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.
It may be tentative, but tires do have an expiration date. There is a general consensus that most tires should be inspected, if not replaced, at about six years and should be absolutely be swapped out after 10 years, regardless of how much tread they have left.
How do you know how old your tires are? There’s a code on the sidewall that you can read about here. Wear is a far more straightforward consideration: Tiremakers and safety advocates say a tire is worn out when its tread depth reaches 2/32 of an inch. That’s all fine, but what most car owners want to know is how long to expect a set of new tires to last before they need to be replaced.
“I wish it were simple to say how long each tire might last, but tires are different,” said Dan Zielinski, a spokesman for the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA). “Some tire manufacturers offer a warranty as high as 80,000 miles or more, reflecting confidence in that particular product’s longevity based on its engineering, technology, and design. Other tires may be built to provide 30,000 miles of service.” Or less; some high-performance tires on cars driven aggressively will be worn to the 2/32-inch point without ever seeing 15,000 miles, but those are extreme cases.
The average American drives between 14,000 and 15,000 miles a year, according to data from the Federal Highway Administration.
Zielinski said that, if you’re kind to your tires—that is, you aren’t constantly peeling out at stoplights and you properly maintain them—most new tires on the market today will last about 60,000 miles. For what it’s worth, the USTMA did a review of several thousand recently scrapped tires and found that most were three to four years old. There was no way of telling how many miles were on those tires, but it’s easy enough to multiply four years by 15,000 miles annually to confirm the rough approximation of tire durability.
If you want to figure out how soon you’ll wear out the tires on your car, Zielinski said it would be a good idea to start by determining how many miles you drive each year. Divide the number of miles on the odometer by how many years you’ve owned the car (starting, obviously, from when you first got the car and accounting for any mileage it had on it at that time). Then you can compare that with any advertised warranty on the make and model of the tires and figure out how many years of service to expect.
If you live where winter tires are advisable and swap those onto the car for some months of the year, your regular tires will get less use and will endure for a longer period of time, but remember the caveats about tire age.
Zielinski also noted that if you hit the wear bars at 50,000 miles on a set of tires with a 60,000-mile warranty, for example, tiremakers that offer such coverage will typically prorate the price of a new set. In this example, you could expect a discount on the new set equal to one-sixth their price, or about 17 percent. You might not get it, though, if you decide to change brands.
Kypros/Getty Images
In general, the best way to preserve the life of your tires, and keep yourself and your passengers safe, is to maintain them properly. Here are some tire basics and maintenance tips:
Tread
A tire is considered unsafe, and should be changed, once its tread is worn down to 2/32 of an inch, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Many tires have tread-wear indicators, which are little bars in the tread that show when the tire is worn down to replacement level. These will start making noise to alert the driver that they need attention. You can also use a penny: NHTSA recommends putting the penny in the tread with Abraham Lincoln’s head upside down and facing toward you. If you can see the top of Abe’s head, it’s time for new tires.
Pressure
To ensure even wear, tiremakers and auto companies recommend that vehicle owners check their tire pressures monthly. The pressure should be at the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended level, which is usually found in the car or truck’s doorjamb or in the owner’s manual. One quick and easy way to check tire pressure is with a handheld tire-pressure gauge, which you can find starting around $10 at an auto-parts store. Tire shops will often check the pressure for you. Some gas stations have digital readouts as part of their air pumps; these are not always accurate, though.
It’s best to check the pressures when the tires are cold, meaning that they have not been driven on for several hours. So you’re better off checking them at home after the car has been parked overnight.
Balance and Alignment
Tires need to be round, and the tire/wheel combination needs to be balanced. Tire shops and mechanics will use a balance machine, which spins the wheel to see where high and low spots are and detects any imbalance. The tire shop will then add weights, which are hammered onto the wheel, to balance them. These shops can also make make sure your wheels are aligned to keep the car tracking straight, which also reduces tire wear.
Rotation
Rotating your tires can help prolong their lives.
For front-wheel-drive vehicles, the tires in the front will wear more quickly and can be swapped with the rear ones. The inverse is true for rear-wheel-drive cars and trucks. All-wheel-drive models, too, may need rotation. Most owner’s manuals contain a recommended pattern for rotating tires to spread the wear evenly. The USTMA recommends tires be rotated every 5000 to 8000 miles.
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How to properly run in studded tires so that they do not lose their effectiveness in winter.
Winter came - change your shoes and go. This rule is familiar to all drivers. However, with the advent of studded car tires, it had to be replaced with a new version: “Change your shoes, break in the tires and go wherever you want.” After all, even very expensive tires will let you down without running in - no manufacturer can guarantee uniform immersion of the studs into the tread.
Therefore, every driver must learn the rules for changing seasonal tires and the subsequent running in of a winter or summer model. nine0003
As a general rule, summer tires are replaced with winter car shoes with the first cold snap, when the temperature drops below +7 °C. This recommendation is followed by both Europeans and Americans. After all, the summer tread loses elasticity even before the onset of serious frosts. Therefore, in place of hard tires for the warm season, soft models for winter are put on car rims.
