Six year old tires suck compared to fresh rubber. Period. That’s not up for debate. If you are replacing the rears at six years, and we go by the old 2:1 ratio for rear:front, does that mean you’re going to seriously wait until 12 years to replace the fronts? Just put fresh rubber on it and enjoy a car that actually drives right instead of exasperating understeer in an already understeer prone platform.

 

I guess I passed over that info when I read the post the 1st time.

If the fronts are also 6 years old I'd replace all 4.

 

Hi All,
I agree, the age is the issue. I had a 996 Turbo (AWD) that i did DE's with. I tried just replacing the rears once and had HUGE PSM issues at the track (Watkins Glen). I had to shut PSM off.
So my thoughts would be. If the car is AWD then change all 4. If the tires are greater than 5 years old, change all 4. If you plan to track the car at all, change all four.
If fronts are under 5 years old and the car is RWD then it's ok to replace just the rear.
This is just my opinion. YMMV.

George

 

@sailorlite the issue here isn't whether there's enough visible tread left on the front tires, or whether it's common to replace rears only. If the tires were only 3 years old and if it's 2WD instead of AWD, go ahead and replace just the rears with no concern or worries.

The problem with older tires, however, is that rubber characteristics change over time with the age of the tire. They slowly harden, crack and generally denature. As such, a 6 year old tire will have nothing near the grip capabilities of a new tire of the same tread depth. That means that putting new tires in the rear against 6 year old tires in the front will potentially cause safety issues in emergency situations with your car. Just when you need to be able to steer your way out of danger, your front tires may let you down, particularly in inclement conditions. Now, this is obviously not a guarantee that things will go poorly; rather, it's a risk assessment that only you can make. Personally, I would never drive my 911 with 6-year-old rubber on it, but then I tend to drive relatively aggressively (it's a 911 after all, eh? 🤣 ).

While it feels like throwing money away to get rid of what looks like a perfectly good tire, it's really more a safety protocol as noted above. If you're able to I would recommend changing the front as well as the rear for the above reasons. In addition to that, certain insurance companies will deny claims in the event of an accident if they discover that tires are over 6 years old.

 

Think about the cost and headache of getting them, mounting and balancing etc. I'd go all 4.