When to replace tires?
Angelmay84
Reg. Jan 2008
Posted 2010-01-23 11:32 AM (#115621)
Subject: When to replace tires?


Veteran


Posts: 270
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Location: Roanoke IL

How long do you go before replacing tires?  I'm not a fan of letting them go bald before replacement.  I've got about 40,000 on my current set, and the dealer said they were at 8/32.  Time to replace? Trucker friends say they look fine and the dealership "saw me coming" and wants to sell me tires. They say keep rollin' and look at them in another 20 thousand miles.  I have rotated them regularly.  I wouldn't know if a tire was at 8/32 or not. 

Amanda

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gard
Reg. Aug 2007
Posted 2010-01-23 12:30 PM (#115624 - in reply to #115621)
Subject: RE: When to replace tires?


Expert


Posts: 5870
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Location: western PA

Here's one way to test the thread depth:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=51

The other concern is the tire's age:

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897

Gard

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headhunter
Reg. Oct 2004
Posted 2010-01-25 12:12 AM (#115669 - in reply to #115621)
Subject: RE: When to replace tires?



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Posts: 736
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Location: Western WA
Tires are legal until there is less than 2/32 tread left. But if your tires are old, not worn, you may want to consider replacing them sooner. Any weather cracking on the sides? May be time to replace them even if the tread is legal.

An easy way to check tread depth is using a penny. If you insert a penny in between the treads with Lincoln's head down, if you can see his head, you're still legal. When you're close, have a tire shop check for you, or just buy a tread depth gauge.
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calamityj
Reg. Jun 2005
Posted 2010-01-25 8:23 AM (#115672 - in reply to #115621)
Subject: RE: When to replace tires?


Elite Veteran


Posts: 690
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Location: missouri
Look at the age of the tire (should be located in code -might be on the backside), then look carefully for checking... just because the tread looks ok, doesn't mean you couldn't have a blow out... I never like to hemorage money for anything, but rubber is kind of like oxygen, your life is counting on it. We just bought tires two weeks ago... ouch.
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