A question about tires - age related

shmang

I understand that normally there is a temperature rating as well as a wear rating for any given tire. So, if both tire have the same temp. rating and wear rating and driven on the same road condition and same driving habbit, but one car drives like 20 miles a day while the other drives 200 miles a day which will get the same total mile faster. Which will get more total miles?

I think the question here is : Since tires are made of rubber and rubber tend to age b/c of heat, expose to sunshine ....., do you guys think that the tires drive less miles in the same period will last for less miles (Although it will last longer b/c of the mileage advantage)?

gasguzz

From your given... 200 miles a day = 73, 300 miles/yr (or new tires every year), and 20 miles a day = 7,300 miles/yr (or 10yrs on an 80k tire). Now, will a tire last 10 years? Well... what brand/type is it? How is it cared for (inflation/load/storage)? At what climate? What "road conditions"? Assuming a properly inflated/loaded tire, the Temp rating is generally a conservative government standard and is insignificant between 20/200 miles on a DAILY BASIS. I say you will probably swap tires before 10yrs, so you will get less miles on tire's life driving 20 per day.

shmang

That is true for a 80k or simlar rated tires, but what about those high performance tire that last about 15k (which need to be changed in 2 years even only driven 20 miles/day)? providing the climate are generally hot and tires are properly inflated, not over loaded, properly maintained.

Any thought?

paulbrustas

I worked in the tire bizz for years and years -then I got tired of it - OK OK OK bad joke. Anyway, I left the bizz in the early Ninety's and right up until that time, tire rubber was guarenteed for a MAX of four years.

Individual retail outlets may have XXX mile warrenties and such of course... but if the tire was more than four years old that meant the outlet had to eat the tire warrenty.

I worked for Goodyear, then Firestone, and also for a few yrs at an independent not bound to favorites. Everywhere I went, that four year term was our golden rule.

gasguzz

Not sure now where the discussion is. You can get a more conclusive analysis by specifying first what size you're looking at (you cannot decipher results by ratings alone). I mean... 15k tires typically are soft-compound low-pro 18-19 inchers. No tires in this category should "age" in 2 years, so the 20/200 miles is a non-issue (you swap at the assumed 15k mark). Are you indicating that the Temp rating also accounts for climate-aging? No - it simply stipulates the tire's heat dissipation capability (again, a conservative standard). Second, at this range of Z+ tires, the consideration should be traction-traction-traction and not temp or treadwear.

shmang

Ok, now I have some idea for what I was confused at.

The question really comes when I saw some high performance car (i.e Viper, Vette Z06) that comes with very low mileage for their age. like 3000 miles for a 97 Viper on their first set of tire. If you buy a car like this, do you need to change the tires first even there are a lot of tread wear (like 3/4 of them) still there?

BTW, thank you, gasguzz for the clarification about temp. rating.

gasguzz

Yah, tire swaps are even earlier on car mag stints than with real owners. Ever seen a car mag test on a Viper without a burnout pic? On these cars 3/4 (or 75%) is just getting warmed up. Would you believe hard-core street racers buy new tires and have them "shaved" (reduce the thread depth) to maximize traction. It is not unusual for your tire dealer to ask you this option when you get a new set for your all-wheel 911 Turbo. On these type cars tires also wear faster due to the staggered setup (fatter in the rear).
No, you do not have to change until you hit the wear indicator (but that's really a comfort level). You'll start to notice slippage even before you flatten the indicators. Another, the wear indicators are a legal gauge for the cops.
Enjoy.

Mr_Shiftright

On a high performance car you don't want to take too many chances. At the very most you're only going to get 20,000 on a set of Viper or Z06 tires, and that presumes no alignment problems. Viper in particular is very sensitive to alignment issues. Also, you want to make sure the previous owner didn't put some type of tire on the car that requires special driving, or that attempted to save money. A good set of shoes for a Viper will cost around $2,000.

shmang

Again, thanks for all the good information. Not that I am going to buy a Viper (can't afford the maint. just like shifty mentioned, $2k for a set of tire, $2k for ins. every 6 mon.), but just something in that class, maybe Z06 or C5 (used for sure). I think tire/brake/alignment will be the first things to check before having any fun with it ....