Winter tire can be studded and smooth. According to the tread pattern, models for winter are divided into European (with a V-shaped notch) and Scandinavian (with diamonds and squares) options. nine0003
Smooth European-style Velcro is chosen by residents of the southern regions or city dwellers living in the neighborhood with a well-established public service. They are designed for clean asphalt. The studded version is needed for driving on packed snow and icy roads.
On such a track, a studded tire reduces braking distances by 25-30% and improves handling during difficult maneuvers, sharp turns or fast lane changes.
Running in studded tires is a mandatory procedure recommended by all winter tire manufacturers. The reason for this recommendation is hidden in the technological miscalculation - no manufacturer can insert studs into the tread, maintaining the same depth of immersion. And although the spread in the height of the stud above the tread level does not exceed hundredths of a millimeter, this defect is enough to reduce the driving characteristics and controllability of the car.
To avoid trouble on the road, the driver will have to run in a studded tire, driving on a winter road at low speed and without sudden maneuvers. Under the weight of the car and passengers, the spikes will fall into place, after which the driver can forget about all the restrictions and return to his usual driving style.
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If you haven't experienced studded driving, running in will help you get used to the new acceleration and braking dynamics.
If you forgot to record the odometer reading - don't worry, you can track the duration of adaptation, focusing on the running indicator. On any new studded tire, you can see the indicator notch that surrounds the metal insert. When the indicator wears off on the asphalt, studded tires are considered ready for long trips. nine0003
The process of monitoring the indicator involves a thorough inspection of the tread. You can get additional benefit from this action by cleaning the tread with new spikes from pebbles and other foreign objects stuck in the cut. In addition, another control operation can be timed to the inspection of the indicator - checking the tire pressure.
If you put your car in a studded model, the tire pressure must correspond to the norm prescribed by the manufacturer. Too much or too little pressure causes the studs to fall out at the center or edges of the tread. Such a wheel is erased to the "bald head" during one winter season. A properly inflated tire will last 3-4 winters. nine0003
The correct pressure is determined by the vehicle manufacturer. Controllability, cross-country ability and even fuel consumption depend on this indicator. Therefore, the correct pressure depends on the weight of the machine, the permissible speed and even the time of year.
The correct tire pressure can be found in the manufacturer's manual or on a decal affixed under the gas cap or on the driver's door pillar. Moreover, this indicator is tied to the dimensions of the tire (diameter and width), the expected load and whether the wheel belongs to the front or rear axle.
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Therefore, several values \u200b\u200bare indicated in the table (in bar or kgf / cm2) and if you are going to break in tires in the winter, you will not only have to pump up the tire to the correct pressure, but check this indicator at least once a week using a pressure gauge. Otherwise, the studded tread will lose most of the metal elements and will not be able to keep the car on ice.
Too much or too little pressure causes the tread indicators to wear unevenly.
Winter Drive protection
Tires Goodyear UltraGrip Arctic 2 SUV
Winter Drive protection
Rating:
4.5
Tires Goodyear UltraGrip 600
Winter Drive Protection Sound Comfort
Rating:
4.
5
Tires Goodyear UltraGrip Ice Arctic
Winter Drive protection
Tires Goodyear UltraGrip Arctic 2
Winter Drive Protection Sound Comfort
Rating:
4.5
Tires Goodyear UltraGrip Ice Arctic SUV
Winter
Rating:
4
Tires Goodyear Cargo UltraGrip 2
Even if you can boast of the right driving style, without skidding, slipping and other extreme sports, when choosing a route for running in a studded tread, you will have to follow these recommendations:
Of course, such ideal road conditions are found only in large cities, but a good road can also be found in the regions. Therefore, try to erase the indicator on such a coating. In this case, the studded tread will last you twice as long as the rubber run in potholes and pits. nine0003
The use of new rubber compounds in tires reduces the period of adaptation of tires to the road, but neither winter nor summer tires can do without a break-in. True, for summer wheels, the adaptation period is 2-5 times shorter than for the winter version.
If you want to break in a new tire in winter, according to the rules, you will have to drive at least 500 kilometers at a speed of up to 60 km / h, spending 8-9hours. Summer rules are not as strict as winter recommendations: the speed limit is increased to 80-100 km/h, and the recommended distance is reduced to 100-200 kilometers. As a result, winter rules suggest erasing the indicator in 8-9 hours, and summer recommendations - in 1-3 hours.
Regarding the requirements for driving style, the rules are unanimous - during the break-in of new tires, the driver must maintain a calm driving style.
To sum up all the break-in rules, the final recommendations can be reduced to three pieces of advice:
If you don't know where the wear indicator is located, ask your auto parts and accessories store manager. If you are afraid to make a mistake when checking the pressure - do not trust your pressure gauge, contact any car service.
