The question, "How long does a tire last?" tends to be followed by several others like, “What causes a tire to wear? When should tires be replaced? What can be done to make tires last longer?” Fortunately, we can help provide clarity around these questions.
There is no exact answer to how long a particular tire will last, but there are things a driver can do to get the most out of their tire investment and avoid driving on unsafe tires. On average, people drive between 12,000 to 15,000 miles a year, which means the average good quality all-season tire will last somewhere between three and five years, depending on maintenance, driving style and conditions, etc.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) states a driver is three times more likely to be involved in a crash caused by poor tire condition. Safer is smarter when it comes to the health of tires, so if there is ever a question on tread wear or age, have the tires checked.
Multiple factors play a role in how long a tire may remain in service. Miles driven, road conditions, driving style, maintenance and age all affect how long a tire lasts.
Worn vs. Aged
Tires naturally wear the more they are driven and worn out tires provide reduced traction compared to those with adequate tread, especially in adverse weather conditions. Most drivers understand worn out tires (remaining tread depth at or below 2/32”) should be removed from service.
Many drivers are not aware that minimally used tires, like the ones on recreational vehicles, collectible cars, or even spare tires, tend to experience aging instead of wearing, due to a lack of driving. An aged tire has a substantial amount of tread; however, the structural integrity of the tire is weaker because the tire needs to be driven for the chemicals in the rubber to remain effective.
Curbs, Potholes, and Other Hazards
Hitting curbs or driving on roads in poor condition (potholes, broken pavement, poorly graded railroad crossings, unpaved roads, etc.
) can cause misalignment, and suspension damage that affects tire wear. If your daily drive includes these challenges, be sure to schedule annual suspension, alignment and tire checks.
Weather Conditions
Driving in poor weather conditions like ice, snow, and rain can cause tires to wear quicker because they must work harder to maintain traction. Purchasing tires that are specially engineered to perform in specific weather conditions can provide drivers with an extra measure of traction and control (meaning greater safety) while delivering good treadwear.
Bridgestone offers different types of tires designed to keep you and your car safe during any weather or road condition. For example, Bridgestone's Blizzak tire series is built to perform in harsh winter weather conditions providing durable traction on snowy and icy roads, and the Dueler tire series is one of several that offer a secure grip on wet road conditions for areas that experience heavy rain.
Poor Driving Habits
Poor driving habits like hard cornering, quick acceleration, and sudden braking can increase the stress on tires tremendously, causing them to wear rapidly.
Drivers can extend the life of their tires significantly by avoiding aggressive driving.
Neglected Maintenance
It is important to regularly have tires checked for damage, to maintain air pressure levels, and to keep tires aligned and rotated. Without proper maintenance, tire life can be reduced by as much as half - even more, in some cases.
If the below signs are evident with your tires, it may be time to have them replaced.
Low Tread Depth
Tread loss is a significant sign a tire needs to be replaced. Low tread is a sign driver can physically see happening on their tire. Depending on the part of the tire that is wearing, there may be other problems with the vehicle.
Pronounced inner or outer shoulder wear: tires are misaligned
Edge of the shoulder wear: tires are under-inflated, need to be rotated or both.
Center wear: tires may be overinflated or have been subjected to extremely hard acceleration.
Cupped wear: the vehicle is experiencing suspension problems
All tires have tread wear indicators built-in, but if the tread looks low take time to do the penny test on the tires.
Rough Drive
If you’re experiencing a vibration (particularly if it just started), or high (and increasing) levels of tire noise it may be a sign your tires are out of balance, not wearing properly or have a structural issue. In some cases, this may affect safety, so have your tires checked by a qualified professional asap.
DOT Number
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) number on the tire’s sidewall is another way to help keep track of when they need to be replaced. It’s easy to identify - look for the letters “DOT” followed by eleven or twelve letters and numbers. On tires made after the year 2000 the final four digits signify the week and year of manufacture. So, a tire with “3618” would have been made in the 36th week or 2018. A tire that has a 3-digit week-and-year code means the tire was made before the year 2000 and should be replaced due to age.
Bridgestone recommends that its Bridgestone or Firestone brand tires be removed from service after ten years regardless of their remaining tread depth. They also recommend periodic inspections by a qualified technician for damage such as punctures, impact damage, signs of improper inflation or overloading, or other conditions resulting from the use or misuse of the tire.
