Quoting @Keith in another thread “A couple years ago, I made a 7000 mile trip on tires that had 92k miles on them and were down to 4/32” tread. The tires were premium tires and only 4 years old so based on the rate of tread wear, I did not see any problems, and they made the trip just fine, and another few thousand miles more when I got back. They still had plenty of life in them when I replaced them, but I saw a really good deal on new tires that I could not pass up."
The 2002 Escape my wife was driving until recently had 72K miles on the original tires when they were replaced. I don’t remember what brand they were, but they were definitely installed at the factory. I replaced them with Coopers, which were not the cheapest tires I could find, but certainly not the most expensive either. We have very seldom kept a car long enough to wear out a set of new tires, much less two. Her father bought the Escape brand new, so it probably had some sentimental value to her. When we sold it a couple of weeks ago, it had 162K on it, the last 90K on those Coopers. They still had good tread, but were beginning to be noisy. By the way, it had been a very good vehicle, but that’s not the point of this thread.
I recall a customer of the shop where I worked when I was a freshman in college. He drove an early Porsche 911, among others. The Porsche had some kind of weird tires with steel in them. Odd French name, Mitch somebody. Almost no one had ever heard of them…
He boasted that he had 90K on those original Michelins, and they still had good tread. He drove the heck out of that Porsche. He and his wife did TSD rallyes with it. Some weekends they were several hundred miles from home. Some Mondays I got to work on the car. I thought he was too old to enjoy such a great car because he turned 50 that year. Yeah right! He would be pushing 100 if he were still around. Until recently his 90,000 Michelins were the top mileage tires I’d seen.
The only bright spot with my POS '74 Volvo was the tires.
When I finally dumped the Volvo, I had 77k miles on the odometer, and I estimated that those tires were good for at least another 20k safe miles.
The tires in question were the “old style” Michelin-X.
I used to use Goodyear tires on my 81 Olds. They had 15" wheels and for sure I always got 90,000 on them. I would have to check my records but I believe once I got 110,000 on the set. Of course it was all freeway driving and back then I usually just ran them until there was a problem such as exposed belt or bulge. I wouldn’t do that now. I tried a set of Fleet Farm tires once (I think they were Coopers) and although cheaper, I only got 60,000 on them so the Goodyear were cheaper per mile. On the Goodrich that I had used, I would always develop a bulge or a problem requiring replacement before the tread was gone.
I got 80K+ on a set of Michelin tires about 15 years ago. My next best was about 60K on a set of Walmart Viva II (Goodyear) tires on a 1996 Jeep Cherokee. My worst was an OEM set of run-flat tires on my 2002 GMC Envoy which were worn out at 16K.
I agree @db4690 but I think it depends on the model of Continental. The Continentals that came as original equipment on a Taurus I had a few years ago were junk at about 45K. One blew out. I replaced all of them. The Continentals I bought for my 190E Mercedes were still excellent at that mileage when I sold it. I’m sure I gave more for mine than FoMoCo did for those originals.
When I worked for a Ford dealer’s garage about 40 years ago, they replaced a lot of original tires which were then sold as “new car take offs”. They were usually Firestones or Generals. I was told that Ford paid about $4 a piece for them, so it made a good profit for the dealer to sell someone a set of Michelins or Goodyears and keep the OEMs for the next customer.
Most of the time I only remember the tires that pxxx me off due to failure to keep a balance, harsh ride, or premature wear.
The longest lived set of tires I’ve owned was a set of Bridgestones on a Subaru I had and they went about 70-80k miles; which is a major miracle considering the roads here.
My Lincoln has Bridgestones on it now at 50+K miles and roughly 30-35% tread left. The last 30 or so % can go much faster than the first 60ish% though…
The worst tires I’ve ever owned were a set of Kellys (apparently they use grease in the compound to aid traction…) and a set of Generals. The latter were done by 15-20k miles.
