When to buy new tires

[jsnip42]

How often does everyone replace the truck tires? I have Firestone Steeltex on mine with 53,000 miles. They look like the wear marks are just starting to come up but I still apear to have good tread left. Should I go ahead and replace anyway since we carry heavy loads?

[sreigle]

I'm not sure I'm fully qualified to answer your question but I'd like to ask you a couple of questions, if you don't mind. With 53k miles on your tires (more than the Steeltex advertises) and the wear indicators are just now about to show -- how often do you rotate tires? What tire pressures do you run, front and back? How often do you tow your Montana? Anything else you think added to the longevity of your tires. I loved the Steeltex we had on our prior truck but about 40-42k miles was about all I could get out of them.

Thanks.

[8.1al]

We got about 43,000 on our Steeltex but the majority of those were towing so I guess that's not too bad[8D]When mine got close to the wear indicators the tread was getting a little shallow and I was worried about hydroplaning in heavy rain. (I've done that and it was scary) so I replaced them

[NJ Hillbilly]

I got 34k out of Goodyears half towing half empty. They were all terrain and not a rib type though. The more rubber less aggressive tires tend to last longer.

John

[CmdrDewey]

I have Steeltex AT and I have 61,000 on them. I have about 1/8" on the sides and 5/32" in the middle. I have rotated about every 8,000 miles. I'm about ready to get new.

[jsnip42]

sreigle, I usually rotate about every 10 thousand miles or when I see wear on the outside of front tires. As far as pressure usually about 55 front and 70psi in rear. I think this is close to what the owners manual says. I would guess they have about 10,000 miles towing. Most are 400 mile trips to football games. I really like the tires (came on truck) and plan on replaceing with the same ones when the time comes. Maybe at 65 or 70 thousand miles. I always travel at 70 mph and thought maybe the heat from that speed may be bad for older tires. I guess i'll just keep a close watch on them.

(my wife's jeep has Goodwear tires with 90,000 miles and still good tread)

[tweir]

A rule of thumb we use on our fleet tires is 4/32 on the steer axle and 2/32 on the drive axles. This is a NHTSA standard as well as a DOT guideline. The "wear bars" indicate about 2 to 3/32 of tread depth remaining; depending on the manufacturer and tread design characteristics. As mentioned in some of the above postings, inflation, rotation and driving habits all affect the life of your tires as does road surface types. Our Police cars are lucky if they get 4 to 5,000 miles from a set of tires: inflation and rotation are watched carefully so the other variable must be the driving habits aka NASCAR drivers with badges...!

[Flastro]

As tweir said, rule of thunb is 3/32" its time to replace them. anything less than that is a potential safety issue with traction especially on wet roads.

[Glenn and Lorraine]

Replaced my Steeltex at 38,000 miles with the wear bars just starting to show. When I can spin the rear tires pulling out from a stop sign it is time for new rubber. Twice on the same rainy day I was barely able to pull away from stop signs and that happened while pulling the Montana. If they spin that easy pulling out how well will they perform while trying to stop in an emergency?

For the best tire wear rotate every 5000 miles and watch the air pressure.

[sreigle]

Thanks for all the good information. Most of you have done better at tire longevity than I have. I got 40000 to 42000 out of the Firestones and only 33000 out of the Pirelli tires. I'm hoping the new Michelins will better all those numbers. Bought them on 5/7/04 and had them rotated on 6/28/04 after 7,000 miles. I'll keep rotating them about that often and see how it goes. I run 55psi in the front, 75 in the rear, towing or not.