not use my car at all for the trip and use public transport OR I should still go ahead with new tires but drive slow on the highway so that the tires get a decent run-in OR I retain the same old tires and still drive slow on the highway so that I avoid any untoward incident and change the tires soon after I return.

[MT_Hyderabad]

Originally Posted by Car-go-man

Perhaps, I should not use my car at all for the trip and use public transport OR I should still go ahead with new tires but drive slow on the highway so that the tires get a decent run-in OR I retain the same old tires and still drive slow on the highway so that I avoid any untoward incident and change the tires soon after I return.

Be careful during the first 200 kilometers is what many manufacturers recommend.

This site mentions 500 miles, which is too much, but should not be ignored. There is some good piece of information, hence sharing.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret...e.jsp?techid=5

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Car-go-man

Now, of course I see your points and it makes sense to swap all of them ASAP, but few folks have noted here that heading out for a long drive on the highway with brand new tires is as dangerous as driving with the ones I have

There is no danger. Fit new tubeless tyress on all four wheels, keep the best old tyre as a spare. Henceforth rotate the four tyres once a year so that all four tyres wear evenly. Don't do five tyre rotation.

Drive the first couple of hundred km sedately (65-70 kmph), after that you will be good to go. If you do that distance in the city before going on the highway trip, even better.

Brand new tyres will have some kind of coating on them, which helps to seperate them from the moulds/dies during manufacture and it will wear off during the first couple of hundred km of driving. That is all.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by MT_Hyderabad

There is something called inspection.

I did my research long time ago but realised how wrong I was only recently.

If you read my post carefully, it is relying on the inspection performed by the experts.

If we all start changing tyres unnecessarily, the world will become a dead planet.

Well, your research is still lacking in several areas:

You can not visually inspect a tyre beyond thread depth and visual cracks. You can not determine how much the rubber has deteriorated , giving less comfort and more importantly safety ( apart from thread depth).

In order to inspect a tire it needs to be removed from the wheel and the rim. Any “ Expert” looking at the outside of tire only has no clue. Your car needs to go on a lift or Jack and the tires need to come of the rim to inspect the inside as well as the outside on both sides. Remount and balance the tire. I have seen endless so called experts looking at mounted tires, measuring thread depth and then telling me I need to replace or I am still good to go. Sorry, but you need to run a mile from anybody that doesn’t look inside the tire, so tires off the rim is the only way.

Each manufacturer specifies the maximum age for a tire and it varies per manufacturer and per type of tire. You need to measure it from the date the tire was manufactured and not from when they were fitted. It is not unusual to get tires that were manufactured 6-24 months ago. Especially if you have a size that is less used.

Proper tire shops don’t keep tires for more than 24 months after production date. Always check the production date on new tires!! They might be old stock!
Also, your car manufacturer might have a recommendation included in the owner manual. Usually they will tell you tomreplqce tires every 5-6 years.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/glob...rticle1358907/

There is quite a lot of research that points towards never going over the 6 years age, no matter what. Court cases have been won over this.

https://www.wfirm.com/tires-expire-in-six-years/

Some of the relative new tire manufacturer don’t specify age or even less than five years.
Most tire manufacturers specify between 5-6 years with Michelin and continental specifying 10 years. Of course, a tire might well wear out before.

Goodyear specifies 6 years

https://www.goodyearrvtires.com/tire...uidelines.aspx

Tyres are 100% recycled in many countries. Even in the country of plenty and consumer wastefulness the good ol’ USA tires are one of the most recycled items!

https://www.treehugger.com/tire-recycling-5184742

Enjoy, and don’t skimp on those new tires!

Jeroen

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

The tyres are 8-year-old. Lifespan of a tyre is max 8 years from reputed brands. So replace.

I thought its more like 5. I normally replace tyre if:

1: Tread wear indicator have given warning
2: Tyre reached 5 Yr lifespan

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Samfromindia

I thought its more like 5. I normally replace tyre if:

1: Tread wear indicator have given warning
2: Tyre reached 5 Yr lifespan

Makes a lot of sense to me, see my earlier post just above yours.
Please do make sure to check the production date of your tires. Life span should be measured from production date and not from when they were fitted!

All tires should have a production date on them.

https://www.tirebuyer.com/education/...your-tires-old

Jeroen

[Samfromindia]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Makes a lot of sense to me, see my earlier post just above yours.
Please do make sure to check the production date of your tires. Life span should be measured from production date and not from when they were fitted!

All tires should have a production date on them.

https://www.tirebuyer.com/education/...your-tires-old

Jeroen

That's correct. As a matter of fact last time I swapped tyres, I ensured that they are fresh from factory (3-4 months old)

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-...ml#post4624740 (Ford Ecosport : Tyre & wheel upgrade thread)