A 76-year old lady friend of ours has a Suzuki SX4 (switchable 4WD). It has only covered 18500 kilometres (about 11500 miles) since new in 2007. She has a set of winter tyres/wheels and ditto summer tyres/wheels (remember this is Austria with a mandatory requirement for winter tyres). The tread is fine on all of them - at least 5mm. However, the tyres are all original 2007. They don't seem to have any cracks etc, and to be fair don't look their age.
She asked my opinion on what she should do. I've advised her to firstly, replace the winter tyres with new ones, and secondly, run the winters all round, as they aren't going to wear out but simply expire by age, hence no need for summer tyres as well. I'm happy with this advice, the tyre retailers agreed, and is certainly what I would do if it was my car. She never drives more than 15km from where she lives.
However, the head of the service department at the local Suzuki dealer has told her that they are fine and don't need replacing. She's happy with this advice, because it means she doesn't have to spend €400 on a new set of tyres, so she's not going to. I've made it clear to her that I think it is a bad and dangerous decision, but that it is indeed her decision.
Any thoughts out there? Am I being too fussy, or would you have given her the same advice?
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If she drives like a granny anything rubber will do, if she is a geriatric girl racer, new tyres.
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Depends really, if its garaged and not subject to excessive UV, the lack of signs of age probably indicate they are fine. There are no hard and fast rules about this.
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>> Depends really, if its garaged and not subject to excessive UV, the lack of signs
>> of age probably indicate they are fine. There are no hard and fast rules about
>> this.
>>
It is garaged (almost permanently!). The reduced adhesion caused by hardening with age would be the most concerning for me, as she lives on quite a steep slope, and could be problematic in the winter.
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The NTDA recommends that tyres fitted to vehicles over 10 years old are checked for damage, wear and other signs of old age.
Just because your tyre is 6, or even 10, years old does not automatically make it unsafe.
www.ntda.co.uk/useful-links-2/tyre-ageing/
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>> The NTDA recommends that tyres fitted to vehicles over 10 years old are checked for
>> damage, wear and other signs of old age.
>>
>> www.ntda.co.uk/useful-links-2/tyre-ageing/
>>
Interesting reading, also linking back to the other current tyre thread, mentioning a minimum of 3mm for extra safety despite Michelin's research to the contrary.
Perhaps I did give her bad advice, or rather, should have advised her to seek professional advice. Our own cars always wear the tyre out before it becomes a problem due to age!
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That article is contradictory, its says:
"Just because your tyre is 6, or even 10, years old does not automatically make it unsafe, but it is still worth getting it checked"
And then:
"The NTDA recommends that spare tyres over 6 years old should only be used as a ‘get you home’ emergency measure and then changed at the earliest opportunity."
The manufacturers usually say 5 years IIRC.
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Tyre aging 10 years too old? - Old Navy
