QuestionHi Ted,
I just took my 2011 Camry in for maintenance which has 45k miles. I was told everything was good except they marked all my tires as red requiring urgent attention and said I needed 4 new tires and wanted to charge me about $800. Here are my questions:
1. When do I REALLY need to change my tires? The tires look completely fine to me, I know there is some wear on them, but I have certainly seen much worse on other cars getting along fine. What happens if I don't change my tires? I of course will change them if they are completely worn out, but they don't look that bad to me.
2. Is there a recommended time line on when I should be getting new tires? After a certain amount of years or miles?
3. How much should tires cost? Where is the best place to get them and have them installed?
4. Finally, I was told that my tires were rotated. What exactly does that mean? One of the tires has a missing hubcap and it is in the same spot, are they supposed to move front tires to back? Left to right? What does this service actually do and how do I know if it was actually done?
Sorry for such basic questions, I don't know anything about cars. Thanks very much for your expertise.
AnswerHello, a tire usually should be replaced if any of the tread grooves on the tire are less than
5/32", did they measure the tread and give you these readings?
Every car wears tires at different rates so it depends on how it is driven and if they are rotated at the recommended intervals and the pressures and wheel alignment is correct, nothing wears tires faster than an out of alignment condition.
The tire business is very competitive so there is very little difference between the major tire chain tire stores, beware of some of the discount tire places like Costco or Walmart as they get their tires from the manufacturer rejects, this means they don't quite meet Goodyear, Michelin,etc factory specs but are sellable.
Rotation usually involves moving the tires front to rear, not crossed.
