My 2004 Toyota matrix, 170,000 mi, began making an unusual noise once I hit 60 mph. At first I thought it was my transmission. The technician at the transmission shop says it's due to the tread pulling away from one of my tires, pointing to a slight indentation in one tire. The Goodyear technician said my altimax RT43 is fine, although he did recognize a slight indentation in the tire. After rotating the tires the noise disappeared.
My tires were manufactured 6 years ago, have 40,000 miles on them, and tread depths of 4/32 to 5/32. The tires also have never faced extreme hot or cold weather, with my car garaged the vast majority of the time. Similar to Scotty, I hate the idea of wasting money on a new tire if I still have a good year or two left in my existing tires, but I also don't want to have to worry about a tire failure. Any thoughts on whether I should keep or replace my tires?
Thanks in advance for your response
Mark
Six years is pretty typical for tire replacement, though depending on the rubber compound and environmental factors they may be able to go a bit longer. If you're experiencing tread separation though it is certainly time to replace them.
With winter just a couple of months away 4/32's isn't what I would want to go into cold weather season; along with a tire that has tread separation. Time for new set of tires.
