How Long Do Tires Last? Know When to Replace Them

How Many Miles Should Tires Last?

As a tire owner, you should expect your tires to last at least 36,000 miles. If your tires last for this amount of time, you will likely be able to use them for several years. As tires begin to wear out from use, you'll notice the tread getting shallower and shallower over time. A deep tread enables you to drive in the rain and other weather conditions, but a smoother tread pattern is better for dry and warm weather.

How Many Years Do Tires Last?

You must think about how often you should change tires as the owner of tires that don't get used very often. Even if you aren't using the tires on your vehicle, you must be ready to replace those tires with a new set. Even when you don't drive around, your tires are aging and becoming less durable. This is because unmoving tires don't maintain the same chemical composition in their rubber as tires that are moving. They become weaker and stop holding together as effectively over time. If you have tires that just sit around, they are still getting old, and you'll still have to replace them at the 10-year mark whether they have deep tread or not. In general, regardless of use, tires should be inspected regularly and considered for replacement every 6 to10 years to ensure safety and performance.

How To Check Tire Tread

As a vehicle owner, the best way to verify that tires are still good to use is to measure their tread depth. Tires with less than 2/32 inches of tread aren't safe to use and should be replaced immediately. You can check any tire you aren't sure about with a penny. Take your penny, flip it over, and press it down into one of the grooves in the tread. If Lincoln's head isn't covered at least a little, then you have too little tread. Find the lowest point in your tread and set the penny down into that groove, and if you find a section with less than 2/32 of tread depth, it's a sign of when to change tires.

Without Proper Rotation, Tires Wear Prematurely

When attempting to determine how long tires usually last, you have to consider whether the tires have been properly rotated or not. Rotating your tires is moving them around your vehicle in a careful pattern so they wear evenly over time.

You can't see it, but the tires are slanted when installed. The slight angle that each tire sits at improves the handling characteristics of your vehicle so you can corner more easily. Unfortunately, angling the tires like this causes one side to wear out more quickly than the other on each side of your vehicle. This means that on the driver's side, one side of the tire is wearing out rapidly, and on the passenger's side, the other side of the tire is wearing out quickly.

There are differences in how the front and rear tires wear as well. Rotating your tires properly will move them around so that each tire spends the same amount of time in all the different positions around your vehicle. By moving the tires through a specific rotation pattern, you ensure they wear at the same rate on every side. When you want to know 'how long do tires last?', you have to consider whether they were rotated properly or not. Without proper rotation, a tire's life will be nearly cut in half.

If you leave your vehicle's tires in the same position the whole time you use them, you'll note that either the inside or the outside of your tires is much more worn than the other side. Since you should replace your tires as soon as a section has less than 2/32 of an inch of tread, your overly worn section will make your tires bad, and you'll have to get rid of them sooner.

Either bring your vehicle to a local shop to have your tires rotated every 5,000 miles or learn the proper pattern and rotate your tires yourself. Also, keep your tires properly inflated to their recommended PSI level and have the tires checked by a professional for proper alignment and balance periodically to ensure even wear.

How Rough Driving Affects Tire Lifespan

Another factor that determines how long car tires last is how you drive. If you corner at high speeds, accelerate rapidly, and brake hard, you put more stress on your tires, and you'll wear away your tread sooner. To get the longest tire lifespan, you should drive calmly, keep acceleration light and avoid hard cornering. Also, avoid running into objects such as curbs, potholes, and other obstructions as often as possible.

How Often Should You Change Your Tires?

Understanding how often to change tires on your vehicle means knowing when your tires are worn. The best way to check for this is to look at your tread and ensure you have more than 2/32 of an inch of tread left on all areas of your tire.

You may also have to change a tire if it isn't holding air properly any longer because it's punctured, has a bad seal, or is worn along one or more of its edges. Tires that vibrate heavily as you drive may also need changing. At a minimum, you should change your tires once every ten years. Knowing how often to change tires ensures you have safe tires to drive on all the time.

How Long Does it Take to Change Tires?

When you finally know when to replace tires on your vehicle, you will have to go to a professional to have the new tires put on. This is a quick process that can be completed in between 20 and 40 minutes on average. Shops are equipped with lifts, tire mounting machines, balances, and other equipment that makes the process fast and easy. If you go to a shop, you won't have to wait very long to have your tires swapped.

It's common for people to wonder, 'when should I change my tires?' or 'how long do tires last?'. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer for everyone. Instead, you have to understand how the tread should look.

Knowing how many miles your tires should last doesn't guarantee you'll know when to change your tires. Learn to read tread, feel vibrations, and inspect your tires for damage, and you'll know when to replace the tires properly. By understanding how often to replace tires, you'll understand whether they are good or not when you look at a new vehicle.

Along with getting a car history report before buying a car, you want to inspect the tires closely for signs of wear. If the tires are no good, you should bring that up when negotiating the purchase price of the vehicle. Be careful to consider the health of all areas of a vehicle when making a purchase, and never just skip over the tires.