Goodyear may have the name but their passenger car tires are unimpressive to me as I’ve never had any good luck out of them.
I don’t buy tires for my cars. I don’t usually keep them long enough to wear out a set. My wife on the other hand likes her old car and wants me to keep it running.
Goodyear Eagle LS2 is a great tire and the set on that car ran to 80,000 miles. Can’t complain about that.
Remember, the size of the tire, the car they’re on, and the load they carry has a lot to do with tire life. I remember servicing an early 90’s Nissan Sentra that would wear out tires every 20,000 miles, no matter what brand.
I am reluctant to keep tires over seven years regardless of the mileage. Because we run separate winter tires and our mileage has dropped from 20k to 10k because of retirement, I find we change them too early for most. My tractor tires have cracked sidewalks but t am reluctant to keep tires on a car that does. The winter tires get change around 5/32 while the all seasons at a little less if before seven years. Anything below that and traction and safety suffers too much for me to keep.
Longest we ever had was 80k on mi wife’s 87 Accord. Some Michelin brand.
Tire longevity is so dependent on the type of driving, where you drive and the type of vehicle they’re on. I had these Michelin XCH4’s on my GMC pickup…they had 70k on them when I sold it and it still probably had another 20k to go. I put the exact same tires on my 90 Pathfinder and I was needing new tires around 60k.
My wife who liked the way our Subaru handled so much, got a kick out of going too fast on curves on the way to work. When she complained about the tires being badly worn on the outside and needing early replacement, I asked her if she up heard tire squeal on the way to work. Her reply was, " sure, everyday" .
pontiac sunfire was a balanced car, and also relatively light. i got 80K miles on pep boys tires from India. (not remembering the badge, but i was certainly impressed)
they were horrible in snow (traction), but that’s a lot of miles.
My Chevy Avalanche got 65,000 miles on a set of Firestone Destination LE’s, it’s second set. It now has a set of LE-2’s, the latest generation of Destination LE’s. I highly recommend them for trucks and SUV’s
BTW, the shortest life set… A pair of Hankook S2’s on the rear of a Honda S2000 that wore out in 9000 miles. The car has larger rear tires so rotation isn’t possible. The tires are maximum summer performance 140 treadwear tires on a car notorious for consuming rear tires so it really isn’t the tire’s fault. The fronts have 17,000 and look to hit 20 or so.
I don’t think I’ve ever gotten more than 40k out of set of tires. With my Mustang I get around 25k-30k out of a set. For my F-150, I only put around 1500-2000 miles on it a year, so it’s hard to say. When I got it had about 60k miles on it and the tires were absolutely shot. I put a set of BFG A/T KO’s on it, and with around 80k on the truck and around 20k on the tires, there’s no noticeable wear.
First, most tire wear occurs in the cornering mode. Driving straight ahead is practically free. So if you want your tires to last, don’t make turns! And, yeah, like Keith experienced, log trips wear the tires very slowly.
But since most people don’t have a choice of the route they take (and therefore, the miles the get out of tires).
I’ve tested literally thousands of tires in fleet conditions, and the worst I’ve evre seen was 5,000 miles and the best was over 120K - and the odd thing is, they were the same make and model!
“I’ve tested literally thousands of tires in fleet conditions, and the worst I’ve ever seen was 5,000 miles and the best was over 120K - and the odd thing is, they were the same make and model!”
There must be a variable there somewhere. Did they fire one driver for going too slow, and the other for going too fast?
I’ve always been pretty rough on tires. I think the best I got was about 60K out of a set of “Tiger Paws”, but they came with one of my cars when I got it. The worst by far was a set of Generals that wore unevenly and started to have failing belts and steel poking out at about 10K. (and yes, the car was properly aligned) They were Sam’s Club specials. The next set of tires were Firestones that lasted another 20K with no incident until I got rid of the car.
I have about 12K on a set of Michelins on my current car and they look barely worn at all.