[MT_Hyderabad]

Originally Posted by Samfromindia

Theoretically if you consider life of a particular set of tyre for a particular car with same driving style to be 40K km with 4 tyre rotation, life will be 50K with 5 tyre rotation before tread wear warning comes up. In the first case, you need to replace tyres faster while keeping aging spare for emergency use. Unless you are planning to use a worn out tyre as spare, there are no cost savings really.

Coming to puncture repair, plugs are for emergency while patch is recommended in most cases. However in our country few places do patch repair and most of us end up using plugs.

My bad regarding the A/T, may be I read two three tire related threads at one go.

Nobody is going to block us, if we intend to sleep enlightened.

I agree that if you extract more life from the present set, there is no environment or cost saving. However, most of the time the situation is such that the new spare wheel is used when there is a puncture in the running wheel and as the spare wheel now becomes the one with repaired puncture, it is not used until really needed. I will never do 5 wheel rotation if one tire is repaired using a plug.

The spare wheel is the worst wheel in most cases, unless there was no puncture in all five tyres and 5 wheel rotation was followed. Like in your case.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

I do not see any cracks on the side of the tire where the tread meets the tyre - I`d say you can certainly use this as a spare. As is Bridgestone S series tyres will outlast most of the cars they come fitted with.

Couldn't agree more with the part in bold.
BTW, that tyre is 18years old (Dec2004 make) - it's one of the 5 OE tyres that came with my 2005 Baleno.
The other 4 were replaced with Yokohamas few years ago, but this being a spare was almost never used.
I had made the mistake of changing only 4 rims to alloys, so this never got rotated either.

Originally Posted by MT_Hyderabad

Extremely sorry, that the discussions made you feel insecure. Please take the tyre to a reputed shop and get it inspected. If I were you, who knows the history of this tyre and it's age, I would have kept it as a spare without doubt.

No insecurity at all. The two topics on tbhp which will never have tbhp-ians in consensus are :
1) At what age/mileage to change tyres ?
2) At what duration / mileage to change engine oil ?

I posted that query just to highlight that even with visual inspection, it isn't easy to conclusively say how good/bad a tyre is.

There is no simple answer as to when exactly tyres need to be changed - it depends on a range of factors like brand, type, quality, usage,
maintenance (correct air pressure, rotation, alignment etc), driving characteristics (too much braking vs engine braking etc).

[nagr22]

Hi All,

I need some advise from the forum experts regarding tyres. My car is a 2018 Toyota Yaris and has been driven only 19000kms till now. It came with 185/60/R15 Goodyear Assurance tyres manufactured on 1218. All was well until a month ago and then the front left tyre took a nail during a night drive and went flat next morning in my parking (thankfully). I couldn't get it repaired immediately so it was lying that way for 3 days and then I got the puncture patched from a nearby shop. Immediately after this I started noticing that the car was a bit wobbly at low speeds and was fine once I cross 40kph. I asked the puncture shop what he did and he said the tyre might be slightly unbalanced due to the puncture repair and that it will go away once the exposed part of the puncture fix thingy wears out. I drove this way to office for a week and I did feel like it was back to normal.

Things felt fine for 3 weeks and suddenly from the past 1 week I am once again feeling like the car handles a bit floaty at crawling speeds and I can feel every irregularity on the road. I can feel some vibrations even on a freshly laid road so I took it to Tyre Empire at Brookfield for inspection. The guy over their simply felt the tyres and said all 4 tyres have become hard and thats why I am feeling the vibrations and simply doing wheel balancing will not resolve this issue. He refused to even try balancing the wheels and instead started showing some cracks on the edge of the tyre and said since they are 5 years old, I should get them changed.

My questions to experts here are:
1) Can hard tyres make a car floaty? Or Am I being taken for a ride by the shopkeeper? Should I take a 2nd opinion?
2) Is it possible for a tyre can become noticeably hard within a week?
3) If indeed he is right, what would be ideal tyres for my usage of 5000km per year? UC6 or Yokohoma Earth 1?
4) Could there be a non tyre related problem that I am missing here?

