If you recently bought a new set of winter tires, or your winter tires are a few years old, other than safety, your biggest concern is probably how long will these tires last. Knowing how to get the most mileage out of your winter tires will save you money while keeping you safe no matter how tough the winter weather becomes.
While there’s no set “life expectancy” for snow tires, many tire manufacturers estimate that you should get four seasons of wear from a set of winter tires. Tread wear on winter tires will depend heavily on how many miles you drive each month, and whether those miles are primarily on snow or ice covered roads, or if you routinely have a mix of snow and frozen dry roads. The tread will wear more quickly if the tire is running on freezing road surfaces than if they are on snow for most of the season. Low mileage drivers will get much longer use out of their winter tires than drivers who have both long winters and drive long distances.
The lifespan of your tire will also be directly related to the original quality of the tire, and the level of care they’re given.
Storage
You should change out your winter tires for your summer, or all season tires when temperatures are regularly above 42 degrees.
Leaving winter tires on when temperatures get warmer will increase wear since the compounds that allow a winter tire to stay flexible in freezing temps also wear faster on warm roads.
High heat, freezing temperatures and exposure to light are the biggest contributors to any tire’s aging process. We recommend storing your tires indoors, where they are protected from temperature fluctuations. Be sure to clean the tires thoroughly and ensure they are dry. An airtight tire storage bag, is best and believe it or not, heavy duty black trash bags can be a good tire storage solution. Remove as much air possible from the bag and securely close the bag.
Ideally, your tires are cool and dry while being stored, so avoid storing tires near a water heater, or radiator.
Age and tread wear will eventually be the indicators of when it’s time to begin shopping for a set of new winter tires. Unlike an all season or summer tire, winter tires need to have a much deeper tread to be effective and safe.
The first thing you should do when pulling out your winter tires for the first time each season is check tread depth. If your tires have a tread depth of 5/32 or lower, it’s time for a new set.
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There will not be enough tread remaining to get you through the winter. Winter tire tread patterns and siping are designed to bite into and evacuate snow and slush so that extra tread depth will provide your best traction on the road.
If you don’t have a tire tread gauge handy, most modern snow tires have built in wear indicators. Usually, they’re molded into the bottom of a tire’s tread grooves and indicate that a tire needs to be replaced when the indicator is flush with the adjacent ribs.
You should also always check your tires for visible damage that may indicate that it’s time for a new set. Keep an eye out for deep cracks in the rubber, sidewall damage and replace all four tires if you find significant damage.
Tires-Easy has been a trusted supplier of quality, new tires online to customers since 2004. We pride ourselves in having the best selection of quality new tires and an extensive knowledge center to aid our customers in the tire buying process. Check out our selection of winter tires and stay safe on the road this winter! Finding your tires just got easier at tires-easy.com.
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Posted on:
September 22, 2021
Posted in:
Tires
How do you know when to replace your winter tires? Read on to learn 3 tire assessment tips, or contact your local TIRECRAFT to go pro with a free winter tire assessment.
When assessing winter tires, many drivers go by feel. However, this is neither the safest nor the most effective option. Obviously, driving on questionable tires to assess their condition is inherently dangerous, both for you and those with whom you share the road. But it could also cost you more money, leading you to believe you need an upgrade or replacement long before it’s time.
“Most owners will discard older snows long before they completely wear out due to a perceived degradation of performance,” writes Brian Turner in a report for Driving.ca. Should you choose to conduct your winter tire assessment on a particularly icy or snowy day—or should you simply have the misfortune of hitting a small patch of black ice on your drive—you might get the impression that your winter tires are worse off than they are.
In reality, the average Canadian driver, who drives 20,000 to 25,000km per year in a region with at least four months of winter conditions, can expect to get at least four or five seasons out of a set of quality winter tires.
What’s more, certain models of winter tires actually get better over time, as their tread designs expose more tread-face blocks and channels the deeper you go.
For best results, book a winter tire consultation at your local TIRECRAFT—it’s completely free!
Transport Canada says winter tires worn close to 5/32” (4 millimeters) should not be used on snow-covered roads, and most tire manufacturers go one step further, recommending that tires with 4/32” tread depth be replaced. Brand new winter tires will have around 12/32” of tread depth.
For more help checking winter tire tread depth, get in touch with your local TIRECRAFT.
There are plenty of storage, maintenance, and usage conditions that can accelerate winter tire wear. If you’ve subjected your snows to any of the following aggravating factors, it might be time to book a winter tire replacement—even if your tread wear rating says otherwise.
