When to replace tyres

[pj123]

I have Michelin Primacy on my PJ Sport since May 2018. They have done 74,000 km. They have plenty of thread on the tyres. They feel just as secure in the wet.

But may be they are getting a bit old and I should think about replacing them? 

[Kwasaki]

1 minute ago, pj123 said:

I have Michelin Primacy on my PJ Sport since May 2018. They have done 74,000 km. They have plenty of thread on the tyres. They feel just as secure in the wet.

But may be they are getting a bit old and I should think about replacing them? 

Michelin make long life tyre is the tread down to the 3mm mark. 

 

If not I'd keep going but the health and safety brigade will be here soon. ????

[OneeyedJohn]

Feel how hard they are, if you can't get your thumbnail to make an indent, change them.

For less than 4000 baht per tyre, it's a no brainer.

[pj123]

Front tyre thread. New set of Primacy is 24,600.

[stubuzz]

They are starting to crack!

[Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai]

1 more year no problem.

They still better than other cheap new <deleted>.

[canthai55]

That raised bar in the centre is the wear bar, and indicates when they should be changed.

For sure before the wet - if it was me

[teacherclaire]

As already mentioned, it's not how much profile you've got.

 

Check if they are hard. You might find tiny cracks at the sidewalls if they are.

 

  If I were you, I'd go for new ones. Better safe than sorry.

 

   I had "good looking tires" on my bike. But when I had to make an emergency brake, I was only sliding for a while. Scary shi_e. Tires lose their grip after a while. 

[OneeyedJohn]

Yep, I changed my bike tyres last month, 3 years old and only 15,000 Kms, but they were hard even if they looked good, changed them and the difference in performance was huge.

Changed sprocket and chain as well, Pirelli Diablo Rossi all done for 10K.

[pgrahmm]

Can be time versus tread here....The heat hardens/bakes the rubber, making traction worse under wet weather conditions & more subject to failure inder many conditions.....Especially with the mega pot holed roads in many provinces.....

About a 4-5 year time  wise max for premuim tires - less for the cheapies....

[heist]

They're getting close. You've probably got about another month max. 

[Lacessit]

Look for cracking in the non-load-bearing part of of the tyre tread. If it's there, time to change.

74,000 km is a pretty good score, you're obviously not a leadfoot. The tread wear indicator says to me about another 2-3 K km.

Tyres do harden and crack in the Thai climate, but that's usually 4 - 5 years.

[Paiman]

Thais would get another 200,000 km out of your tires.

[JAS21]

4 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Michelin make long life tyre is the tread down to the 3mm mark. 

 

If not I'd keep going but the health and safety brigade will be here soon. ????

It is not really H&S is it, more like common sense. There is plenty on the internet of tests showing how older tyres do not preform as well as newer ones. Just think ... you are breaking hard, on new tyres your car would maybe have stopped two or three meters sooner.  That could have meant no damage as against a lot of damage, or some ones life not changed as against changing it considerably!   

 

I think 74,000kms is exceptional and I see that there is still quite a bit of tread left. But the rubber will be harder and thus not preform as well and of course the ride will be harsher, you more than likely will not be aware of that until you change the tyres.  Three years, in my opinion is about max, well for me anyway. Of course if finances are a problem then that may alter you view. 

 

YMMV

[Kwasaki]

3 minutes ago, JAS21 said:

It is not really H&S is it, more like common sense. There is plenty on the internet of tests showing how older tyres do not preform as well as newer ones. Just think ... you are breaking hard, on new tyres your car would maybe have stopped two or three meters sooner.  That could have meant no damage as against a lot of damage, or some ones life not changed as against changing it considerably!   

 

I think 74,000kms is exceptional and I see that there is still quite a bit of tread left. But the rubber will be harder and thus not preform as well and of course the ride will be harsher, you more than likely will not be aware of that until you change the tyres.  Three years, in my opinion is about max, well for me anyway. Of course if finances are a problem then that may alter you view. 