A point to note is that I purchased the car in 2019 and it was lying in the sun for 1 full year in Nandi Toyotas stockyard. I was worried about flat spotting due to this but I never once had any vibration or wobble upto speeds of 120kph (max I have tried) in the last 4 years. This is the first time I am facing this issue and the tyre still has more than half of its original tread left intact.

[MT_Hyderabad]

Originally Posted by nagr22

Hi All,

I need some advise..

There are many possibilities, I can suggest what I would have done, as I did it recently on our second car.
The car was wobbling at slow speeds. I got the balancing done and it improved, however, it returned after a few weeks. The car was rarely driven during this time. As the tyres were old, I decided to change all four of them.

While getting them changed, I wanted to see why the car was wobbling just out of curiosity. Hence, just rolled them to inspect myself, while the lone guy at the shop was removing them one by one.
I noticed that there is a small elevation on the right side at a particular spot, when you rotate the tyre. This was the reason for the wobble. The tyre was just 15k kms driven, as you can make out from the tread depth in the image.

You can get your tyres changed or inspect them and see if only the defective one needs a change.

I suspect that the unattended punctured tyre lost its strength at a particular spot in your case.

[self_driven]

Originally Posted by nagr22

A point to note is that I purchased the car in 2019 and it was lying in the sun for 1 full year in Nandi Toyotas stockyard. I was worried about flat spotting due to this but I never once had any vibration or wobble upto speeds of 120kph (max I have tried) in the last 4 years. This is the first time I am facing this issue and the tyre still has more than half of its original tread left intact.

Just swap the repaired tyre with the spare and see how it goes.

[RubberGuru1113]

Originally Posted by nagr22

Hi All,

All was well until a month ago and then the front left tyre took a nail during a night drive and went flat next morning in my parking (thankfully). I couldn't get it repaired immediately so it was lying that way for 3 days and then I got the puncture patched from a nearby shop. Immediately after this I started noticing that the car was a bit wobbly at low speeds and was fine once I cross 40kph.

My questions to experts here are:
1) Can hard tyres make a car floaty? Or Am I being taken for a ride by the shopkeeper? Should I take a 2nd opinion?
2) Is it possible for a tyre can become noticeably hard within a week?

Hello. To answer your questions, hard tyres can certainly cause vibrations to be felt like you described, but this is not possible within a week. And since you say that things were fine until before the puncture, I have a suggestion.

Go to a nearby MRF T&S outlet and get a “mushroom puncture repair” on the same spot where you have a repair - after removing the current repair material. It costs around 350 rupees and ask the same shop to re-balance the wheel after carrying out the repair. If this tyre is the culprit, this should sort out the issue.

Originally Posted by nagr22

He refused to even try balancing the wheels and instead started showing some cracks on the edge of the tyre and said since they are 5 years old, I should get them changed.

Request you to share photos of what the dealer pointed out. While it’s not possible that your tyres became hard within a week, 5 years is a good time to change the tyres and the dealer may not be entirely wrong. Your tyres may be nearing their end of useful life, though what he pointed out may not be the reason for vibrations. Photos would make things much clearer.

[zeng]

A 1218 manufacture date OE tyre is typically specified as good for use upto Week 12 of 2024 (or is it 6 years from date of new car sale?), minimum according to Owner's Manual.

I would love to read/see what an owner's manual say in India. I wouldn't be surprised if an owner manual (in India) allows for 6 year use AND longer for an OE tyre.

Aftermarket tyres of international brands always allow for 10 year use, not sure of India brands though.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by zeng

A
Aftermarket tyres of international brands always allow for 10 year use, not sure of India brands though.

