Buying the cheapest tires possible

We have three NCs here. Two of them ride on aftermarket wheels/tires in warmer months but I put the stock stuff on for winter. Last year I discovered the stock (original) tires on the '13, which probably have all of 8,000 miles on them, are getting pretty badly cracked with dry rot. Last week I found the same happening with the stockers from the '10 (not original tires but still with gobs of tread). It's pretty frustrating to be in a position where I either have to risk my neck driving on these tires - the cars don't get driven a ton over the winter, but I try to take each car out once a week for a 45-minute cruise around town - or throwing away tires with nearly original tread depth.

Are there brands that seem to hold up better against dry rot compared to others, or should I just get the cheapest stuff I can find ($95 each at Tirerack) and accept that no matter what, I'll probably be tossing them out four or five years down the road having only put 1500 miles on them? Will bagging these cheapies over the summer extend their usable life in any meaningful difference? I typically store the stock stuff in a shed in the backyard: out of the sun, but otherwise subject to temperature/weather fluctuations.

Our study subjects are somewhat different, but my autocross tires are deflated to about 14 pounds, then bagged in contractor bags before going on the tire rack.

Tires degrade with age. Buy the cheapies and replace every 5 years. 

Forced induction is the answer. The problem is lack of tire wear within an adequate period of time. 

For the use case you've described I would be shopping ebay, Amazon, simpletire etc. for something $80 per tire or less. Or, some cheap snows (probably studdable winters over a studless ice tire) since you're switching wheels for wintertime anyway.

Interesting problem.

Myself, I bought 2 cars in the last 2 years, one was an 06, the other a 2013.  The 06 had near new LOOKING tires on it, but when I got the car home and really looked at it I noticed the dates on the tires had them as nearly 7 years old.  Absolutely no quick visual indication of their not being nearly brand new.   Same with the 2013 car.  Tires look near new, have decent tread, but a recent look at the dates puts their age at 6 years.  Either I can't read the dates correctly or both cars had something about them that magically preserved their tires.

BTW, the 06 was owned by a middle-aged woman who put about 3K miles on her car per year...I am guessing the tires were only the 2nd set in 14 years.  The 2013 is also super low mileage, it was showing 18K in 2020 and I have added about 13K since.

Both cars were on good, name brand, tires, the 06 on Coopers and the 2013 on Goodyears.  I am tempted to think you got " bad " tires and/or have problems with where you are storing them.

Bagging them when they're not in use will make the biggest easiest improvement to their lifespan, keeping them in a cool temperature-stable environment will also help, beyond that there's not much you can do. Maybe get your winter tires used so they don't cost so much in the first place, and finish them off in burnouts so you get more value for your money

I have a Miata that I only summer drive and some autox. I too age out tires before I wear them out. I took a different approach. 

My summer street tires are RE-71 autox tires with just a 200 treadwear. For my Q45 I summer dailied RE-71s also and they had more than 8k miles on them. Said another way, I summer on the best tires I can buy, at least best for "sporting intentions." 

I think my Miata RE-71s are from 2015. About time to consider a replacement but still lots of tread. 

For winter on the Miata I have a set of ole Kumhos that I bought new for the Miata in 2002...yeah. They are mounted to dedicated rims. Their sole function in life now is just to roll the Miata in and out of storage and take the abuse of sitting still for 7 months. 

TLDR: Buy some great but fast wearing tires knowing that even though fast wearing, you'll never wear them out. 

I definitely agree with bagging wheels/tires for storage.  I have however found that snows seem to have a life cycle much closer to race tires than street tires.  I find they go out after 3-4 years of use despite low miles.  I assume it's the softer compounds as it can't be UV/heat like standard tires.

Steve_Jones said:

Tires degrade with age. Buy the cheapies and replace every 5 years. 

Ten, as I recall, is the official industry recommendation.

Some of the really cheap tires today are not terrible. I've driven cars with Ironman iMove's and Antares Injen's and they were fine. I actually preferred the Anteres to the not cheap Generals I replaced them with.

Serious reply: "Good enough" and "look OK" make me cringe when we are talking about the components that react *every* control input and are literally the only components that keep the car on the road. Tires cost less than insurance deductible.

Less serious reply: drive more, drive harder. Wear out before age out!

My 86 also has a set of winter tires that it mostly just sits parked on, I also pack one as a spare whenever I'm driving to an event, and I plan to try some drifting with them on the rears so they don't age out with a whole lot of tread left...

Be aware that cheap ebay/Amazon tires may be cheap because they're old.

For example, I just got off the phone with Simpletire.com about the new tires for my Vanagon. Tires for these things are a little hard to find as they have an unusual combination of size and load rating. They had some Nokians I wanted - but when they showed up, two of the tires had a DOT date of 4415. Now, Nokian doesn't say specifically how old is too old (they say "condition is more important") but I'll bet a local installer would probably refuse to mount these. I have requested replacements and they didn't hesitate when I mentioned it. Going with an anonymous storefront like Amazon or eBay would be a little more challenging in this case.

