14" tire recommendation

[dutchzcarguy]

14 hours ago, AK260 said:

Then I got caught out in a rain shower after a dry spell

Sometimes our weatherman does warn for that, after a long period of drought there is alot of rubber on the road and with the first rain it's a slippery slide..

It does not matter if you have new or used or very old tires you will have to be careful..

I always anticipate alot.. you have to with toyo tires from 2005-08 or so haha..

[AK260]

Sometimes our weatherman does warn for that, after a long period of drought there is alot of rubber on the road and with the first rain it's a slippery slide..
It does not matter if you have new or used or very old tires you will have to be careful..
I always anticipate alot.. you have to with toyo tires from 2005-08 or so haha..

I totally get that and it’s very true. However even in the dry they had started to wheel spin out of junctions and feel vague. No other car in front or behind me travelling at the same gentle pace let go / understeered etc at that time.


Either way tyres do go off over time and frankly they (and brakes) are keeping you safe and on the road. Relative to how much money we spend on our cars to keep them shiny, I just look at it as a cheap insurance policy not worth skimping on.

They basically oxidise over time and go hard.

Here’s a good article ...

https://www.thetelegram.com/wheels/have-your-tires-reached-their-expiration-date-255224/

[grannyknot]

19 hours ago, AK260 said:

Allow me to be controversial - in my personal experience, tyre rubber really does start to go off it’s best around the 5 year mark. But then most of our cars are garaged / live indoors without UV and at a relatively constant temp. So shouldn’t the tyres last longer?

Well, I thought so, until I fell off the road in 2019!!

My 14” Michelins with 6.8mm tread on the rears were normally pretty OK. Then I got caught out in a rain shower after a dry spell and coming onto a dual carriageway, onto a long sweeping corner, in second @ 2.5k rpm, when I touched the throttle at no more than 30% there was that real WHOA moment when the rear lost traction and was fought back into line with three pendulums - but not before I went off the road onto a gravel drainage / trap on the side of the road!!

I then switched to Bridgestone Turanza T005 tyres and found I could put more than 80% of the power down in the wet!! Hit the same corner several times again in the wet and with more power to prove the point and no issues. I even went to Silverstone the following week and drove around the muddy / wet country roads for the 50th anniversary Retro Run and the track in the pee-ing rain; all with supreme confidence!

I guess it depends on how, where and in what conditions you drive. But that experience made me staunch in the belief that they do indeed go off. I just don’t want to go off with them!!

Not sure if they are still available on this size but I would highly recommend !



 

I don't think you're being controversial at all, the general consensus among tire manufacturers for age out is 6 years.  Sure you can say that the manufacturers use that number out of an abundance of caution and the desire to make more tire sales and that may be true to a certain extent.

I'm as stingy as the next guy but I don't cheap out on tires because those 4 little patches of rubber are the only thing that keep you on the road.  Brakes don't stop the car, tires do.  Traction control, ABS all the rest of those helpers are worthless without 4 fresh contact patches.

I can't remember where I saw it but about 15 yrs ago I read an report on how many collisions and fatalities are tire related, worn out, under inflated and old, it was a large percentage.  That's when I became a bit of a zealot and don't even get me started on 4 season tires.

Edited February 20, 2021 by grannyknot

[7tooZ]

My theory is “ why would I risk the car or injury” over the price of a set of tires?

[Tweeds]

19 hours ago, AK260 said:

Thanks for asking - yes we were absolutely fine. But I’m pretty sure the driver behind needed a change of underwear, I was very lucky to have been able to hold it and avoid a spin into the barriers - oh and avoid hugging the trees to our left on the edge of the gravel area where we came to a stop.

There was some minor damage / scuffing under the car and to the cill on the passenger side where the chunky lumps of sharp gravel got kicked up - but it was easy to surface fill, sand back and re-spray. We got VERY lucky.

 

Glad to hear everything went the way it did. Coulda turned out a lot worse for you, the car, or both. I can see why that corner is so fun - it's just begging you to corner it hard, and go flat out on the straight. Car sounds great by the way!

Looking back on it, I had a higher tendency to lose traction when I first got my z - I'm not sure how old the tires were then, though. Never anything crazy, they'd just screech a little if I was pinning it and shifting gears. I'd imagine the same thing would have happened to me that happened to you in similar circumstances. Take my anecdote with a grain of salt though - I was unfamiliar with the car and it's finnicky gas pedal at the time so it might have been poor driving rather than poor tires.