When to replace old tires?

[Anonymous]

I have a 2010 Jeep Wrangler. I bought it used private sale in 2019. it has always been 100% garaged. And it only has 24,000 miles on it -- a weekend car for the original owner and also for me the last two and a half years (i have put 5,000 miles on it during that time).

My question concerns the tires. They are Bridgestone Dueler. According to the markings on the tires (which obviously have an enormous amount of treadwear left) they were made in 2012. So obviously, I'm coming up on 10 years.

Should I be thinking of replacing them this year due to concerns about dry rot? Or is the fact that the car has been 100% garaged a mitigating factor and I might get more life out of them?

[Anonymous]

10 years is pretty old for tires. If you threw a new set on there you'd immediately find they had a whole lot more grip in the wet. That should tell you something.

[Anonymous]

Stick a quarter in the tread with the top of George’s head facing in. If tread doesn’t reach top of head, then time to replace tire.

[Anonymous]

Now, no question, they start to rot after so many years.

[Anonymous]

Given that it’s been garaged the whole time, UV degradation is minimal. But ozone has still been attacking them the whole time, and they’re probably just now *starting* to dry rot.

Look at the sidewalls with a magnifying glass. Look for any little signs of cracks. If you don’t see any, or only see a few, I’d probably run them a couple more years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Given that it’s been garaged the whole time, UV degradation is minimal. But ozone has still been attacking them the whole time, and they’re probably just now *starting* to dry rot.

Look at the sidewalls with a magnifying glass. Look for any little signs of cracks. If you don’t see any, or only see a few, I’d probably run them a couple more years.

+1. UV is the problem. Look for hairline cracks. If none you are still good

[Anonymous]

It's not so much dry rotting and cracking of the rubber that you have to worry about with tires this age as it is hardening of the tire compound over time. Like inside above, the level of grip really starts to drop off with tires that old, regardless of tread depth. Particularly in the cold, wet, and snow.

[Anonymous]

Have them checked at Radial Tire company in Silver Spring. You will see they have hundreds of 5 star reviews in yelp and have a huge following. They have always been upfront with me about when tires need to be replaced, including sending me away if not needed. Get there early as they get super busy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have them checked at Radial Tire company in Silver Spring. You will see they have hundreds of 5 star reviews in yelp and have a huge following. They have always been upfront with me about when tires need to be replaced, including sending me away if not needed. Get there early as they get super busy.

This. They are teh best place around.

Or go mid-afternoon. Most of their work is done by then so they can have time to look. It's sort of hecitc there.

[Anonymous]

All good advice here. Just wanted to share that there is a tool out there to help you measure the hardness of tires, called a durometer. For certain specialized applications - such as motor sports - replacement of tires may be solely driven by changes in hardness.

[Anonymous]

We just bought a used vehicle and the spare was 10+ years old. The tire shop wouldn’t work on it (we needed new sensors on all the tires) and actually gave us a newer used tire to replace it.

[Anonymous]

I think it is fine. However, I had a used old low mileage car I bought off a little old lady low mileage with radial tires that were really old but tons of thread in Fall.

Next summer on way to a 60 mile beach drive on a 90 degree day at 70 mph I shredded one.

But another car I sold with two 22 year tires.

Unless you are driving long distance at high speeds in summer in a 90 degree plus day like I did on very old tires it is fine