High mileage tires, car that is

I need a full set of tires and I don't want to make the mistake of being "penny wise and pound foolish". While the stock tires on my car have served me well, especially during last winter (as horrible as it was), they are only 50K mile tires and that is exactly how long they have lasted - 5.3K to be precise. If I want the shorter lived tires, it will cost me just under $500 installed with no extra warranty or free rotation/tire repairs/balances. As I intend on driving my car until it falls apart - and I hope to get at least 150k out of it, hopefully more, that means I would likely need at least 2 more full sets if I stick with the same tire.

OR I could get the 90,000 mile tires that I am lusting after that comes with lifetime rotation and tire repair. For an additional $62 I can add on a full 90,000 mile extended warranty which covers them for the full 90K miles - full replacement with no labor or other charges. So if one, or all, fail at 85,000 miles then I get full free replacement. The 90K installed price without the extended warranty is right at $110 more than the 50K tires, $170 more with the extended warranty.

The 90K Continentals I am considering have great customer reviews, Consumer Reports gives them 3 stars, while they don't even have a review for my stock tire. So, assuming this extended warranty includes all types of road hazard (which I need to confirm), it looks to me that if I spend an extra $170 then I've my tire needs taken care of for the remaining reasonable life of my car.

I DO have the money, but I was planning on putting part of it in savings...so I am stuck in the "valley of indecision" here. It is difficult to know, however, what the reasonable remaining life expectations of my car is. It is a 2011 Kia Soul, and while Kia has done well in recent years, the Soul hasn't been around long enough to get a good idea of the longevity.

Curious to hear thoughts and opinions on this. This is a lot of money for me, regardless of my choice, and I am trying to make the best educated choice that I can - and I just get more confused the more research that I do.

One thing to keep in mind with car tires - the extended warranties aren't valid if there is uneven wear. So, if you hit a pothole and your car gets un-aligned (happens a lot), and you get some uneven wear before you notice it, you might not be able to exercise the warranty. Also, if one fails at 85,000 will they replace one, a pair, or all? Most cars require that at least 2 tires be replaced at the same time (for wear issues) - 4 if it's AWD. So, if one fails that late, you might get a free one, but have to pay to replace one or more.

I'm getting ready to have to replace mine too - but haven't started researching yet. I hate, hate, hate dealing with car stuff.

As far as lifetime - I would think at least 150k for an average car (we tend to get more than that out of ours). Kia has a fairly good rep for longevity, IIRC. I gave my VW Golf to my mom at about 175k, and it now has ~225k (despite the fact that she doesn't believe in car maintenance - guess that's easy for someone who has never actually had to buy a car - snort).

Good thoughts Blueberry - and I will check on that. I can purchase 1-4 replacement "certificates" and will look into that further. I did consider not purchasing 4 certificates, just get extra coverage for 2 tires rather than 4, but it seems to me to be better to go all or nothing.

I DO take care of my car, regular maintenance, tire rotation, etc. I've started to save up for my 60K maintenance, which is what I had intended setting that extra money aside for. I am sure that next year I will also need brakes, though my brakes typically last much longer than the average.

I also need to see if there is a time limit to that tire replacement, it may only be an additional $62 but I don't want to waste that $62!

I've had good luck with the reviews and ratings on tirerack.com. You can use their search tool even if you don't plan on buying tires from them. Especially going into the winter, I'd put a high priority on grip in wet and icy conditions, even if it costs more.

I'm surprised you got that many miles out of your OEM tires. Most manufacturers mount tires that aren't available in the aftermarket, engineered mostly for good test drives, but with rotten tread wear. I just replaced my OEM tires at 33,000 miles. :mad: There was still enough tread on them to be legal, but grip was getting very, very sketchy any time it rained.

One thing you might think about is anticipating major expenses and opting for a tread life that spreads out your likely exposure. It's been a while since I've kept a car so long, so things might be different now, but IME it was always a water pump at 60-80K and an alternator at 75K or so. Suspension kind of depended on the car, but you'll probably need shocks/struts around 75-90K as well. So longer tread wear could mean you're not having to replace your tires in the middle of all that other stuff, too.

Good advice Oak. If I can save money for other things over the long term - then that helps. The extra tire replacement isn't from the tire manufacturer but from Discount Tire - and it isn't prorated. I've a couple questions for them, the first one of which is if there is a time limit in which the extra coverage must be used. If they still have a 3 year time limit, then that would be a waste of money for 90k tires, for sure! hmmmm, I seem to have talked myself into the 90k tires :-)

Hi Catrin,

The other aspect you want to consider besides the wear rate of the tread is their traction. From my limited understanding, better the traction, shorter the life of the tire or less traction for longer wear. I've never heard of 90K tires. Something new.

Example of the traction or wear is a yokohama tires I have on my prius. It's around 50K miles. Traction is okay. I also had a high performance tire on my exotic car. Tires on it lasted 15k miles if you drove really gently. But the traction was more than enough to give your neck a great work out on sharp corners. Traction in the rain was still better than the average tire.

So instead of just looking at the milage rating, you may want to look at how they perform on rain/snow on the road. Other things to consider is its effect on gas consumption. My OEM Prius tires got better milage than the current yokohama tires.

Sorry to muddy it up.

As for the extended warranties, I almost always forgo the extended as they are usually not that good of a deal.

Thanks Smiling Cat for your thoughts. The tires in question have been out for awhile, and everyone gives them a high rating, traction is said to be quite good...but I've found another tire (Pirelli) with an 85k treadlife and is reported to excel for all seasons - including snow and ice. It was comforting to see most of the reviews were from "cold country", and it is one of Consumer Reports top 4 tires for 2014. Costs the same as the other tire, so I am going to get these instead.

Thanks everyone!

I pulled the trigger and wound up with a different set than I had initially considered - still Pirelli though. I still think that tires should have some serious bling considering what they cost - but I like the new tires. Great traction rating, 70k rather than 90k tires, and they seem to ride more smoothly than my OEM tires. Not a minute too soon, we are supposed to have icy roads in the morning. Ugh.