Some of the recommendations may seem like overkill to you, but the loss of time and money will be justified by twice the life of your winter tires. Just do not try to drive the entire 1000 kilometers at once - this distance must be divided into 4-5 stages, allocating 3 hours for each. nine0003
Author of the article: Goodyear Team
Many drivers will have their own opinion on this matter. Some will focus on the requirements of the law, namely the minimum tread depth. Others will say that tires should not be used for more than five years, after which the rubber loses its properties and becomes "wooden". Still others will remember that they read about mileage limits ranging from 40 to 60 thousand kilometers. The fourth will operate only with the amount of money in the wallet. nine0003
There is, of course, a very desperate group of motorists. These guys drive to the last and erase the "meaty" tires to the state of a racing slick.
Well, individual adepts can be seen rustling spikes on the asphalt in mid-July.
Whose approach is correct? There is no definite answer, except that the latter pose a serious danger both to themselves and to other road users. Almost all the remaining methods have some logic behind them. nine0003
Driving with tires with less than the required tread depth is punishable by a fine. The police rarely pay attention to this, but it is worth keeping in mind the administrative responsibility. So, according to part 5 of article 590 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 5 MCI, or 13,890 tenge in 2020, will have to be paid to the treasury. Repeated violation within a year increases the penalty to 20 MCI (55,560 tenge).
The minimum residual tread depth is specified in clauses 5.6.1 and 5.6.2 of Appendix No. 7 TR TS 018/2011 "On the safety of wheeled vehicles". The text says that for passenger cars, the balance must be at least 1.
6 mm for summer tires and at least 4 mm for winter and marked with signs: M + S, M & S and M S.
Note that measuring the tread depth with a ruler is an extreme step. Almost all modern tires have special wear indicators. As soon as they appear, the rubber should be replaced.
The average life of almost all tires from major manufacturers is 7-10 years, depending on their seasonality. True, such a duration should be expected if a number of operational requirements are met. These include driving on high-quality roads with optimal tire pressure, correctly set wheel alignment angles and a normally working suspension. nine0003
Tire age can be found by a special marker. The four digits enclosed in an oval (more often found on the inner sidewall) are the DOT marking, in a simple way, the production date. The first two digits indicate the week, and the last two indicate the year of manufacture.
Any of the above parameters can significantly reduce the life of the rubber.
For example, with insufficient pressure in the wheel, the side parts of the tread will wear off faster, with high pressure, its middle part. Violations in the geometry lead to uneven tire wear. nine0003 The middle part of the tread is worn more. The reason may be an excess of pressure in the wheel
How and where the rubber is stored is also an important factor. Manufacturers recommend a dry, cool and dark room.
In Kazakhstan, you should not count on more than five years of operation. Nevertheless, one set of wheels can really drive for about ten years. Whether it's worth it is a completely different question. From personal (almost) experience: tires manufactured in one of the CIS countries served from mid-2008 to spring 2018. The annual mileage of the car was small, about 10,000 km per year, including sorties on light off-road. The rest of the tread after all this time would have allowed the same amount of travel, but when one of the tires was removed for repair (the wheel was regularly flattened), the landing board literally crumbled.
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Another benchmark for tire replacement is mileage. There are often recommendations on the Web that refer to GOST. Their text says: for passenger cars with a carrying capacity of up to two tons, the service life of tires is 45,000 kilometers.
You can also find references to the operating mileage standards for vehicle tires approved by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation. In them, the average service life varies from 40 thousand kilometers for Russian rubber to 60 thousand for foreign. Note that this document became invalid after the entry of the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union. nine0003
You can also determine how much a tire can run by using the Treadwear (TW) parameter, which indicates the tire wear index. He rarely receives attention. This figure is usually of interest to those who plan to operate the car in a sports environment. Soft and, accordingly, tenacious rubber has a fairly low TW, which racers are guided by.
Surely you have a reasonable question about how the wear resistance index correlates with mileage. TW appeared thanks to the specialists of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). To calculate it, the tire at the test site is compared with a special sample, the TW of which is already known. nine0003
According to the methodology, the TW100 is equivalent to 48,000 mileage until the tires are completely worn out, that is, Nokian Hakka Green, for example, having a TW400, is capable of serving up to 192,000 kilometers. True, in the real world, wear is influenced by many factors that we talked about above, as well as driving style. Therefore, the results of calculations for TW are recommended to be divided by two. It turns out 96 thousand, or almost 5 years of operation, provided that in the warm season the car drives about 20 thousand kilometers.
Incorrect tire pressure can significantly reduce tire life. Don't forget to check it In total, we have three parameters that should help with understanding how long tires will last if they are used correctly, and also tell you when to send a set of tires to the scrap and take care of buying new ones.
This can be done on the Kolesa.kz portal using the search form in the "Spare Parts" section.
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