Tire lifespan with low mileage?
 

My car has done a lot of sitting these last few years, and I was wondering if I ought to be thinking about swapping my tires out soon? I’ve been on the same set of Yokohama YK580 for eight or nine years now. I have about 35k miles on my car. No visible checking or cracking as far as I can see.

I used to have a real short commute to work, then to school, and now I just work from home and commute my wife to work with her RAV4. My Scion has basically become a recreational vehicle.

I’m also open to suggestions. There’s a lot of new stuff on the market and I haven’t kept up on it. Living in the PNW, my main concern is traction in the rain. We get a lot of standing water on the roads here, in all seasons, but not enough snow to justify a second set of wheels and tires. I recently had a set of Yokohama YK740 GTX put on our RAV4. My Scion is on 16x7.5” wheels. I like the extra sidewall. The car handles just fine for me, and some of our road surfaces are really rough here.

By my book, even if thread not worn down to legal limit, i try not to use tires more then 3 years. 8-9 years sound way excessive. With mild winter weather with little to no snow and not regularly low temps (and if you don't have to drive colder weather states to visit someone/by business or for recreation) i'd consider all-seasons .. but for summer though i'd still get proper summer tires. Twins are touted for handling, no need to loose that for unneeded in summer compromise.

Thanks!

It’s a problem that’s new to me. I’ve never kept a car longer than a few years in the past. It was more of a hobby. Pick up something fun, do some deferred maintenance, brakes, belts, tires, suspension, fluid flushes, etc. But this is my first new car. It runs like a laptop. The tires just kind of snuck up on me.

Lol. Point taken. I’ll get them swapped. I barely drove it these last two years. Used to swap my motorbike helmet religiously every two years. Just never kept a car long enough for it to be an issue.

yep 5 years. from the date of manufacture.

this one's gotten me in trouble more than once.. there was one family camping trip where our family learned it very hard. long story short, the camper had 2 axles, and 2 spares. on that trip, we blew through all 6 camper tires(5 blowouts, 1 damaged valve stem resulting in shredding), all 4 vehicle tires, and arrived home to find the now-spare-tire had gone flat... the camper tires were right at 5-6 years old, the vehicle tires were nearing 7-8 years--my mom used that vehicle for local trips 95% of the time-- it rarely hit 3k miles in a year outside of long trips.

we watch tires a lot closer now ;)

Thank you for saying that.

I’m actually a little embarrassed now. I’m not much of an enthusiast these days, noodling around in my little auto. I’ll get it taken care of before I drive it next. I appreciate all the feedback, guys. :)

Actually if/when tires are stored in proper environment they don't age much. I recall one vid with test of tires of different manufacture years, and degradation wasn't that big of as some expected. IIRC 3 years "in warehouse" were "worth" less then 5-10% of "grip degradation", so sometimes one can use to get good deal on "old tires". It's when you mount on car, pump it up, and it per every wheel rotation flexes, and gets subjected to sunlight/precipitation/change temps/heatcycles, when tire rubber chemical compound's "clock starts ticking". Still, my 2 cents, that i wouldn't buy older then 3 years tire by manufacturing date, and i wouldn't use set of tires on car for more then 3 years. As tires are single most important thing on any car, i prefer for their state to be within 70-80% grip of new tire, not 30-40%, and thread wear extent is just part of picture affecting tire grip (though worth noting, that most tires, once wear is past 30%, perform noticeably worse. Legally required minimum thread depth is often past what i consider acceptable for me. Luckily, when i started participating in track days, no summer tires lasted me more then season, so no need to consider their age, LOL).

Personally I argue against going with super-high treadwear rated tires in general, but *particularly* in the case of a SPORTS (or, at least sporty) car that doesn't see that many miles per year, why in the hell are you on 538 treadwear rated tires! Wear like iron, grip like iron...

Go to tirerack.com and pick some decent tires that offer more grip perhaps at the expense of treadwear/tire life, which you really don't need and can't use anyway...

Is this the same for tires that are used daily? I have a 2018 BRZ that is my daily, so its coming up at 3 years of it being on the road. Should I be considering at replacing the tires soon?

8-9 years does sound like it's pushing it but if there's absolutely no cracking (including in the tread area) then I wouldn't worry too much. At the same time they'll probably start cracking soon so I might keep a look out for any deals going on.

It rains in the PNW?

The EPS liner in helmets should be good for five years. :)
I could see getting a new bucket every 4 years but 2 is excessive unless you just like having helmet options. (who doesn't!)

Yeah I didn’t mind consumables with the motorbike for some reason. I used to change rear tires every year. With bikes I was just more aware of how close to the edge I was. I absolutely hated that feeling of a flat down the center of my rear, but I did a lot of freeway commuting back then so it just happened. I kept my last helmet, although I haven’t ridden in ten years. They just became lighter and more comfortable as technology improved.