- Jul 11, 2001
- 39,959
- 9,638
- 136
My Mazda 1997 LX626 has its original tires:
Firestone P195/65R14 88S
The spare isn't full size. The car is little used - it has less than
16,000 miles on it. I keep plastic valve stem caps screwed onto my valve
stems.
I took a trip around 3 years ago, about 700 miles round trip, and an odd
thing happened. I'd checked all the tires before the trip and made sure
the pressure was OK. I wasn't aware of any kind of problems with any of
the tires. A day or two AFTER the trip, I noticed that the right rear
tire had gone almost flat. I pumped up the tire and kept an eye on it
but it stayed fully inflated and never seemed to be a problem until
about a week ago, when I noticed it was completely flat. That's no
problems for 3 years, when it happened again! I pumped it up to 27.5 lb.
A couple of days later, I had to use the car and checked the pressure
and it was still 27.5 (I have a digital guage). I drove the car around
20 miles and the next morning, it was flat! I pumped it up and haven't
checked it since, but it looks full.
What should I do with this? I wouldn't trust it now. Most of the little
driving I do is on the highway, and it's obviously a dangerous
situation. The tread is still good on all 4 of the tires. Should I have
a tube put in that tire, have it reseated, have the valve checked
replaced or something else, or should I get a new tire or a full set of
new tires? If the last, I guess I'd get Michelin's at Costco.
I saw a news story a few weeks ago where they said that tire
manufacturers are going to start recommending replacing tires after 7
years regardless of signs of wear. There have been some accidents and
they think that tires can't be considered safe no matter what they look
like if they are over 7 years old. Is this partly hype or should I just
bite the bullet and buy all new tires?
Thanks for any information.
Firestone P195/65R14 88S
The spare isn't full size. The car is little used - it has less than
16,000 miles on it. I keep plastic valve stem caps screwed onto my valve
stems.
I took a trip around 3 years ago, about 700 miles round trip, and an odd
thing happened. I'd checked all the tires before the trip and made sure
the pressure was OK. I wasn't aware of any kind of problems with any of
the tires. A day or two AFTER the trip, I noticed that the right rear
tire had gone almost flat. I pumped up the tire and kept an eye on it
but it stayed fully inflated and never seemed to be a problem until
about a week ago, when I noticed it was completely flat. That's no
problems for 3 years, when it happened again! I pumped it up to 27.5 lb.
A couple of days later, I had to use the car and checked the pressure
and it was still 27.5 (I have a digital guage). I drove the car around
20 miles and the next morning, it was flat! I pumped it up and haven't
checked it since, but it looks full.
What should I do with this? I wouldn't trust it now. Most of the little
driving I do is on the highway, and it's obviously a dangerous
situation. The tread is still good on all 4 of the tires. Should I have
a tube put in that tire, have it reseated, have the valve checked
replaced or something else, or should I get a new tire or a full set of
new tires? If the last, I guess I'd get Michelin's at Costco.
I saw a news story a few weeks ago where they said that tire
manufacturers are going to start recommending replacing tires after 7
years regardless of signs of wear. There have been some accidents and
they think that tires can't be considered safe no matter what they look
like if they are over 7 years old. Is this partly hype or should I just
bite the bullet and buy all new tires?
Thanks for any information.
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