Old Tires, good tread - replace??

[bisjoe]

I have Toyo 800 Ultra Premium Touring on my '96. They are good in rain but not so much in snow, and I live at 800 feet so it's all downhill going anywhere. This year they predict more than normal snowfall.

These were on it when I bought it back in '02, and I have only put on about 12,000 miles since then so there is plenty of tread but they look hard and brittle from age. Think I need to replace them before the cold weather? I'm driving it a lot more now since I decided to sell my '72 El Camino.

I was thinking something like Goodyear Wranglers.

 

[ExplorerDMB]

Stay away from Wranglers -- if you want a good all-season tire get Michilien

-Drew

 

[hunterdan]

I currently have Toyo Open Country ATs and have been extremely happy. In the snow they are great, I was able to get through some stuff in 2wd that would have stopped me in my old Dunlops. They handle great, ride well, and get decent mileage. I am running 31's though.

Dan

 

[matt987]

yes, i would be a good idea to replace them, old tires with good tread are just as dangerous as new tires with no tread... because of dry-rotting by the very edge of the tread...very easy to puncture or blow out.
newer wranglers are not bad tires.. just the other day someone came in to the shop i work at with some old lookin tires.. and it turns out they were a set of recalled wranglers that were on the explorers... they had full tread, but were too much of a hazard to mount.

 

[old mechanic]

The on going battle between tire manufactures and others. Tire manu. are saying 10 years is when you should replace them. Others say 6-7 years.
IF you see they don't look good, not just going by build date, then you should replace them.
I have driven on 4 year old tires for tons of miles local and highway with no problems but I check ALL my tires regulary no matter what age they are.
I don't like many Goodyear tires BUT now they finaly came up with a good one:
GOODYEAR WRANGLER SILENT ARMOU. My son and some friends have switched over to them and love them. Great in the snow. Great ride. Great any where.

 

[Dopler174]

I still love my Uniroyal Liberators. Even if they are an A/T, they are perfect in the rain and ride great even at 85 mph with wore out ass suspension. I can't wait to see snow. Please God give me a good reason to pull people out of ditches. Good price too! I bought them at Wal*Mart. :thumbdwn: I know, Shameful. Best price for 31's in town.

 

[StillKicken]

Sorry the image is a little blurry. Was on the way to drill and only had my camera phone. I had checked the tread on these a couple days before this. Treat looked pretty good. The tires were over 5 years old. Think they were dry rotted and what caused the blow. Replace now!
Just my 2 cents. Got MANY miles out of these Michelins....got another 4!

 

[Bill Kemp]

Check out www.tirerack.com They have many brands & reviews of the tires.
I've got Michelins on the Mtneer and Coopers on the Cad and would recomend either.

 

[toypaseo]

I can also recommend Michelin LTX M/S also. Pricey, but on my 96 XLT 4x4, they made the ride ALOT better. The old tires were Goodyear Wrangler RT/S :thumbdwn:

 

[Abom]

Booooo for Wranglers. I had them on all 4 corners when I first bought my Ex, somewhere around 40% tread life left.

They suck on dry pavement, they suck on gravel, they suck in rain, and they suck on dry/wet 4x4 dirt trails.

I replaced the back ones with Motomaster (Canadian Tire) Roughrider M+S tires. They kick ass, grip the road awesome, and have the same tread pattern as "brand name" M+S tires. Good enough for me