 

YMMV

Fair call but I don't think like you and many others if the OP is bothered, change them for new.  

All I did was say what I would do.

[pj123]

Found a decent deal on blackcircles.co.th with fitting at Bquik for 22,860 with 10 months payment so I think its time to invest in some new Michelins. Its been an expensive year to keep the 2012 PJS running: 35,000 THB on service and repairs including a timing belt change at 300,000 km. 

[mistral53]

4 hours ago, pj123 said:

Found a decent deal on blackcircles.co.th with fitting at Bquik for 22,860 with 10 months payment so I think its time to invest in some new Michelins. Its been an expensive year to keep the 2012 PJS running: 35,000 THB on service and repairs including a timing belt change at 300,000 km. 

That is very nice of you - your old tires will find a new home on some Thai owned vehicle, and driven to the wear bars, as they should.

 

I am bemused by the willingness of some to help the throw away economy thrive. Is that also good for the environment? Just because you have to money to live wasteful does not make it right.

 

As for the safety nazies, micro cracks in the sidewall do not make a tire unsafe, they are strictly cosmetics - if it were unsafe, the tire would lose air long before a crack would become safety critical.

[pgrahmm]

4 hours ago, mistral53 said:

That is very nice of you - your old tires will find a new home on some Thai owned vehicle, and driven to the wear bars, as they should.

 

I am bemused by the willingness of some to help the throw away economy thrive. Is that also good for the environment? Just because you have to money to live wasteful does not make it right.

 

As for the safety nazies, micro cracks in the sidewall do not make a tire unsafe, they are strictly cosmetics - if it were unsafe, the tire would lose air long before a crack would become safety critical.

Circumferential cracking is not a good thing....The sidewalls are built to flex and dissipate heat and are the weakest part of the tire....If over/under inflated the sidewalls flex in areas it's not designed to....

Usually, when you see a big tire carcass peeled off on the road, it's probably a sidewall blow out....Drive through Arizona and you'll see them all over the roads....

[canthai55]

31 minutes ago, pgrahmm said:

 

Usually, when you see a big tire carcass peeled off on the road, it's probably a sidewall blow out....

If you mean tractor trailers - it is caused by the tire going flat. This makes it flop around. generates large amounts of heat, and finally goes bang. Tread separation is the cause of the chunks of rubber - mainly tread - you see littering the roads the world over.

Tuff to tell if an inside dual on a trailer goes flat while you are driving.

[thailand49]

14 hours ago, canthai55 said:

That raised bar in the centre is the wear bar, and indicates when they should be changed.

For sure before the wet - if it was me

I agree like batteries I do it prior there is a problem. From the looks of the tire it is getting there my saying " if you put yourself in that position for something to happen it will " I have a rule of thumb I measure by using the head of the coin but here in Thailand with the heat on my wife old Yaris good shape for some reason once they get down to a particular point and still have seem to have plenty left the air starts to come out slowly that is the sign to start looking for a deal?????

[pgrahmm]

4 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

If you mean tractor trailers - it is caused by the tire going flat. This makes it flop around. generates large amounts of heat, and finally goes bang. Tread separation is the cause of the chunks of rubber - mainly tread - you see littering the roads the world over.

Tuff to tell if an inside dual on a trailer goes flat while you are driving.

A tread separation usually gives some type of a motion or sound/thump/vibration warning that alerts the driver to slow.....A sidewall blow out is like a balloon popping with zero warning....

Granted, the semi drivers, in most instances, doesn't initially know it unless it shows in the mirrors or creates a lurch.....

[soi3eddie]

I would replace now. 74,000kms is a decent length of life. Using tires all the way down to wear indicator is fine in dry only conditions however one rain shower and the risk of skidding or lost control is high. You're going to have to replace the tires at some point and a few months earlier will not cost a lot more and will give you better safety (and reassurance). Newer premium tires are getting better and safer every design year. City roads in Thailand are absolutely slick in the wet and I have seen numerous crashes caused by spins in the wet due to lost road contact (15 crashes on one morning heading out of the city in the rain).

