After how many miles should you replace your tyres?

[cosmicbike]

I guess it depends entirely on the tyre, and the use. My commuter goes through a Schwalbe Land Cruiser on the back every 3000 miles. Not too surprised as it's where all the weight is with the rack and bags etc. Fronts last about double that.
I have yet to replace a tyre on my road bikes due to wear. I fit Conti Gatorskins and use them year round, I'm not a racing snake so no interest in the marginal gains lighter tyres may give. The RT-58 has just over 3000 miles on and the front tyre looks new, the rear has no visible signs of wear.

 

[MichaelW2]

It sounds as if some tyres have a harder, tougher outer rubber and a softer inner rubber and once the casing is gone, you get punctures very easily. My Big Apple tyres behave a bit like this. There is no time or distance guidance for when this happens. If you can see fabric under the rubber, you have been riding them far too long. If the rubber is all cracked, then they are too old. Severe damage from cuts and abrasions, esp to the sidewall can be reason to replace. Normal cuts from glass and flint don't seem to affect the performance of my tyres.

 

[Chappy]

[QUOTE 4939143, member: 76"]Are they really 'wear indicators'? I had absolutely no idea they were! I thought they were just some moulding thing, like a reverse of the little spikes you get on a new tyre.

Bloody hell, every day is a school day [/QUOTE]

+ 1. I am going to check mine as soon as I get home they have a good few miles on them.

 

[Globalti]

It's not just a question of how worn the tread looks. You are entrusting your life to that small patch of rubber especially when blasting down a hill at 40 mph so you should be inspecting tyres carefully every month or more often for cuts that have damaged the carcass (look for a bulge), sidewall abrasions, carcass damage from hitting potholes and any other kind of fault. I throw away any tyre that's less than perfect even if it has tread left. There is very little difference between spending £25 this month or spending it in three months but there's a huge difference between being alive and well and being disabled by a brain or spine injury.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Thanks, good to know

No, it was BS. Tyres don't crack like glass.

 

[bpsmith]

I asked the same question recently. My Continental GP4000S had done 4,500 miles, but were way off the wear indicators. A few cuts here and there, but nothing major. Not really squared off either.

I replaced them, as they were four years old and fancied gumwall tyres anyway. The difference is huge in fairness. I don't honestly believe that the Vittoria Corsa G+ are a hugely better tyre than the legendary GP4000S tbh.

Therefore, I can only put it down to physical age and that they had become slightly more brittle. When removed, and flexed at different angles than are possible whilst fitted, there were lots of slits across the walls of the tyre.

As suggested already, I will consider replacing them earlier based on age in future (if no other signs of wear first) as we put so much trust in them that the cost saving is insignificant.

 

[pclay]

View attachment 371028 Here's the holes in question, I've probably done about 2000km, complete guess, in two years on these.

The two holes in the tyre are wear indicators, but I believe these are only specific to Continental. other manufactures don't necessarily have indicators.

 

[Tin Pot]

The two holes in the tyre are wear indicators, but I believe these are only specific to Continental. other manufactures don't necessarily have indicators.

TMN to me. See my first post...

 

[User6179]

Having said that although I can't see any wear on the surface of the tyre, there are two strange line/cracks on the bottom of the sidewalls, one on each tyre. I can't tell if they are wear or something else. I have attached a picture, hopefully someone will be able to help me identity what they are. View attachment 371033

Looking at the grooves on that rim I think you might have a few bits of metal embedded in your brake blocks, I had similar marks on my rim and on removing the pads found a few slithers of metal which when removed improved braking.

 

[andrew_s]

Having said that although I can't see any wear on the surface of the tyre, there are two strange line/cracks on the bottom of the sidewalls, one on each tyre. I can't tell if they are wear or something else. I have attached a picture, hopefully someone will be able to help me identity what they are. View attachment 371033

There's a strip of material around the bead that's there to take the rubbing from the rim hook. What you see is where it was misplaced during manufacture, and the "cracks" are where the edges of it are starting to lift, presumably because there's less rubber over the top than there would be down by the bead..
If you habitually run your tyre a bit soft, the tyre may wear through just above the bead at than point. If that happens, the tyre goes bang (loudly), and you'd need to fit a boot as well as a new tube to get home.

 

[andrew_s]

[QUOTE 4939216, member: 9609"](remember to renew the air on a dry day, no point in having heavy damp air in your tyres)[/QUOTE]Actually, damp air is lighter than dry air.

 

[Tin Pot]

Actually, damp air is lighter than dry air.

Helium

 

[jefmcg]

Helium

Bless you!

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Schwalbe Durano are generally good for about 5000 miles. You cannot tell if a tyre needs replacing based on mileage, as this will depend on the tyre.

In general, a tyre will need replacing if:

1, you start to get frequent punctures and/or
2, the tyre is visibly worn (the threads are showing through) and/or
3, the tyre is damaged and/or
4, the wear indicators have gone.

Or when the rear tyre 'squares-off', which can make cornering.... interesting (even more so, on a damp road)
I specified Durano PP ('28') on my CGR, when I bought it in March 2017

I changed the originals Duranos in November '18, due to 'squaring', & side-wall damage

The side was like this in a couple of places

Primarily due to...
Sometimes, time/weather dependant I'd ride along the river (Calder) bank & through NewLands Woods, on the way home
At one point, I have to leave the banking (artificially built up, as there was a colliery railway running to 'Stanley Ferry', with Tom Puddings (1)
At that point, the little ascent to shadow the old NewLands Hall grounds wall, is rife with semi-buried bricks & stone
So... given the relatively small air-chamber (& sidewall thickness) compared to MTB tyres, they suffer!

The front also had a few cuts in it, but I changed them as a pair
(this was a smaller one)





1. If you're not local, the name may not mean anything, so read here
From the photo of the saddle tank engine, with the oversized tub - I'd ride where the rails lead)
https://www.stanleyhistoryonline.com/Ferry-Lane-Photos.html

http://www.deuchars.org.uk/hiwb/boatgallery/goole.htm

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

This is 'wearing to the canvas' (as the old expression goes)
My old 'yellow', which was donated to @Milzy





One day, someone at work asked me if I'd ridden through paint
"No", so I looked



They were Schwalbe Blizzard (I think that was the model)


Still, it certainly showed how puncture resistant they were!!!!

Hence why the '7005/blue/audax' Ribble (as they call it) the Gran Fondo & the CGR, all have Schwalbe tyres