Tires are both one of the largest maintenance expenses a vehicle owner is likely to face, and one of the most critical in terms of driving safety and performance. For both reasons it’s important to care for them properly. Bottom line: good maintenance and driving habits help keep drivers safe, and it saves them money by extending tire life.
Easy Does It
Tire life can be reduced by as much as half when they’re subjected to a lot of hard braking and aggressive acceleration from a standstill. Avoiding tailgating to reduce the need for frequent hard braking will increase tire life.
Easing into the throttle when pulling away from a stop reduces strain on the tires and improves wear. Slowing before sharp corners also reduces stress on tires, as does avoiding potholes and broken pavement when possible. If you’re interested in spending less on tires, following these steps can help.
Regular Maintenance
Another way to extend tire life is to keep up with the proper maintenance of a vehicle and its tires. A couple of things you can do yourself are to check the air pressure and tread depth. You should have a qualified technician periodically check their balance and alignment and be sure to have tires rotated at regular intervals. maintenance is essential for your tires to perform their best and last their longest.
When it comes to checking tire tread, there are a number of methods that can help you know if it’s time to replace a tire. Heavily worn tread will prevent a tire from performing as designed and can lead to unsafe driving conditions.
One of the simplest, most common ways to check tread depth requires nothing more than a penny and a few moments of your time.
In the United States, tire tread depth is measured in 32nds of an inch. New tires typically come with 10/32” or 11/32” tread depths, and some truck, SUV and winter tires may have deeper tread depths than other models. The U.S. Department of Transportation recommends replacing tires when they reach 2/32”, and many states legally require tires to be replaced at this depth.
The idea of the penny test is to check whether you’ve hit the 2/32” threshold. Here’s how it works:
Place a penny between the tread ribs on your tire. A “rib” refers to the raised portion of tread that spans the circumference of your tire. Tire tread is composed of several ribs.
Turn the penny so that Lincoln’s head points down into the tread.
See if the top of his head disappears between the ribs. If it does, your tread is still above 2/32” , If you can see his entire head, it may be time to replace the tire because your tread is no longer deep enough.
When performing the penny tire test, remember not only to check each tire, but to check various places around each tire. Pay special attention to areas that look the most worn. Even if parts of your tread are deeper than 2/32”, you should still replace the tire when any areas fail the penny test.
Consistent wear around the whole tire is normal, but uneven tread wear could be a sign of improper inflation, wheel misalignment, or a variety of other things. If you see uneven tread wear, you should have a technician inspect your vehicle.
A simple way to check your tire tread depth is by using a tread depth gauge. You can find tire tread depth gauges at your local auto parts store. There are many models available, but an inexpensive simple graduated probe gauge will work just fine. All you have to do is stick the probe into a groove in the tread and press the shoulders of the probe flat against the tread block and read the result.
All gauges should measure in both 32nds of an inch and millimeters.
Another indicator of worn out tread already lives in your tires themselves. Every performance, light truck, or medium commercial tire comes equipped with indicator bars (or wear bars) embedded between the tread ribs at 2/32”. They’re there to help you monitor tread depth and make decisions about tire replacement. Just look to see if the tread is flush with the indicator bars. If they are, it’s time to replace the tire.
While the penny tire test does deliver on what it promises – indicating whether tread has reached the legal limit – it may not be the best indicator of whether your tires are safe for the road. Tire performance can diminish significantly before your tread hits 2/32”. Even though the law deems fit for safe driving may not prevent you from hydroplaning or losing control in rainy, slushy conditions. If you think your tires may be close to needing replacement, have them checked out by a licensed mechanic.
With mileage, the technical condition of tires changes, which affects the performance of the car and traffic safety. Therefore, it is important to monitor the uniformity of wear of all tires, and also to prevent the operation of the vehicle, the residual height of the tire tread of which is lower than the minimum allowable. The task of preventing premature wear and destruction of tires is very complex and is associated with the ability to determine their types, accurately identify the cause that caused each specific tire failure. The increased wear of your car tires is influenced by many factors, or, to put it bluntly, violations. The fact is that many car owners do not follow the basic rules for maintaining their own or working car.
This happens either due to ignorance or negligence. Due to the periodic and timely inspection of car tires, you can get complete and necessary information about the condition of the wheels and tires, the degree of wear, identify defects that are dangerous for traffic safety, determine the causes of tire wear and the features of car operation.
