quality of used tires down?

[youngbuckwithapickuptruck]

ive always bought used tires. i check the date, ask them to balance them, this has mostly always been fine. over the past five years ive seem to have been getting more bad luck with unbalanced and dry rotting tires, damn it. im wondering if this may be due to supply of good used tires in this size dwindling up or something.

does anyone have any insight?

 

[Curious Hound]

Really depends on the quality of the tires when they were new. I’m pretty picky about tires. 99%of the time I buy new and get a good name brand and good model fir my purposes.

I understand being frugal and not wanting to waste money. But, think about it. The tires are the most critical key component keeping your vehicle safely on the road. It’s a safety item. Do you love your family and want to protect them?

Of course, I also wear safety glasses and a face shield when cutting and grinding, a welding helmet, gloves and long sleeve cotton shirt and pants when welding. Safety shoes when working in the shop…

 

[SenorNoob]

IMO, rubber lifetime has been reduced to the minimum (5 years) by all the tricks that make new tires work so well. A secondary problem is that with income vs costs the way they are, people are driving on tires until they pop. Which causes a significant reduction in the availability of used tires...

 

[sgtsandman]

I'm inclined to go with Senornoob's answer. Tires don't last as long and people are using what they have longer. So, unless a vehicle with faily new tires comes in from being wrecked, chances are low anything decent is coming in.

Then, they have to be in the right size. 14" and 15" tires are not the norm anymore and it seems that even 16" is on the way out. People like their bigger wheels with shorter sidewalls for the look and better handling.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I'm inclined to go with Senornoob's answer. Tires don't last as long and people are using what they have longer. So, unless a vehicle with faily new tires comes in from being wrecked, chances are low anything decent is coming in.

Then, they have to be in the right size. 14" and 15" tires are not the norm anymore and it seems that even 16" is on the way out. People like their bigger wheels with shorter sidewalls for the look and better handling.

15's are a premium.

I never let a nice set of used ones hit the tire pile when I was at a dealer. I have farm implements that need them lol.

 

[19Walt93]

I'd never buy used tires, there's no way to tell if the carcass is good by looking at them.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

In 45 years of driving, I can't remember buying a new set of tires. In that same time, i can remember 3 tires failing while driving, 2 catastrophicly, front and back, and one just went flat over some minutes. None of them caused me issues with vehicle control. I have no problems running used tires....

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

In 45 years of driving, I can't remember buying a new set of tires. In that same time, i can remember 3 tires failing while driving, 2 catastrophicly, front and back, and one just went flat over some minutes. None of them caused me issues with vehicle control. I have no problems running used tires....

My Ranger is wearing its first new tires since I have had it right now. I never had a problem with them.

Came with car tires

Used Dunlop Mud Rovers I found from a kid here on TRS. I sold them but I don't remember what I got for them.

Firestone Destination MT's I found on CL, guy just put them on a Dakota and traded it, they were like new. I ran them for years and actually got good money out of selling them. Still in great shape, 11 years old and I had just got the slide in camper and wanted fresher tires.

Current General Grabbers I got new

 

[Shran]

I usually buy new tires but I have no problem running used ones. Using some common sense and not running ones with a bunch of damage or extreme weather checking will prevent most problems.

FWIW most of the tire problems I've had were on tires I bought new. Had the most issues by far with Goodyear. Random sidewall blowouts, premature dry rot, tires falling apart from the inside out. Junk.

 

[sgtsandman]

I usually buy new tires but I have no problem running used ones. Using some common sense and not running ones with a bunch of damage or extreme weather checking will prevent most problems.

FWIW most of the tire problems I've had were on tires I bought new. Had the most issues by far with Goodyear. Random sidewall blowouts, premature dry rot, tires falling apart from the inside out. Junk.

I too am not a fan of Goodyear. I have limited experience with them but I have not been impressed with the ones I had, especially for the price Goodyear charges for them.

 

[Blmpkn]

Well.. not ending up with dry rotted tires is pretty much as easy as not buying dry rotted tires lol..

..Could be tough to tell if their rotting or not if you're buying them off of eBay or something though. If I were to buy used rubber it would definitely be an in person transaction.. unless the online listing has real nice quality close up pictures of the tread.

All that being said... It's really just best to buy new rubber IMO. Even if you find a set with half tread for half price.. you're gonna need to replace them 2x as often.. mounting & balancing isn't cheap anymore.. 100-120$ for a full set in my area these days.. that adds up. Plus a new set will come with a manufacturer warrantee.. buy from a chain and they offer lifetime puncture protection plans and free plugging/patching..

Just be proactive & start budgeting for tires earlier.. that way you can just buy a new set.