Hey guys,

As some of you have seen me posted before, I am a tire engineer working for one of the top 4 premium manufacturer. I write mostly about tires on my blog here https://toptirereview.com/. My ultimate goal is to enable consumers to make a more knowledgeable decision when it comes to buying tires and I hope I can do so by using my website as a medium of information.

Anyways, since I am bored and its Sunday, I would take questions related to tires.

Feel free to ask any questions in regards to tires and I will try to answer as good as I can.

Thanks!

is 3-5 years old unused tyres kept in warehouse away from sunlight still safe to use on road?

what happen to my old tyre after left it within tyre shop

do they recycle the tyre?

In general yes, it should be safe to use. 2 points here

1st
The compound usually gets harder over time but this is usually not relevant for summer tires as their wet/dry braking distance do not differ much relative to the age of the tire. Winter tires are a different story as the compound softness plays a big role on ice/snow braking.

2nd
As you keep your tires in a high humidity condition there is a chance that you might see this phenomena "wax blooming". The rubber compound usually contains anti-ozonant to protect tires from oxidation. Depending on your storage conditions migration could be triggered and you will see brown or waxy surfaces on your tire surface after keeping them for 1-2years in a hot & humid warehouse. This could lead to complaints and so on but this is perfectly safe and does not have an impact on perforamnces.

Hopefully this answers your questions.

Good question. There has been a big shift towards the sustainability topic in Europe as everybody wants to have a "circular economy" (Utopia dream..)

Right now half of the used tires are use for energy production through pyrolysis. The rest is either land fill or chopped to small pieces to be used as a filler in a composite system (benches, arm rest....) However as the tire compounds relies heavily on synthetic rubber which is derived from oil, it is not sustainable in the long run. Search for new materials which can be sustainable is on the way but so far neither it is cheap or provide good performances.

How many tire u can carry in 1 go ?

good thread.

so far im using michelin for my car. those entry price model because it can last me more than 50k km.

as for bike, im using pirelli, very grip at corner.

my question is, those tire mostly made from malaysia and indonesia because of these 2 country hv rubber plantion?

When a tyre punctured with a 3 cm hole, the mechanic patched it with a round patch on the inside tyre wall. How long can this type of patching last?

I think I can carry 1 205/55R16 as its about 10kg. Not more than this

Michelin is famous with its superior performance in wear while remaining highly competitive in other performances. So you made a good choice.

Having rubber production is a good advantage to have but not necessary. Tire production are based on tax incentives, labor cost & easy of export.

What do you mean by "tyre wall"? You mean sidewall? --> patching sidewall is super no no as stresses is the highest on the sidewall. Chances of failure is relatively high.

If its on the tread & done properly & properly inflated , tire should be able to withstand till its end of life.

Thank you for your reply.
Not the side wall. Wall behind the thread.
Will the glue get dried up and leaks again?

Sorry, I do not really understand what is the "wall behind the tread"

But anyhow usually glue should last at least 3-5 years. Hence you should always make sure you check and maintain proper tire pressure.

Thank you again for your reply.

assume the same tyres model, is there any difference between made in china, thailand, indonesia, malaysia?

but i dont think there is a model of tyre that is manufactured in multiple country though

a 50% used ps4 vs a brand new made in china tyres e.g: Farroad FRD26 or westlake uhp, which will you choose?

So we know what different competitors use different rubber compounds for different regions. Like APAC, North America & Europe.

But if you are talking about South East Asia specs, it should be the same.

Of course every plant has its own tolerances and quality control but they should be relatively the same.

This depends on your requirements. Are you looking for wet or dry? Wet performances actually deteriorates over tread depth which would make the china tire still attractive in terms of pure performances. The opposite is for dry as dry performances actually gets better when the tread depth decreases.

I dont think PS4 had any performance over life time features like the new Michelin tirelines. What we have seen from China tires is that they are not good at solving target conflict. For example, they have outstanding wet braking but very bad mileage performance.

My personal opinion is to go for the used PS4.

Will upsizing from 185/55 R16 to 205/50 R16 affect in fuel economy and car acceleration assuming using the same wheels

I believe this is due to larger size but from online calculator it was way below (seems like the perfect size to upsize to) the 3 percent threshold (+0.25%) over 185/55 tires.

This post has been edited by minizian: Jul 11 2022, 03:21 PM

Why tyre shop ask me to rotate my tyres for a fee, when they're already rotating everyday when I drive?