- Staff
- #1
Just added a maintenance article on how to inspect your tires and wheels. How old are your tires? What is the recommended service life?
See this article - Click on the picture
See this article - Click on the picture
Inspect your tires
- Thread starter PaulProe
- Start date
- Staff
- #2
Good article. I think we all watch our tires pretty closely for wear, not so much for age. I didn’t replace my tires for 15 years and was amazed at the performance of the new ones. Hard rubber is an accident waiting to happens under “Spirited” driving. Also, we sometimes forget about the wheels, thinking they are indestructible. I’ve had 2 cracked wheels on the Porsche that I discovered by doing my spring clean and maintenance. The wheels are Fikse forged aftermarket wheels made for performance cars so you wouldn’t think they would fail under daily driver conditions but they did. Manufacturers chase new designs that remove more and more metal from the critical hub to rim area, leaving skinny spokes that look great but become major stress zones. Think about how wide your rims are on that 315 tire and how it’s only attached in one plane to the hub.
, you just don't drive hard enough . 
But I had lots of tread left!
An thirteen year old tire with the nipples still on it 
They will talk to you…but you must be listening…evidently I wasn’t. I could hear it but I didn’t understand it. Scary 20 seconds or so.Steel nipples???? An ice tire.
Check the age & the wear. I kept an eye on the wear, on the outside where I could see it, but hadn't noticed that my front-end got out of alignment aomewhere along the way. The front tires were severely worn on the inside, to the point of being smooth, but still had plenty of tread on the outside. So I replaced all 4 earlier last year and a fresh front & rear alignment. I could fell the difference in the tires/bite and the handling.
Don't risk it with these cars, especially if you bought it used from someone.
Don't risk it with these cars, especially if you bought it used from someone.
- Staff
- #10
When I bought this car, the tires were 13 years old. I drove the test of the season in 2021 on them but had them replaced early 2022. The tires and car only had 4,000 miles on them, but the age concerned me. Like you I got the new tires and did an alignment at SPS. I could tell the difference just backing out!