Tire performance same throughout its life?
 

I tried to search this online, but I could not find what I wanted. So question put simple: How long does tire keep its performance for?

For example, if I were to purchase 40-50% remaining tread Michelin PSS tires, would it perform the same with 90-95% tread tires?

Forgot to mention that it's on track condition.

In the dry, I don't know.

In the wet though, I'd be willing to guess that because there's less space between the road surface and the deepest section of the tread you'll be more prone to hydroplane.

All tires age with heat cycles. That said, some tires can take more heat cycles than others. At the same time some tires don't suffer as much degradation as others.

In terms of tread depth, some tires get harder as you get deeper on the tread so depending upon the tire, you could have a substantial loss in performance from reduced tread depth. At the same time though, less tread means less tread squirm so you can gain some performance from that.

All that is general information though and unlikely to really help you :p

I would say however that Michelin PSS tires are great street tires and fairly bad track tires. The dual compound construction is great for street use but the wet compound in the center of the tire greases out very quickly. In order to use them on track you need to run them at a lower temperature than a pyrometer would tell you to use. Unfortunately there are situations where the center of the tire can still end up having major contact and result in more slide than expected which is scary. I suspect they would be alot of fun in the rain though.

Depends on the tires




no





this is why, when buying used tires, you should ask for massive discounts.

I wouldn't say it makes much sense to get used tires on this car. The tires themselves are relatively cheap and you'll lose money every time you do an extra mount and balance because they only last half as long as new ones. If you can, just wait until the manufacturers are doing a rebate, I bought a whole set of Pilot Super Sports for $530 shipped with a $70 rebate.

depends on the compound of the tires. I forget which tire it was, but I remember hearing about a tire that was like R comp once the tread got low enough.

Not necessarily true, if the cost of mounting/balancing twice is less than the discount for getting tires used. If you have connections (i.e. your tire guy who will charge you $40) it's worthwhile if you don't need a tire at its peak performance.

This doesn't mean I'm only going one direction, but rather having variety of options if any deals come by. Thank you guys for generous opinions.

No. Compromised resistance to hydroplaning in the wet with only 40-50% tread. Dry traction would probably be just fine barring other issues.

As mentioned above, it also depends on how and when it has been heat cycled. Also, it is important to know the date of manufacture of the tires. If they were manufactured in 2003, then the rubber has likely hardened and/or cracked so that they no longer perform as intended. Even a tire a few years old can have lower performance that a newly manufactured tire.

Do you have your own tire machine, or someone who will mount the tires free of charge? If so then tires with 40% tread may be fine. Otherwise, you will lose a lot of the money you save mounting and balancing the tires, and then mounting and balancing the new tires you bought to replace the used ones that only lasted 10k miles.

Finally, if these are for track use only, at least buy something like the BF Goodrich Rival, if not a full track tire.