In addition to safety, tire condition affects handling, driving dynamics and fuel consumption . The latter is especially important for trucks and car owners with high daily mileage. Some tire manufacturers claim in their flyers that their tires will not only last longer, but will also save fuel. Let's see how tires really affect a car's fuel consumption. In a truck, this is of course more noticeable than in a passenger car, due to the large number of wheels and high loads. The rolling resistance of an entire vehicle consists of a whole list of resistances: air resistance, overcoming inertia forces during acceleration, internal resistance of engine and transmission components, and tire resistance. We will not dwell on all these factors and focus on tires.
The total rolling resistance of tires is also made up of several components. Contrary to popular belief, tire friction on the road surface of is only 5%. A little more (about 15%) falls on air resistance .
The lion's share of the energy expended (about 80%) is spent on tire deformation . If the tire is rolled along the road with no load at all, then before stopping, it will move for a long time. But if the tire is loaded so that its lower part begins to deform (compress), after the initial impulse it will stop very quickly. This clearly demonstrates how much energy is spent on the constant deformation of the tires.
Thus, car owners may want to buy tires that will deform minimally, and therefore create less rolling resistance. Now in the market such an option is quite possible to find. As a rule, these are inexpensive budget-class tires. A stiffer carcass, although it gives some fuel economy, at the same time can present an unpleasant surprise in the form of a tire explosion. You just need to run into any object with sharp edges (stone, piece of iron, etc.). By the way, a similar situation can happen with premium tires. Some drivers, mostly trucks, inflate their tires on purpose to save fuel, without realizing that uneven wear will appear.
The chassis geometry of the also has a significant impact on fuel consumption. Even minor deviations entail extra costs. Firstly, tires wear out faster, and secondly, fuel burns more. When the wheels, figuratively speaking, go in different directions, additional energy is spent on their "drag". For example, if at one meter the wheel “leaves” only 2.5 mm, then at a kilometer it turns out that the wheel will “drag” to the side by 2.5 m. 2.5 kilometers at full load.
Normal tire wear
Tire inspection provides you with information about the condition of the tires and wheels, how the vehicle is used, possible defects, and driving style. So, for example, a sporty driving style leads to a different tire wear pattern than a quiet one. For a correct assessment, it is necessary to inspect all the wheels. This is especially evident in the example of a passenger rear-wheel drive car, since the load is distributed differently between the driving and steered wheels in it.
Tire wear as a function of air temperature
Tire wear as a function of driving speed
While driving, tire wear is determined by measuring the remaining tread height. Tire wear must be uniform over the entire circumference; when the minimum tread height is reached, the tire is considered completely worn out and must be replaced. Tire wear is primarily determined by driving style. Hard acceleration and braking wears out the tire faster than steady motion.
Drive and steer wheels have different wear patterns due to different loads. Steered wheels wear more on the sides, since it is on this part of the tire that the main load in the turn occurs. Tires on drive wheels wear more in the middle , since it is this part of the tire that contacts the asphalt and transmits the rotation of the wheel to the road. On vehicles with front-wheel drive, the wear is "cumulative" - in this case, the entire tire wears out evenly and its central part and sides.
One-sided wear (possible reduction in wear from 15% to 30%) - occurs more often than others, since there are several reasons for its occurrence. One-sided tire wear can be caused by an error in suspension geometry. To determine the cause in this case, it is necessary to check the toe-in and camber. Wear on the outside of the tire can be caused by excessive positive toe or camber . Wear on the inside of the tire, on the other hand, causes excessive negative toe or camber. Driving with zero camber results in even but increased tire wear. In addition, it increases the tire's rolling resistance and increases fuel consumption . In addition to the tires of the steered axle, tires of other axles can also be subject to one-sided wear - again due to problems with the geometry. This is either a lack of alignment, or deformation of the axes themselves. On steering tires for tractors, one-sided wear may appear due to the operating conditions of the vehicle.
Another reason is cornering at high speeds. To prevent one-sided wear, you need to monitor the condition of the chassis, periodically check the geometry and abandon the aggressive driving style.
