tire life in years- when to replace?

[gkanai]

I have a set of the updated BFG A/Ts on my 70 Series. Bought them in 2016. Due work taking me away from the truck for a number of years, I only have about 25K kms (15K miles) on the tires. They're still in good condition with a fair amount of tread depth. Plus, I have a set of snow tires that I use for a few months out of the winter.

When should I be thinking about replacing my BFG A/Ts? BFG has a 6 year warranty and the manual they have on their site talks about 10 years being the longest anyone should be using a tire.

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[Tecnos]

I personally wouldn't replace them unless they were dry rotted. Any dry rot, replace.

 

[bigredmachine]

run them till their dry rotted or worn out. or send them over to me and ill test them out for ya

 

[kerplunk]

I've used some dry rotted tires well past their expiration date....
They adopted all kinds of little pinhole like leaks, which I kept putting plugs in (cause I worked at a tire shop at the time, and plugs were free and easy).
After months of that, and about 20-30 plugs in one or two of them, the cords busted and a large flap of rubber came off the tire.
If they aren't leaking air, they're good, you're safe. Don't try and put 20 plugs in them if they are.

 

[Mrtwooooo]

I'm in the same situation with my BFG AT KO tires. I put them on in April 2014 and they still have tons of tread left. I have a long trip coming up in September and I'm thinking about getting a new set right before the trip.

 

[80t0ylc]

I've used some dry rotted tires well past their expiration date....
They adopted all kinds of little pinhole like leaks, which I kept putting plugs in (cause I worked at a tire shop at the time, and plugs were free and easy).
After months of that, and about 20-30 plugs in one or two of them, the cords busted and a large flap of rubber came off the tire.
If they aren't leaking air, they're good, you're safe. Don't try and put 20 plugs in them if they are.

Your post is a good example of bad information on a forum. And you used to work at a tire shop? Would you trust tires like this at 70 mph with your kids and wife in the car?

 

[Devils Paw 80]

When should I be thinking about replacing my BFG A/Ts?

I'd run them for up to 20 years, if not worn out or dry rotted before then.

 

[e9999]

Consumer sites seem to suggest -from memory- that you should replace tires after 5 years. But they are probably talking about passenger tires. Truck tires should last quite a bit longer, I would think. Aside from the tread, I look for small hairline cracks on the sides that suggest dry rot. When those are noticeable, I start to think about replacing them. Of course, if there are noticeable defects like a big crack or a bulge you want to replace right away. For most folks not using the truck for commuting, I suspect age will kill them before miles. But if they are from 2016, you're probably safe for a bit. Of course, when I park outside I put a piece of plywood over the tire to protect from the sun, they last much longer that way. And btw, the manufacture date will matter more for this than the buying date. Look up the manuf date on the side of the tire. Oddly enough, I'm thinking that it possible to tell an old tire from the "look" of the rubber, there's something "dry" about them. Which makes me think that some of those tire treatment may help actually. I just don't know which ones, unfortunately.

Of course, the situation matters. If I'm driving locally in town, I may take a chance on the tire being a bit old. If I'm gonna go 200 miles in the desert alone, I'd want some fresh tires...

 

[kerplunk]

Your post is a good example of bad information on a forum. And you used to work at a tire shop? Would you trust tires like this at 70 mph with your kids and wife in the car?

Yes, yes, I do use tires that hold air and roll down the road straight without wobbles and such with my wife and kid in the truck, at 80 mph, towing a trailer.
The original set of tires on my 2005 Ram 3500 lasted until around 2018 (70,000 miles), and I just kept using them, cause there wasn't anything wrong with them. They held air, they rolled straight and smooth, as tiny cracks began to develop on the sidewall the thread wear past being usable and they were replaced.
If you want to go believing high quality well made tires just fall apart without warning and kill everyone in the car after some mythical expiration date... Well... I dunno how to convince you otherwise....
I've seen a lot of people with other financial priorities do a lot of non-advisable things with tires and get away with it for a very long time while I was working at a tire shop.
IF the tire is dry rotted, it's going to start flaking or cracking on the sidewall first, and then start with slow pinhole leaks. The rubber is going to dry up and deteriorate long before the steel cords holding it together bust (unless it's defective, or has been damaged).
BFGs are generally higher quality well made tires that will last.
BTW, working at a tire shop is really a small step above bagging groceries, summer job while I was in high school. If you somehow trust the guys there to have technical knowledge... Well... most of there training is on how to get more of your money (you but the warranty, right?)... What they learn on the job is how utterly @#%$ed your tires can be and still work.
My wife's car had the cords but out on one of her tires too, huge lump in it, couldn't drive the car over 30 mph without it starting to shake uncontrollably. Those tires were also original to the car, goodyear I think, car was less than 5 years old (low miles, still under 80,000 after 12 years).... So, um, this happens to properly cared for relatively new tires also....

And it's pretty immediately obvious when the tire becomes unsafe like that. Not even mounted, just rolling it across the floor, it'll wobble.

 

[BILT4ME]

Well, Goodyear Duratracs it's a little over 7 years.

Today, I replaced my tires because my spare was flat, the RR tire kept going down because it was leaking through the sidewall for the last two months, and this weekend, the RF tire went flat as I backed out of my driveway, because.a hole developed in the sidewall.

These tires were bought in November 2014 and have 97,720 miles on them.

I bought the same tires today, so I could repeat. I definitely got my money's worth out of that set.

Discount Tire will not touch any tire that has a date code past 8 years other than to remove it from service. They will not balance it no matter how much you ask for it.