Tires in Thailand

[mike324]

I change mine every 4-5 years, thats about the time when I notice small cracks and lose its performance, they could probably do more kms. Peace of mind is better than trying to save money, sometimes with just outside inspection you can't tell, many times cracks can occur in the inner side of the tire where you can't see unless you get it lifted, which has happen to be before.

Roads in thailand aren't that great, so wear and tear is generally greater than western countries with better roads.

Best way to tell if your tire is well worn is to ask the tire dealer if they want to buy it from you, if they say yes, that means they can resell as there is still some usable life.

[Xonax]

B-Quick told my wife that our Michelin Pilot 3 tires had expired already 4 years after production date.  I refused to buy new ones, as we don´t drive much, so still a lot of tread left, even a few smaller cracks visible on the side of the tread.

[DavisH]

On 2/14/2018 at 3:30 PM, Xonax said:

B-Quick told my wife that our Michelin Pilot 3 tires had expired already 4 years after production date.  I refused to buy new ones, as we don´t drive much, so still a lot of tread left, even a few smaller cracks visible on the side of the tread.

They will be fine for a few more years. I also have PS3 on both of my cars _ I think they are 4-5 years old as well. I have 35K kms on one set. I reckon I could get at least another 10 or 15K our of them before they hit the treadwear indicators. I will change to PS4 (reportedly an improvement over PS3) when they need changing. I really like the grip, especially in the wet. Try tyreplus - they stock them and I think are cheaper than B-quik.

[up-country_sinclair]

The tires on our Honda Jazz are approaching six year of age, but only have 20,000 KM on them.

 

We were out of the country for the majority of the time and the car was in shaded storage.  To my eyes the tires look fine, but I'm concerned that the rubber has degraded and might lead to a blow out.  

 

Any thoughts or experience on this?

[canthai55]

46 minutes ago, up-country_sinclair said:

Any thoughts or experience on this?

How fast do you drive ? If you hit 150-160 or more on a regular basis I would suggest keeping tires 5 years max. This is what we do for our hiway car, as I drive it quickly and want the best possible grip I can get.

Our town car, we keep them until the are very hard, or squeal on every turn, or the grip degrades. Also if large cracks appear in the sidewall. All signs that the tires have lost their flexibility and should be replaced.

[transam]

Michelin guarantee their tyres up to six years on a ride, which tells me they are confident that age is OK. But, l don't know what tyres you have. If me, inspect every tyre for sidewall cracks, rub your hand hard on the sidewalls to see if rubber dust is present, not road dust, rubber dust..If rubber dust then there could be degradation..If all OK then carry on, if you want to go rallying then up to you...

[up-country_sinclair]

3 hours ago, canthai55 said:

How fast do you drive?

Rarely reach 120, and there would have to be an open stretch of a double lane highway to hit that.  Usually go around 100-110 for regular highway driving.

 

 

2 hours ago, transam said:

l don't know what tyres you have.

Goodyear GT3.

 

 

2 hours ago, transam said:

inspect every tyre for sidewall cracks,

No cracks that I can see.  And I took a close look with a flashlight.

 

 

2 hours ago, transam said:

if rubber dust is present, not road dust, rubber dust..If rubber dust then there could be degradation

I think I know what you're referring to, and there doesn't seem to be any rubber dust.

[canthai55]

If you drive slow, use ' em until they are hooped - for whatever reason.

Me - don' t want no blowout at speed. Call me Sammy Hagar

[transam]

15 hours ago, up-country_sinclair said:

Rarely reach 120, and there would have to be an open stretch of a double lane highway to hit that.  Usually go around 100-110 for regular highway driving.

 

 

Goodyear GT3.

 

 

No cracks that I can see.  And I took a close look with a flashlight.

 

 

I think I know what you're referring to, and there doesn't seem to be any rubber dust.

I had a pair on my ride in LOS for 7 years, there was no degradation on them so used them till they wore out. I have had tyres bought for a particular purpose in the UK that I dumped after a year. As I changed my own tyres, this pair's outer walls were "eaten" but the inner were still like new...They never had sun on them, just whats in the outside air..

[trigpoint]

I have Bridgestone tyres on my nearly 6 year old Mazda pickup which has done 61000 kms, l would guess there's another 10,000 kms left on them, no cracks abnormal wear, I keep it in the basement of the condo, no sun and a bit cooler there, also have the original battery which I reckon is unusual.

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[dreytom]

It is ok to use 6yr old tires but you will notice that the rubber is hard and traction is not so good anymore.

[EVENKEEL]

On ‎3‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 10:48 PM, trigpoint said:

I have Bridgestone tyres on my nearly 6 year old Mazda pickup which has done 61000 kms, l would guess there's another 10,000 kms left on them, no cracks abnormal wear, I keep it in the basement of the condo, no sun and a bit cooler there, also have the original battery which I reckon is unusual.

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Just changed my bridgestone tires, had 127,000 5 yrs old. 

[transam]

1 hour ago, dreytom said:

It is ok to use 6yr old tires but you will notice that the rubber is hard and traction is not so good anymore.

Similar stuff when it is raining, one drives within the "feel" of the ride...

 

My 1964 MGB had cross-ply tyres, noooo ploblem...

