jeff968

I was thinking of restoring the wheels on the mint cab this spring and was wondering about replacing the tires at the same time. My tires are in great shape (Bridgestones) and 8 years old. They have about 10K miles on them. How long do you wait to replace tires based on age and not wear? No sign of cracking sidewalls. Thanks

968gene

Jeff, will you be following this thread with a question on which oil to use?

chudson

Jeff

Answers are going to be all over the board here but in the industry our rule of thumb is:

No new tire over 6 years of age should be installed onto a car

No tire over 10 years of age should remain in service regardless of visual condition

And in my humble opinion the above statements are to the extreme limits.

Obviously any signs of damage, deformity, dry rot or extreme wear take precedence over age. And my preference is always to mount a new tire that is less than a year old. There are some brands that we see dry rotting as early as 3 years of age.

My tires are like yours - very few miles but aging. For that reason I purchase high performance / soft compound tires. This helps the car stick like glue and I know I'll likely be throwing them away from age before I wear them out.

As my buddy 968gene would say - that's my .02 cents.

jeff968

Thanks Cliff, yeah, if I'm going to get the wheels all nice I figure it might be time for tires as well. It's just that the old ones look fine!

968gene

Jeff, is this a full restoration of your wheels? If so, who will be doing them?

blue44

another good reason to replace 8 year-old tires is the transformative effect they will have on the car !

Donn

jeff968

Me! I did the yellow Cup2s last year. These will be easy, only one color.

bombfactory

Before I knew that tires can 'age out', I bought a used set of Michelin PS2's (about 60-70% tread on them), as they were ridiculously expensive new in the rear size I needed (285/30-18). Now PS2's are a very soft compound tire, but these tires (5+ years old) are hard as a rock, noisy as hell and ride like a set of round bricks. Lesson learned: Buy new tires.

odurandina

a good time to change the tires, is after rotating the rears a few times, you start to c parts of the steel belts showing..... hoping to get to 120 k miles on my fronts and about 80 k out of each of 3 rears (i got all five for 70% off) before the end finally comes. then i can swap 'em all out at the same time. i believe i will reach this milestone on these y-rated dunlops.

VGM911

I believe that Porsche recommends a max of 6 years as the cut-off for tires. Given that the tires are responsible for important dynamics of the car (handling and braking), it doesn't pay to scrimp on tires.

Joel8005

8 years...... heck my Hoosiers only last a weekend, time to pony up for a new set.

chudson

Joel - try slowing down in the corners!

odurandina

now that is an avatar.

Eyeman

I'd say replace them if you already have them off the wheels anyways. As mentioned I bet you'll be shocked how much the ride improves. I've actually been driving my 968 more lately because my 5 yr or so old tires are starting to look a little dry rotted so I probably need to replace mine more than you do.