“They won’t install them.”
A woman went into Discount Tire and looked at the tire age chart. It made her wonder whose tires ever last that long.
TikTok creator DriverThoughts (@driverthoughts0) is a self-described nomad traveling in her 300,000-mile 2019 Subaru Outback. She recently posted a video about tires while visiting a Discount Tire location.
In the video, she zooms in on the display that shows tire age. It recommends replacement at six years and says it will not service tires 10 years or older.
“Whose tires ever actually make it to 10 years old?” she asks. “Because mine surely don’t.”
In the video’s comments section, viewers attempted to explain why Discount Tire might have this policy.
“You’d be surprised, to be honest,” said one person.
“It’s more like people buy cheap, old tires off of Facebook Marketplace, and they won’t install them,” guessed a second viewer.
“Cars that don’t get driven,” said a third person.
A former technician said, “When I worked at Discount, I saw tires on a van from like 1984. It was 2023 and he drove there.”
Someone else said, “Mine are 12 years [old]. They still have tread, but I’m going to replace them soon.” Another commenter replied, “It doesn’t matter if they have tread or not. The rubber itself is degraded to the point it is tremendously unsafe.”
It’s true that tires do not last forever. The rubber compounds in tires naturally degrade over time, which means even tires kept in a garage for 10 years are still unsafe. That’s why Discount Tire recommends replacing your tires at six years of age—no matter the mileage you’ve put on them or how deep the tread looks.
Of course, there are variables that can slightly change that timeframe.
According to Neo Tires, all-season tires generally last between 50,000 to 80,000 miles and/or five to seven years. Winter and performance tires generally last between three to five years and between 20,000-50,000 miles. Off-road tires have an average life expectancy of 30,000-60,000 miles or between 4-6 years. And truck tires can sometimes last 100,000 miles or between six-10 years.
Commenters on a Reddit thread posted to r/cars recommend the five-six year replacement timeframe, but also suggest paying attention to things like the climate where you drive, mileage, and road conditions. People like DriverThoughts who are on the road a lot will obviously not wait 10 years to change their tires because of the mileage. Or at least they should not.
Motor1 contacted DriverThoughts via TikTok comment and direct message for comment. We also contacted Discount Tire via press email for comment. This article will be updated if either responds.
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