Some of the most common aggravating factors include:
Use the Find a TIRECRAFT tool to get started with an ASE-certified tire tech near you.
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How do you know when tires are completely worn out and it's time to change them? Everything is simple. For summer tires, the limit is 1.6 mm of residual tread depth, and for winter (or all-season tires used in winter) - 4 mm. Modern summer tires can travel from 40,000 to 70,000 km, depending on driving style and vehicle characteristics. An average motorist rolls such a mileage on summer tires in 2-3 seasons. Moreover, wear implies not only a decrease in tread depth. For millions of cycles of deformation, the strength of the carcass and its adhesion to the layers of the rubber compound are violated. In short, every 2-3 years you should buy a new set of tires.
In case of irreparable damage to one of the tires and a relatively high total mileage of the kit, it is also worth considering replacing it.
Well, or about buying at least a pair of new tires, which, for any type of drive, should be installed on the front axle. We put two tires back - the most decent of the remaining ones.
Many motorists drive only a few thousand kilometers a year. This does not mean that the tires will serve you for several decades. According to Russian requirements (GOST 4754-97), the service life of passenger car tires is 5 years from the date of manufacture. And for example, Continental recommends that all car tires (including the spare tire) older than 10 years old should be replaced with new ones. Therefore, with small runs, you can navigate for ten years. The date of manufacture of the tire is indicated on the sidewall. Usually it is an oval with four numbers. The first two are the ordinal number of the week in the year, the last two indicate the year.
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Tires should be rotated periodically in accordance with the vehicle manufacturer's recommendations - information on this can be found in the owner's manual.
We can advise you to carefully use the tires and, most importantly, to store them correctly in the off-season. First of all, during storage, it is important to exclude direct sunlight from hitting the tires, which greatly age the rubber. Tires without rims should be placed vertically, and stacked on rims.
And before installing tires on a car at the beginning of the season, evaluate their condition. There should be no cracks in the tread and sidewalls. The tire should not be dry, it should remain rubbery and not look like baked plastic.
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Winter tires have a much shorter life span. They almost always fail due to the wear of the treadmill, because the tread of a new tire is 7–8 mm, and only 3–4 mm remain working height. If the tires are studded, then with such wear there are very few metal elements left, and the tire will not provide adequate safety when driving on a winter road.
However, not only spikes, but also Velcro, with such a degree of wear, also lose most of their capabilities.
The real life of winter tires rarely exceeds 30,000 km. "Bald" winter tires without studs can be re-rolled in summer, but their grip on hot road surfaces will be very poor. This must be taken into account, especially when braking.
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So: tires that have not yet worn out along the tread (that is, up to 1.6 mm tread depth for summer tires, 4 mm for winter tires) are changed either ten years after the date of issue, or when the rubber layer cracks tires or damage.
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| Home / News and events The warm and sunny "Indian summer" in Primorye has been replaced by late autumn. The autumn weather is changeable - it either pampers Primorye residents with warm days, or frightens them with the north wind and arctic cold waves. At such a time, even if during the daytime the air warms up to + 15 ° C, morning frosts can create quite a few troubles for motorists - on the ice formed during the night, you can easily lose control and fly into a ditch. In addition, summer tires lose their elasticity, and the braking distance of the car can double. Winter tires, unlike summer tires, are softer. Already at temperatures above +10°C, winter tires begin to work worse, they heat up more under the rays of the sun and from warm asphalt, they become softer, and the tread pattern is erased faster. And studded tires not only wear out in warm weather, studs on wet pavement lengthen the braking distance, and make driving on dry roads uncomfortable. When to change tires? With the onset of cold weather, almost all motorists ask this question. The main thing here is not to miscalculate. It is unreasonable to change tires ahead of time, on a dry and warm road grip properties increase, there is a greater rolling resistance, and as a result, fuel consumption increases. Winter tires wear out faster. Later - it's just dangerous, in frosts you can be on the sidelines. Experts advise: it is necessary to change tires for winter already at an average daily temperature of +5°С to +7°С. In Vladivostok, according to the average terms, the transition of the average daily air temperature to these marks is usually dated 19-The 20th of October. Due to the abnormally cold beginning of October this year, motorists began to think about changing tires earlier than usual. Is it worth it to do it now, and when the weather conditions will be more consistent with the winter season - answered the head of Primhydromet Boris Kubay. The answer to the question "time or not time" depends on several factors.  |
Daytime air temperatures not only noticeably drop, but also stay below the long-term averages by 1-3 degrees. Of course, such a weather picture suggests the need to change the tires on your car from summer to winter. 
