tire life

[Neil - UK]

my factory fronts have quite a bit of rubber left (now hit 14K miles) yet they are now nearly 6 years old, reading through various posts most reckon 6 years is about as long as you can get as the rubber becomes to hard and the tires loose grip

I've new full set and are swapping the rears soon,
suppose I'd be daft not to swap the fronts as well?

 

[kcobean]

Daft...I love that word. Yeah, mine are 5 years old, and I'm going to be replacing all of them soon. I felt them compared to the tires on another car of mine with new tires and the difference is noticeable in regards to the "suppleness" of the rubber.

 

[Purdue_Boiler_Viper]

The conventional wisdom is that tire lose their grip a "few" years after manufacture. Makes sense. But, what is a few? I'm with you. Hard to really tell if new tires will make any difference. I've got an 01 with original tires. 5k miles. Do I replace them? Tread is near new. Might depend upon how hard you drive your car.

 

[Matt]

Buy a tire durometer and check them for yourself. No need to spend the +$1K if you don't really need to.

http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/long15.htm