How much life is left in tires

mmitsch

Member
I am looking at buying a 2014 CX-5 Touring. The dealer selling says the rear tires have 8/32 left and the front have 11/32. They said new is 12/32.

I am not at all knowledgeable about tires. How many miles do you think these have left?

Appreciate your tips!

Mike
 
Most all season tires brand new are 11/32nds. Never saw 12/32nds other than perhaps on an aggressive winter tire.

There appears to be a significant difference between the front and rear which seems to suggest 2 new tires were purchased for the front.

Really hard to say how much more mileage you can get as everyone drives a car differently and under different conditions. For example, you may be able to get higher mileage if the car is mainly high way driven as an example.

8/32nds seems a bit worn but again it's hard to say without knowing how the car was previously driven and or pictures of the tires. Even the brand/type of tire also varies as Performance tires are softer and wear faster compared to an all season eco tires.
 
With 38,000 miles on the car I'd guess all the tires have been replaced, probably the fronts and rears at different times or the previous owner never rotated them. One thing I'd look for is, are all 4 tires the same brand and type (ie. Continental TrueContact, General Altimax RT43)? The OE tires on a '14 Touring were Yokohama Geolandar G91A's, had 10/32" tread depth new and were P225/65R17 in size. Need more info to tell you much more. Also, is this an FWD or AWD?
 
Ed, thank you for your quick reply! The car has about 38,000 miles on it. I am not sure I understood the response. Can you explain?

And, again, thank you!!!!

Mike
You have a 2014 CX-5 Touring with 38K miles. That means your factory tires were worn out a while ago and a new set of tires were put on without ever rotated. OE 225/65R17 Yokohama Geolandar G91A tires have 280 B A UTQG rating which mean they'd last about 28K miles or more if the tires got rotated routinely. You can check the brand of current tires and UTQG rating on the sidewall. The first number is the treadwear rating and I usually times 100 to it to get a rough idea that how many miles the tire can last, which usually coincides with the tire manufacture mileage warranty too.

Yeah too many factors involved to estimate how much life left in the tires.

If you didn't have similar problems before the tire replacement, I believe you have a defected Firestone Destination LE2 tire. But if you'd like to change to other tires, here are partial lists of 225/65R17 tires in different categories for your comparison. Personally I believe T-rated Continental CrossContact LX20 Crossover/SUV Touring All-Season tire is fine and should be much better than O.E. Yokohama Geolandar G91A Light Truck Highway All-Season tire. But since the top speed for our CX-5 is 120 mph, I'd stay with at least H-rated tires as T-rated tires are designed for the top speed of 118 mph.

Light Truck Highway All-Season Tires:


Tire


Size


UTQG
Maximum
Inflation
Pressure


Tread
Depth


Tire
Weight


Warranty


Price*
Yokohama Geolandar G91AP225/65R17
100H
280 B A44 psi10/32"26 lbs.OEM - None$200.55
- TR
Michelin Defender LTX M/S225/65R17
102H
720 A A44 psi10.5/32"29 lbs.70,000 Miles
6 Years
$154.97
- TR
Firestone Destination LE2225/65R17
102H
520 A B44 psi12/32"28 lbs.60,000 Miles
5 Years
$125.45
- TR

Grand/Standard Touring All-Season Tires:


Tire


Size


UTQG
Maximum
Inflation
Pressure


Tread
Depth


Tire
Weight


Warranty


Price*
Continental TrueContact225/65R17
102T
800 A B44 psi11/32"24.3 lbs.90,000 Miles
6 Years
$113.56
- TR
General AltiMAX RT43225/65R17
102H
700 A A51 psi11/32"24.3 lbs.65,000 Miles
6 Years
$100.25
- TR

Crossover/SUV Touring All-Season Tires:


Tire


Size


UTQG
Maximum
Inflation
Pressure


Tread
Depth


Tire
Weight


Warranty


Price*
Pirelli Scorpion Verde
All Season Plus
225/65R17
102H
740 A A44 psi11/32"28 lbs.65,000 Miles$131.50
- TR
Continental CrossContact
LX20
225/65R17
102T
740 A B57 psi12/32"27.7 lbs.70,000 Miles
6 Years
$122.45
- TR

XL = Extra Load
TR = TireRack.com

Performance Category Rank from TireRack.com:

Highway All-Season Tires:
Michelin Defender LTX M/S - #1 out of 32
Firestone Destination LE2 - #3 out of 32
Yokohama Geolandar G91A - #24 out of 32

Grand Touring All-Season Tires:
General AltiMAX RT43 - #5 out of 41

Standard Touring All-Season Tires:
Continental TrueContact - #1 out of 20

Crossover/SUV Touring All-Season Tires:
Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season Plus - #2 out of 21
Continental CrossContact LX20 - #5 out of 21
 
You have a 2014 CX-5 Touring with 38K miles. That means your factory tires were worn out a while ago and a new set of tires were put on without ever rotated. OE 225/65R17 Yokohama Geolandar G91A tires have 280 B A UTQG rating which mean they'd last about 28K miles or more if the tires got rotated routinely. You can check the brand of current tires and UTQG rating on the sidewall. The first number is the treadwear rating and I usually times 100 to it to get a rough idea that how many miles the tire can last, which usually coincides with the tire manufacture mileage warranty too.

Yeah too many factors involved to estimate how much life left in the tires.

Thank you for a great response! As I mentioned, we haven't bought this yet. The 2 rear tires are 11/32 and the 2 front measured 8/32 (according to the dealer). It is out of town and we had them send pictures. Very strange. The 2 front tires are different makers. One seems to say PERFORMAX on it and the other one is a Thunderer Ranger. On the back the tires are both KUMHO Sense. Makes me worry about the previous owner and how best to rotate. I usually get the same brand for all 4 wheels.

What do you think?
 
Thank you for a great response! As I mentioned, we haven't bought this yet. The 2 rear tires are 11/32 and the 2 front measured 8/32 (according to the dealer). It is out of town and we had them send pictures. Very strange. The 2 front tires are different makers. One seems to say PERFORMAX on it and the other one is a Thunderer Ranger. On the back the tires are both KUMHO Sense. Makes me worry about the previous owner and how best to rotate. I usually get the same brand for all 4 wheels.

What do you think?
Like others have said, we need a little more info to better answer your question. Is the CX-5 AWD? Do you need snow tires in your area? I assume this CX-5 you're interested in is a FWD based on different tire wear rate. Assuming this CX-5 have correct 225/65R17 tires at 4 corners, I did some research on these tires. I can't find too much info on the Chinese made Lanvigator PerforMax tire. Thunderer Ranger 007 from Thailand has 560AA UTQG and 11/32" tread depth. Kumho Sense KR26 has 520AB UTQG and 9/32" tread depth.

So when the dealer told you the rear tires have 8/32" left the tires are still fairly new from 9/32" tread depth when new. But the front tires would have problems. You have unmatched pair of tires at front. You should at least find a matching one for either, but strongly suggest you to get a pair of new tires for front picking one from the table I created. If that CX-5 is an AWD, you should seriously consider to get a whole set of better tires.

Make sure the tire sizes are correct for all 4.

Honestly, bad tires are easy to fix, and you should concentrate on other things more if you're really interested in this CX-5. Judging by the tire situation, I'd suspect the previous owner didn't take care of this CX-5 properly. Personally I'd skip this one unless the price is too good to pass, and it's a CPO with Mazda's extended CPO warranty.
 
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Original owner was an e-cheapo. As stated above, same model and size tires on same axle and most people change ALL four tires to same. I think I would pass on this vehicle. Ed
 
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