‘Allowing for 10 year use’ is not quite going to ‘cut it’ in India.
Our operating conditions of tyre usage are extremely harsh.
Road surfaces are often broken - cities and highways and other places .
All sorts of sharp objects on the roads.
Terrain is rough
Climate is harsh and extreme - heat, dust, cold etc.
Last but not least the majority of people do not maintain their tyres generally.
So the life of tyres here in India is compromised and hence have to definitely be changed out much sooner.

[MT_Hyderabad]

Originally Posted by zeng

I would love to read/see what an owner's manual say in India. I wouldn't be surprised if an owner manual (in India)..

I wish they said something. Not sure if 'Tire Life' is mentioned/recommended anywhere else in the world.

[zeng]

Originally Posted by MT_Hyderabad

I wish they said something. Not sure if 'Tire Life' is mentioned/recommended anywhere else in the world.

If nothing was mentioned about 6 year factory tyre life limit in owner's manual of certain car brands/models in Indian market, I would consider it safe to assume 10 year aftermarket tyre life applies here.

Bridgestone and Firestone tyres are recommending 10 year tyre life.

https://www.bridgestonetire.com/lear...%20the%20tire.

[PrasadS]

Weird chipping on the side tread. Please advise:

Running Yoko Earth 1's on my Rapid. These have undergone 28k kms of running and were installed in 2019. I do regular tyre maintenance (balancing-alignment-Rotation as required) without fail every 5k kms. Sometimes even earlier or before a trip. This chipping was not so apparent couple of months ago.
Given the age and the running and maintenance of these tyres, is this normal for Yoko Earth 1's or should i investigate further?
My running is mostly around Navi Mumbai and highways on good tarmac.

[zeng]

The most recent alignment screenshot may be able to explain the 'chips' imho.

Is the tread depth uneven between inside and outside edges? Front?

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by PrasadS

Weird chipping on the side tread. Please advise:

Running Yoko Earth 1's on my Rapid. These have undergone 28k kms of running and were installed in 2019. I do regular tyre maintenance (balancing-alignment-Rotation as required) without fail every 5k kms. Sometimes even earlier or before a trip. This chipping was not so apparent couple of months ago.
Given the age and the running and maintenance of these tyres, is this normal for Yoko Earth 1's or should i investigate further?
My running is mostly around Navi Mumbai and highways on good tarmac.

Appears to be a camber related issue, usually unchecked by alignment guys because it takes too much effort to correct it or needs replacement of components like the strut assemblies themselves.

I think you should check the forum for a good alignment shop in your area.

[PrasadS]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Appears to be a camber related issue, usually unchecked by alignment guys because it takes too much effort to correct it or needs replacement of components like the strut assemblies themselves.

I think you should check the forum for a good alignment shop in your area.

My alignment guy seems good as he was the first one to catch my steering rack issue which ruined my previous tyres, discs and pads
Even Skoda ASS didn't catch it, hence this fellow became my go-to guy.
Still will take your advice and get it checked from a forum recommended place.

Originally Posted by zeng

The most recent alignment screenshot may be able to explain the 'chips' imho.

Is the tread depth uneven between inside and outside edges? Front?

Not sure if screenshots will be available. Everything seemed normal 2 months ago during the last alignment, will get the tyres removed and do a detailed check.
I think Yoko's had given me some warranty. Might claim it if the situation warrants.

[RubberGuru1113]

Originally Posted by PrasadS

My alignment guy seems good as he was the first one to catch my steering rack issue which ruined my previous tyres, discs and pads
Even Skoda ASS didn't catch it, hence this fellow became my go-to guy.
Still will take your advice and get it checked from a forum recommended place.

I think Yoko's had given me some warranty. Might claim it if the situation warrants.

Hi, I'm a tyre industry professional - excessive or uneven wear can be a result of bad alignment. Chipping almost certainly has to do with degradation of the rubber properties. I suggest if Yokohama is giving you a warranty, close your eyes and take it, don't waste time, energy and money in further alignment checks.