How many miles do tires usually last? or when do you know to change them?

Question

I am talking about just standard, non-performance, not a fancy brand tires for normal climate (I have a relatively new Honda in the LA area).... just seam like tires places always say 40K miles but it looks so new to me still.... what do you guys think? I hear some say 60K too actually....

Answer 1

Since I work in the tire industry maybe I can help.

Most tires come molded brand new with 10 or 11/32-inch tread depth depending on the tire. It is recommended to replace the tires when the tread depth reaches 4/32-inch because wet-weather performance drops off dramatically below 4/32". In most places a tire is considered bald (in a legal sense) when it reaches 2/32" remaining tread. There are "wear bars" molded into the tread grooves at intervals across the tread. When these bars are level with the top of the tread blocks, you are at the discard depth of 2/32". Any tire store will be more than happy to check your tread depths for you while you wait.

As for how long a tire lasts, well, that depends. The size, brand and speed rating all have an impact on tire wear and in any given size different grades of tire either offering less cost (and usually faster wear) or higher performance (and usually faster wear) may be available. In typical "broadline" tire sizes you can find cheap tires with no mileage warranty that might last 25-30k miles up to very high-end tires that are guaranteed to last 80-90,000 miles, with all sorts of stuff in between.

A "relatively new Honda", depending on model, may fall outside the "broadline" spectrum, as so many newer cars do. The last few years have seen a huge movement away from standard passenger tires in common (broadline) sizes to even mundane family cars getting low-profile high-performance tires with high speed ratings. The Accord for example a just few years ago came with a 15-inch tire, now it comes with a 17-inch low profile tire with a very high "V" speed rating. Such tires are not going to last long, but people like the looks and they like the performance.

Without knowing the year and model of your Honda I can't make specific recommendations, though I would be happy to do so.

Answer 2

Tire life depends a lot on how the individual driver handles the road. Lots of fast starts and in town driving with a lot of stop and goes will wear down tires faster then long freeway rides. So its really hard to nail down a tires life.

In general tires come with expected mileage as guidelines. Some may still come with a mileage guarantee but those are generally pro-rated and designed to get you back into the showroom to by new ones.

All tires have a wear bar across them. As a guideline, when the wear bar appears its time to start looking for tires as you don't have a lot of good tread left.

So,. after you drive the car a while and go thru a set or two of tires you will get a feel for how YOU do with tires .

ok??

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Answer 3

All tires are unlike. Most tires last roughly over 50-60K depending on how they are cared for. If you rotated them on schedule it helps reduce the wear. If tires remain too long in the front the rubber wears out and they begin to appear flat, which also wears and cracks tires at a faster rate. Also different tires have a different quality of rubber inwhich they uses. I usually replace mine every two years which is about every 60K. Hummm... I'm just about there... I need to go tire shopping soon.

Answer 4

Tires should be replaced when they are dry-rotted or worn out. Tires show dry rot as large cracks in the sidewall of the tire. Cars that sit alot in the sun without driving tend to dry-rot the tires. Cars that are driven a lot will simply wear out the tires.

Wear is indicated by the wear bars in the tire. These are small raised areas (bars) in the bottom of the tire tread. When that raised area is even with the OD of the tire, the tire is worn out. A simple method to determine if a tire is worn out is the penny test. Take a penny with lincon's head facing you. Turn lincoln upside down, and stick the top of his head in the tire tread groove. If you can see above the top of his head, the tire is worn out. If the tread covers his head or face, the tire still has tread left.

Make your tires last as long as possible by keeping them rotated, properly inflated, balanced and the car's suspension aligned.

Answer 5

How Long Should Tires Last

Answer 6

Individual tire brands vary due to treads and conditions. 40000 - 60000 miles is about right.
You can use a Lincoln penny to determine when it’s time to replace your tires. Turn the penny so that Lincoln’s head is pointing down and insert it into the tread. If you can see all of Lincoln’s head, it’s time to replace your tires.
To maximize tread life, rotate tires every 5000 miles and keep the air pressure at the recommended level.

Answer 7

If they are just standard name brand tires (Goodyear for example), Most of them you can get up to 50% more tread life out of them than what tire shops advertise. Tire shops recommend "optimum tread life". Basically this is their way of avaoiding a lawsuit should something happen to go wrong with your tires that is not covered under warranty. Ask what the tread life is on the tire and the minimum acceptable tread depth. This will obviouly vary from tire to tire, but will give you a better idea of the actually life of your tires.

Answer 8

if you look in the bottom of the grooves in the tread of a normal tyre you will see a small piece of rubber every now and then that looks like a little ridge about 2-3mm long, this is a minimum tread marker, they are in all the grooves averey 12inches or so, when the tyre tread wears down and is level with it, thats the time the tyre needs chaning. the legal limit in the UK is 1.6mm of tread 3/4 accross the tyre as a minimum. tyres wear differently depending on type of rubber used etc. new cars with front wheel drive will wear the front tyres quickly because the engine is connected to them and also the steering so they do alot of work, typically 30,000 miles on a front wheel drive car with the rear tyres on the same car lasting twice as long.

Answer 9

depends on city or highway miles(25k -50k). and your tires have wear indicators(wear bars) built in to the tread so that you don't have to search for a penny.

Answer 10

different tires are rated for different milage take a penny put it in tread if you see top of lincolns head time to replace them