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Replace tires every 9 months?

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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 12:05 PM
  #1  
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Default Replace tires every 9 months?

Preface - My tires are checked for alignment, balance and pressure at regular intervals.

I put a new set of Kuhmo Ecsta MX's on my 97 coupe last May and yesterday I had my tires checked and the rear tires have no tread but the fronts have a little left. Total miles on tires = 17,000. My tire guy (who I trust) said average life is about 16K-20K. I asked why only 16-20. He said several reasons; Can't rotate due to 18" and 17". Rotating would extend mileage. Car has lots of torque that's why rear wears out first. Wide tires wear out faster than standard passenger car tires. Also one of the fronts has a little scalping and he said this can vary due to tread design.

My question - Is this typical for you guys? Can I expect to replace tires every 17K miles?

Heck, I'm thinking about changing my rim sizes so that all 4 match so I can rotate the tires.

BTW - I'm running 275/40R-17 Front and 295/35R-18 Rear
Paid $161.99 for fronts @ Discount Tires Direct
and $223. for rears @ Tire Rack

Maybe I could try a harder tire compound? Give up some of the smooth ride but gain longer lasting tire mileage ...

Suggestions?
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 12:10 PM
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yep, that's totally normal...welcome to Z rated tires!

edit:actually in this case yours are Y rated
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 12:14 PM
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Can they really not be rotated, side to side? how come?
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 12:16 PM
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Originally Posted by JoshVette
Can they really not be rotated, side to side? how come?
still nets you the same wear it would seem...switching front to back obviously would swap between drive/non drive wheels eliminating a lot of wear
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 12:18 PM
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Originally Posted by JoshVette
Can they really not be rotated, side to side? how come?
directional rotation..you could unmount and remount...

I have 27K on my KuhmoMX's.
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 12:22 PM
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My runcraps barely last 25K and I got some better ones, hoping they'll go at least 30K. We'll see, I got the Pirelli PZero Nero. TireRack gave it awesome ratings.
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 12:29 PM
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Welcome to life with high-performance tires. Sticky tire = softer compound = shorter lifespan. I got 12k out of my stockers.
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 12:39 PM
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Waaayyyyy too many variables. You'll get mileages all over the ballpark here, even on the same tire.
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 12:42 PM
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i have 23k on my stock runflats, still have plenty tread left too. But of course i dont do burnouts or bash on it all the time
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 12:42 PM
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I have gotten 27k out of each set of runcraps I've had on the car. I am on my 4th set now.
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 12:48 PM
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Kumho MXes are fairly soft. I wouldn't expect more than 20-25k from them, depending on driving.

If you want something longer lasting, get something with higher treadwear. Won't have as good traction but will last 30k+.

Any performance tire will wear out fairly quickly. I don't think you'll get more than 30-35k out of any tire. Runflats do not fall in the 'performance' tire category as far as I am concerned

Dope
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 01:04 PM
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Originally Posted by JoshVette
Can they really not be rotated, side to side? how come?
They have directional tread. As in they are designed to roll in one direction. Most (if not all) high performance tires are directional. Take a look at whatever tires you have on your Vette right now. Notice how they have a pattern that if you turned your tire backwards, that pattern would face a different way, rendering the tire almost useless.

If you just try to swap the wheels+tires side to side (driver side --> passenger side) the above would occur. The only 2 solutions are:

1) do what Grumpy did (remounted the tires
2) buy new tires
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 01:08 PM
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17000 miles? 17000 miles?

I dream of 17000 miles a set!

Actually I don't. If they last more than 10k then they're too bl**dy hard. Or you're driving like a girl. A girly girl from girly town on girly day.

Chevrolet wouldn't have made a throttle that goes all the way to floor if you weren't supposed to use it!



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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 01:34 PM
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Originally Posted by Cochemarman
17000 miles? 17000 miles?

I dream of 17000 miles a set!

Actually I don't. If they last more than 10k then they're too bl**dy hard. Or you're driving like a girl. A girly girl from girly town on girly day.

Chevrolet wouldn't have made a throttle that goes all the way to floor if you weren't supposed to use it!



I think ~15-20k is all you can expect for decent performance tires. Any more and they become heat cycled so much that they are useless (due to hardness). If you want more mileage go with a tire with a higher treadwear, but don't expect them to stick like the lower treadwear tires.

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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 01:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Cochemarman
17000 miles? 17000 miles?

I dream of 17000 miles a set!

Actually I don't. If they last more than 10k then they're too bl**dy hard. Or you're driving like a girl. A girly girl from girly town on girly day.

Chevrolet wouldn't have made a throttle that goes all the way to floor if you weren't supposed to use it!



I couldn't have said it anybetter!

Although, my last Kumho ASX's did last me a whole 10 monthes on the rear!!! which is amazing considering i drive 25,000+ miles a year.

Chris
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 02:25 PM
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I was looking at tirerack and I don't see another tire comparably priced with a better treadwear rating than the Kuhmo ASX's @ 420 followed closely by the Kuhmo MX's @ 400.

Actually on discounttire you can see that the BFG T/A KDWS has a 400 treadwear too but my buddy has these on his '03 Cobra and when we went to the track my Kuhmo MX's had all sorts of stuff stuck to them and his were clean. The Kuhmo MX's are way stickier.

Last edited by 5 Liter Eater; Feb 23, 2005 at 02:31 PM.
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 02:53 PM
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My Yoko AVS Sports have around 26K on them getting close to needing new ones too. And thats with me breaking them them while driving around 50 or so. They grab pretty good if not for the freakin blower. Suprised they lasted as long as they did with the burnouts/racing/stupid driving i do lol

Damon
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To Replace tires every 9 months?

Old Feb 23, 2005 | 03:17 PM
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I got 19,000 miles out of the rears on my 99, my son in law, got just over 20,000 miles on the rear tires on his 98 conv.
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 03:43 PM
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Kuhmo is a very soft tire.
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Old Feb 23, 2005 | 03:52 PM
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I doubt I'll get 17K out of my GY F1's and I'm an easy driver. Welcome to performance car tires.

Tom
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