[AlfHuy]

Time to change.

[4MyEgo]

17 hours ago, pj123 said:

They have done 74,000 km. They have plenty of thread on the tyres.

 

I changed my Bridgestone tyres at 90,000km's, still had thread on them for say another 10,000km's, but didn't want to go to that, so off they came and gave them to the father in-law, that was 2 years ago, he is still as happy as the day I gave them to him, he rarely drives outside the village and they still have a lot of tread on the tyres, that said, my new ones have done 75,000km's, so guess in another year he will have a spare set ????

 

If they have good thread on them, handle well in the wet, are not cracking, I would go another 10,000-15,000km's, but keeping my speed to what the road limit says, that is unless you have a father in law who has the same car and would really appreciate some tread.

 

Safe driving.

[rwill]

From the photo they look OK.  When the wear indicator in between the treads is even/level with them it is time to replace them.  Also look for excessive cracking and replace if so.  I also tell them not to put the stuff to make the tires shine when washing the vehicle.  Some brands have chemicals that damage them and cause them to harden early. 

[Lacessit]

14 hours ago, JAS21 said:

It is not really H&S is it, more like common sense. There is plenty on the internet of tests showing how older tyres do not preform as well as newer ones. Just think ... you are breaking hard, on new tyres your car would maybe have stopped two or three meters sooner.  That could have meant no damage as against a lot of damage, or some ones life not changed as against changing it considerably!   

 

I think 74,000kms is exceptional and I see that there is still quite a bit of tread left. But the rubber will be harder and thus not preform as well and of course the ride will be harsher, you more than likely will not be aware of that until you change the tyres.  Three years, in my opinion is about max, well for me anyway. Of course if finances are a problem then that may alter you view. 

 

YMMV

IMO it also depends on driving habits. If one is only driving at 60-70 km/hr, the differential in performance between old and new is probably minimal. OTOH, at 120 km/hr on a wet road it could be lethal.

I changed my Michelins over on the Vios at 72,000 km because my mechanic told me too. Based on the TWI, they probably had at least another 5000 km in them. I couldn't feel any difference when the new ones went on, but I do drive defensively and within my limitations.

[thasoss]

18 hours ago, pj123 said:

I have Michelin Primacy on my PJ Sport since May 2018. They have done 74,000 km. They have plenty of thread on the tyres. They feel just as secure in the wet.

But may be they are getting a bit old and I should think about replacing them? 

I've got a mazda 2  sports,put new tyres on in 2014,only just changed them 6 years later even though plenty of tread.What i did n't consider was 'how good were the walls of the tyres"...one day  the wall of a back tyre blew out,like a bulge,lucky it did n't blow out altogether.

[peleid]

Mine are Dunlop originals on the car from new, 52,000 km, 7 year old, no sign of cracking, I never go above 90 km per hour, 90% of time 80

[digger70]

2 hours ago, canthai55 said:

If you mean tractor trailers - it is caused by the tire going flat. This makes it flop around. generates large amounts of heat, and finally goes bang. Tread separation is the cause of the chunks of rubber - mainly tread - you see littering the roads the world over.

Tuff to tell if an inside dual on a trailer goes flat while you are driving.

And a lot of them are Recaps that run hot and come off from the wrong tire pressure/overloaded trailers /Hot weather/ roads/ dragging Brakes/running too many hrs without stopping (on drugs). Yep seen it all.

[Andy from Kent]

14 hours ago, JAS21 said:

I think 74,000kms is exceptional and I see that there is still quite a bit of tread left.

 

In my home country which  has a temperate climate, I got 151,000  kilometers  from  the original Michelin tires  on a  1984 Honda Accord.

 

Even then,  the  tires still had 3mm of tread but I'd promise myself I'd replace the set  when I had a first flat tire.

 

Michelin is the only brand I'll ever buy and that's since 1970.