[JaseTheBass]

It is ok to use 6yr old tires but you will notice that the rubber is hard and traction is not so good anymore.

Agreed, but most TV experts seem to think hard tyres and poor grip is a good thing.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk

[transam]

1 hour ago, JaseTheBass said:

Agreed, but most TV experts seem to think hard tyres and poor grip is a good thing.

Sent from my SM-G925F using Tapatalk
 

Most folk in LOS drive on hard tyres, about 50psi....

[AjarnMartin]

But how can you find the manufacture date on Thai tyres? Is there some sort of code? I have done 60,000 kms and the tyres still look good but dating them might justify a change? They were OEM when I bought the car - Bridgestone. They’ve been great.

[trigpoint]

On 3/9/2018 at 10:59 AM, EVENKEEL said:

Just changed my bridgestone tires, had 127,000 5 yrs old. 

Was that miles or kilometres??

[EVENKEEL]

6 hours ago, trigpoint said:

Was that miles or kilometres??

KM's

[transam]

11 hours ago, AjarnMartin said:

But how can you find the manufacture date on Thai tyres? Is there some sort of code? I have done 60,000 kms and the tyres still look good but dating them might justify a change? They were OEM when I bought the car - Bridgestone. They’ve been great.

The date is in small print on the side wall...Tyres can be on the shelf for 3 years and 6 years or more on a ride if the side walls are still showing no signs of deterioration..

[AjarnMartin]

28 minutes ago, transam said:

The date is in small print on the side wall...Tyres can be on the shelf for 3 years and 6 years or more on a ride if the side walls are still showing no signs of deterioration..

Thanks transom - I’ll get my glasses on this morning! ????

[HAKAPALITA]

If You use Tyre Plus all is clear. You get Book with ALL the small details of your 4 new Tyres recorded. Any doubts, just pull into their many outlets and job done. 

[canopus1969]

5 hours ago, AjarnMartin said:

Thanks transom - I’ll get my glasses on this morning! ????

 

[DavisH]

6 hours ago, AjarnMartin said:

Thanks transom - I’ll get my glasses on this morning! ????

There will be 4 digits - eg, my new tires were 2218. That means they were produced in the 22nd week of 2018. Check the date on the new tire you get and make sure they were produced recently. My tires were changed after 41K kms - they were getting hard with tiny cracks in the side wall. They still had tread and gripped quite well though. 

[transam]

10 minutes ago, DavisH said:

There will be 4 digits - eg, my new tires were 2218. That means they were produced in the 22nd week of 2018. Check the date on the new tire you get and make sure they were produced recently. My tires were changed after 41K kms - they were getting hard with tiny cracks in the side wall. They still had tread and gripped quite well though. 

May I ask the brand and type of tyre that failed so early..?

[Esso49]

8 hours ago, transam said:

The date is in small print on the side wall...Tyres can be on the shelf for 3 years and 6 years or more on a ride if the side walls are still showing no signs of deterioration..

External signs can be seen I agree but what you can not detect is the fatigue in the steel reinforcement.  That is why all major brands have that recommendation.  Having said that of course steel fatigue is caused by many factors including ambient temperature, shock loads etc etc  so I always err to the cautious given that they are your sole lifeline and change them here every 4 to 5 years . Having said that I have only kept one vehicle here for that length of time. 

[DavisH]

2 hours ago, transam said:

May I ask the brand and type of tyre that failed so early..?

Well the "cracks" were hairline cracks where the tread meets the sidewall - not deep cracks. These were michelin ps3, and all of my tires have always needed changing by about 40K km. I would say this is common on sedans - truck tires seem to last longer based on what posters have said in tv. The ps3 were by far the best tire I've used here. They had amazing grip in wet and dry, but are not the most comfortable tire. I put on ps4 now. 

[NanLaew]

11 minutes ago, DavisH said:

Well the "cracks" were hairline cracks where the tread meets the sidewall - not deep cracks. These were michelin ps3, and all of my tires have always needed changing by about 40K km. I would say this is common on sedans - truck tires seem to last longer based on what posters have said in tv. The ps3 were by far the best tire I've used here. They had amazing grip in wet and dry, but are not the most comfortable tire. I put on ps4 now. 

40k km out of a set of any set of brand names tires isn't very good at all. I am not sure about the composition of Michelins as marketed in Thailand but years ago in the UK, despite the mark-up, they were the first choice for fleet vehicles due to their harder, longer-wearing build.

[denby45]

Just realised you cannot even trust the main manufacturers of tires. My car has done less than 30,000Km and I was checking the tire pressure as I do quite regularly and my front passenger side was down to 28psi. I thought that perhaps there was a nail in it or something so I took it to the tire shop. The guy in the tire shop says immediately that I need a new tire. Obviously I thought he was scamming me because there was certainly plenty of wear in the tire as you can see. He showed me a couple of cracks in the tire wall which of course convinced me he was genuine. I had him replace it. When he took the tire off and I got a look at the inside tire wall I got a real shock. I think I have been lucky in this case as it could have been much worse. That tire could have blown out at anytime. I attach the photos.  

[HauptmannUK]

Been driven badly under-inflated?

[DavisH]

How old were those dunlops?