Keith Tanner said:

 Nokian doesn't say specifically how old is too old (they say "condition is more important")

That's interesting

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Search tire rack right now for a 2007 Prius. They are offering some 2017 build date Bridgestone cheaply like net $45 per tire after rebate, etc.

In their defence, the listing clearly states them as 2017.  But, that does require that a buyer knows what that means. 

I will add that the 4415 tires look dramatically better than the 2011 Nokians currently on the van. The "new" ones show no outward signs of any degradation and the rubber doesn't have that hard, brittle feel you can get with aged race rubber. I wouldn't have hesitated to mount them up if I hadn't checked the date. The old ones are cracking between the tread blocks. There's a clear difference in how they were stored - one is on a vehicle that is parked outside almost permanently, the others were warehoused.

Peabody said:

Steve_Jones said:

Tires degrade with age. Buy the cheapies and replace every 5 years. 

Ten, as I recall, is the official industry recommendation.

Some of the really cheap tires today are not terrible. I've driven cars with Ironman iMove's and Antares Injen's and they were fine. I actually preferred the Anteres to the not cheap Generals I replaced them with.

I'll second this. I'm on my second set of Ironman iMoves. The dealership installed the first set when I bought the vehicle, and I was so happy with them that I replaced them with the same after a sidewall puncture. They're made by Cooper and have served me much better than their price would indicate.

Peabody said:

Keith Tanner said:

 Nokian doesn't say specifically how old is too old (they say "condition is more important")

That's interesting

I was surprised as well. I did find an interview with a Nokian rep on another site that indicated a 10 year service life, but nothing on the Nokian site.

https://www.nokiantires.com/customer-service/tire-maintenance-and-change/tire-age/where-can-i-find-my-tires-age-2/ 

I don't see any point in paying more for $ticky tire$ for winter use when all I'm looking for is something to keep the car off the ground. It also gets cold here in the DC area (overnight lows in the teens occasionally) and I don't want to subject good tires to that. The 13 rides on Conti ECS in summer and they move onto the 10 (garaged) over the winter while the 13 gets stockers, assuming the stockers have tires that aren't falling apart. The 10 gets its choice of RE71R or Yoko A052 when the weather warms up, but they are taken off and brought inside once fun driving season is over.

The third NC ('08) rides on stock wheels with Conti DWS06 from 2015 and it wouldn't surprise me if those are starting to show signs of aging out as well.

My winter drives are absolute no-rush no-fuss puttering around town just to keep the brakes from getting crusty. Other than that, I don't really drive over the winter. No commute, not many social visits, I'm essentially a hermit until spring springs.

I think I've been spoiled by one particular set of Michelins that are on steel wheels that came with the '93 Miata. They're dated from 2002 but have only recently been showing cracks in the tread.

I wonder if a Tweel / Uptis type wheel would be better for this. I figure when they age out, the first thing that would happen is that the tread would crack up and flake off, which would be more gradual and less instantly catastrophic than a pneumatic tire suddenly going flat or blowing up.

In reply to Powar :

My experiences exactly. They're a little noisy but they otherwise worked very well and are certainly fine for the application. I bought some wheels with Anteres tires on them and used them for a few weeks waiting for the General GMAX's to show up. I actually preferred the ride and quietness of the Anteres. I'm sure the performance wasn't as good when pushed, but for me they did the job. Tires are inexpensive enough for my new car , but I'm tempted to grab a set of those Anteres

The manufacture date is located on the sidewall of the tire, displayed as a four-digit number; the first two are for the week and the last two for the year. For example “1117” means the tire was manufactured in week 11 of the year 2017. Note: It is more important to pay attention to the wear and condition of the tire than the year of manufacture.

So the manufacturer's recommendation is that age is less important if they look OK?

Good to know.

That particular manufacturer, anyhow! Maybe they're trying to avoid people claiming they can still run bald tires as long as the manufacture date isn't too long ago. Nokian makes a disproportionate number of snow tires, which of course tend to be used seasonally. Could that be a factor?

In reply to Powar :

Just a correction, Ironmans are made by Hercules who are no longer owned by Cooper, ATD actually now owns Hercules. 

Cooper does still oversee production, and hopefully Goodyear doesn't mess with that too much. I worry about the future of Cooper and General in part due to their relatively recent acquisitions. 

Keith Tanner said:

 Nokian makes a disproportionate number of snow tires, which of course tend to be used seasonally. Could that be a factor?

Who knows, but I just noticed my own snows are 11 years old. And look practically new

You have three NC chassis cars. That means that one set of tires fits all three. Just swap tires around every time you wanna drive one, keep the others on jackstands so it's easy to switch them out