daca

Took my 1994 Vert in for oil chg and bal all 4. The mechanic told me that he didn't recommend balancing because he said my tires were cupped. He said that that can happen if car sits a lot. He also said that I am running an aggressive tire and that is what happens to them. I am running Yokohamas and the size is what the factory recommends. Has anyone ever heard of this? My tires are probably more than 8 years old as I bought the car in 2005 and they were on it. The tread is still good and I don't see any weather cracking. My car does sit as I don't drive it in the winter. Do you think it is time for new tires? If so what would you recommend?

Appreciate any input.

Bob

96 Vette CE

Not sure what you mean by "cupped" usually that's a term used for over inflation of the tires and doesn't happen from sitting. Flat spots is usually what happens to tires when a vehicle sits for long periods of time. Being 8 years old your tires are at the end of their usable life and should be changed out sometime in the near future.

WVZR-1

You NEED tires !!! Period!

Tires are a "personal choice" - you might ask advice of the "tire guy"! He could have just balanced as best he could and sent you down the road. Have the "tire guy" point out the date codes on yours or just research that yourself.

Eight year old tires are a NO

AirForceOne!

8 years is old for a tire no matter how many miles you have on them! Just use that as an excuse to go get new ones!

Here's are the ones I'm leaning toward getting as soon as I wear these new ones off that came on it when I bought it!

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/BigPic...ilot+Sport+PS2

gerardvg

Damn how can anyone even get 4 years out of tires on a C4

Replace them asap

Phat98

Sadly, by not driving it...

daca

Thanks for all the replies. The reason I have had these tires for as long as I have is because I live in New England and refuse to drive my car in the snow. That means that I store my car from Nov to April. Once the good weather hits this area I only drive it when it is not raining as I hate cleaning it up after driving in the rain. So consequently I only put between 1500 and 2000 miles on it a year. That said I am going take everyones advice an shop for new tires this spring. Would really like to hear what others sre running for tires and how you would rate them.

AirForceOne I like the looks of the tire you sent me. Do you have any idea of what the price of those tires is? I bet they will make a big difference in the ride of my car. Thanks for the suggestion!

WVZR-1

I can't imagine that if projected miles for 5 years is maybe 10K that I'd consider a particularly "high ended" tire. There's many quality tires out there that have all the required "performance" features that your driving likely requires and also fit the "appearance" requirement!

The "local" tire guy might provide some of the best advice!

bac22

Not exactly, flat spots occur when you lock up the tires and burn rubber off of one spot. The belts within the tire will temporarily flatten (not quite the same as flat spots) when sitting for awhile, but the tire will round out correctly after about 10 miles of running.

Even so, 8 year old tires are probably at the point of needing change as rubber hardens over the years. I'm in the same boat, lots of tread on the tires, but getting to 5 years for them and starting to see some cracking in the treads...tough to replace expensive tires that still look good to the eye!

daca

Thanks for the input. What tires will you consider for replacement?

Larry/car

if you have any cracking in the tread area replace ASAP. I operate my tires "on condition". How the tire is treated and the environment it is operated in determines the useful tire life. I have seen tires that were just a few years old, unsafe. I also cut up a tire that was 23 years old and found no evidence of impending failure (those tires were never exposed to the sun and the car was always in a controlled environment). They had less then a thousand miles.