Bilateral and central wear (possible reduction in mileage from 5% to 10%) appear for the same reason - tire pressure mismatch. When the pressure is below normal, the tire begins to wear more at the edges, and bilateral wear is obtained. The same thing happens during overload - the tire, even with normal pressure, rides as if it were lowered. Fans of pumping tires get a different result: the load on the contact patch is not distributed evenly, but closer to the center, which means that the tire wears out faster in the central part of the tread. Anyone who monitors tire pressure and does not overload the car does not encounter such problems.
Multiple wear around the circumference
Patchy wear (possible 10% to 20% reduction in mileage) is a direct result of imbalance.
It is especially characteristic of steering axle tires, but can appear on all axles. If such wear has become visible to the naked eye, the problem is obvious. Balancing will correct the situation, but only partially: a wheel that has lost its roundness will wear out more intensively. Therefore, it is more expensive to ignore balancing when buying and installing new tires. Repeated wear spots around the circumference of the tires can cause suspension failure (arms, dampers, springs). After diagnosing and repairing the suspension, the tire must be replaced, since this wear pattern no longer ensures its uniform rotation, and the wheel will “beat”.
Spot wear
Spot wear in one spot is the result of emergency braking with a locked wheel. The uniformity of rotation of the wheel in this case is also broken and the tire will have to be replaced. If you leave the car for a long time in the parking lot, then there is a risk of flat areas on the tires, which then during the movement will cause the wheels to vibrate.
It is recommended to increase the pressure in the tires if you leave the car for a long time. A similar effect can also be caused by stopping the car after intense sports driving - heated tires are easily deformed at the points of contact with the road surface and practically “freeze” in this state. This defect is easy to fix - after warming up the tires, they will again acquire a round shape.
Comb (sawtooth) wear (possible reduction in mileage from 10% to 20%) is a form of uneven wear. It can often be seen on drive axle tires with a block tread pattern. It is caused by the fact that during the movement the tire is deformed - at the point of contact with the road, the tread is pressed inward (the blocks are crushed and dragged along the road surface), and as the wheel rotates, it straightens again. This leads to the fact that the tread wears more on the front edge than on the back. The result of this wear is an increase in tire rolling noise.
It is impossible to avoid the appearance of comb wear, but with the help of permutations, its negative effect on tire mileage can be leveled. Drivers can also influence the situation: if you step on the gas pedal as smoothly as possible, comb wear will be minimal. To even out this wear, tires are usually swapped, as tires on a non-drive axle are more susceptible to this wear. Low tire pressure also increases sawtooth wear.
Driving with the wrong tire pressure
Insufficient tire pressure causes the tire to flex in the middle and wear out at the edges as a result. Excessive pressure in the tire leads to the opposite effect - its middle part wears out. It is authentically known that it is impossible to create an ideal tire. If you make it economical, it will be too rigid and unsafe. Conversely, a soft, durable tire with good grip will inevitably have increased rolling resistance. Manufacturers strive to find the best solution, but in any case, this will be a compromise between durability, reliability, safety and economy.
Source: www.avtoregion36.ru/information/article/iznos
Rough roads, sudden acceleration, frequent braking create conditions that can significantly reduce tire life (at a speed of 120 km / h, the tire wears out 2 times faster than at a speed of 70 km / h). When driving at high speed for a long time, tire deformation occurs more often. As a result of internal friction, energy is released, which is mainly converted into heat. There is an intense heating of the rubber (especially in the summer). The friction on the road increases. An increase in temperature outside and inside the tire can lead not only to increased wear on the tread surface, but also to the occurrence of delaminations between the tire parts. So at a temperature of 120 degrees Celsius, the tensile strength of conventional rubber is reduced by 40%.
The wear resistance of a tire also depends to a large extent on the air temperature during driving.
It has been practically established that the wear of the tread when driving on a dry and hot road is approximately twice as much as when driving on a wet and cold road.
It is recommended to use tires with a 10-15% margin in terms of the maximum allowable tire load. Such tires will work in more favorable conditions even with a short overload. When a tire is overloaded by 20%, its service life is reduced by 30%.
This driving style causes the tread to slip in the contact patch, which significantly increases the wear rate, both during acceleration and during braking. The greater the speed at which sharp braking begins, the more intense the wear. Prolonged emergency braking can lead to the formation of a wear patch and even to the separation of the tread elements.
At a pressure of 20% below normal, an average reduction in service life of 30% is observed.
