Tires

[padavid12]

My wife's 2014 LTZ only has 17,499 miles. My question regards in need to replace the tires. With those few miles, the tires look great. My concern is now the age of the tires. I have heard that the life expectancy of a tire is 7 years. I need your opinion (I know everyone has an opinion) as to the need to replace. Let it rip. Thanks (Mich Lat)

 

[burnbomber]

Aged rubber causes problems, depends on your micro climate. Stored inside, outside, sunny, not, hot, etc.

On my Miata, I just looked at the 8 year old tires, they're TOAST. No symptoms last time I looked, but now--

Sidewall crazing, split rubber in the treads, particularly close to the sidewalls (this scares me most--chunky tread cracking). The Nox OEM Michelins did the same, about the same life span too. But, plenty of tread left in both cars, so my cue is do not spend on high mileage tires, buy grippy tires that wear quick. I'll keep these Miata tires for the winter, then put summer treads on in the spring.

On my trailer tires, stored inside, they age rotted at 16 years. If yours look OK, then great. All the more reason to rotate your own tires.