Topic: Used vs New tires

[javierdl]

At least for now I have to watch every penny I spend. Reason why I am considering getting used Winter tires, at least for this Winter coming. I noticed there are many businesses selling them.
Would you say it is "conceivable" to find a good set of used Winter tires?
Or given the long Winters here in Montreal, Quebec (Can) I'm better off just going for the sure thing and get them new?

Thanks guys,

JDL

[johngenx]

Oh, sure.  I know a used tire dealer, and they often have pretty decent tires.  I sold them a set of Blizzaks I didn't need anymore (car was sold, new owner had snows that fit) and they also get good tires off wrecks.

[mrthompson]

If you can afford it, definitely go new.  And it's much easier in the long run if the winter tires are mounted on separate wheels.

I've purchased used winter tires for family members with mixed results.

[Great_Big_Abyss]

I'm sure you'll be able to find a decent set of used winters, perhaps even with steelies.  It happens to people.  I just recently sold a one year old set of Nordics to my brother-in-law.  They came off my old car and didn't fit on my new car, so they had to go.  He got a good deal, less than half the price I paid for the tires, wheels and installation.

I'm sure you can find deals like that on a decent set.

If you do decide to go new, keep an eye on the Canadian Tire Sales.  I got a set of Goodyear Nordics (not the best tire, but it performed well enough) complete with steel wheels for $650, installation, balance and taxes included!  As I said, not quite as good as X-Ice's or something, but they are certainly miles better than any all-season!

[tortoise]

I have bought 4 sets of winter tires and only one of them were new.   

Ironically, the pair that I bought new was my least favourite of them all.

You have to know what you're looking for and be sure to ask how many kilometers are on them. Some ads on kijiji will state "only used for two winters" but that's a meaningless number.

[phazotron]

Besides checking for any obvious damage or unusual wear patterns, I would also verify the age of the tire.  Anything older than 10 yrs shouldn't be driven on the road (as rubber ages it gets more brittle).
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11&

[CRSAutomotive]

You should save money for new tires, and if you really do not have, take a good tire inspection and pay attention to the pattern...

[Slow_lane]

Have made many attempts at finding and buying used tires. I have bought some with mixed results. In general what I find is people overstate the condition of the tires and many trips to see them end up being a waste of time. I find what you often find is a chance to save 50% of the cost but end up with tires with 50% of their tread life gone. So in fact there is no savings. In the case of winter tires you're going to get the best performance out of the 1st 50% of tread life and much decreased performance out of the last 50%.

Quite often you will see ads stating that tires have 70% of tread left. Maybe 8/32nds. But a winter tire's performance becomes pretty compromised at 6/32nds. So in fact all you have is 2/32nds of tread life left before replacement should be considered.

But if you look long enough there is the odd deal out there. But I find it very rare.

Where I do find some advantage is buying wheels and tires together. If you need a set of steelies or mags you can often get them with a set of tires already mounted. This not only can get you a set of wheels at a greatly reduced cost but save you the cost of mounting and balancing the tires. Quite often even if the tires turn out to be duds you still have value in the wheels you got.

The other factor is if they are selling the wheels it is because they no longer have the car or they are upgrading to a bigger wheel package. This increases the chance of the tires being in good shape. On the other hand people just selling tires are most likely doing so for 1 of 2 reasons. A) They hate the tires or B) The tires are at the end of their life.

Buying tire and wheel combination is where I have experienced the most success.

Bottom line the search is time consuming and it is a crap shoot.

[Blueprint]

Good deals are rare, but there are some. I bought 1 y.o. 3-season Yokohamas for the Sentra, and they really looked new, colour stripes still in the sipes. They were off a car returned at lease end. Paid 250$ instead of 650$ new!

Now that I'm keeping the Nissan at least one extra year, I need new or used snow tires, so I'm keeping an eye on ads for 195/65R15's.

[marcus_go]

Got a set of Altimax snows mounted on 16" Audi alloy rims for $400 off CL last year for a 2005 A4. The tires have about 7/32nd so it was definitely a deal since if I had to put the package together myself it would be close to $1000 even if I sourced tires from the U.S. Most important thing to check when buying tires is the date code on the sidewall. Lots of people will sell really old tires to unsuspecting buyers. Look for the DOT marking followed by four digits. First two tell the week and the last two tell the year, so a 1410 was made 14th week of 2010.

[Slow_lane]

Got a set of Altimax snows mounted on 16" Audi alloy rims for $400 off CL last year for a 2005 A4. The tires have about 7/32nd so it was definitely a deal since if I had to put the package together myself it would be close to $1000 even if I sourced tires from the U.S. Most important thing to check when buying tires is the date code on the sidewall. Lots of people will sell really old tires to unsuspecting buyers. Look for the DOT marking followed by four digits. First two tell the week and the last two tell the year, so a 1410 was made 14th week of 2010.

Not to rain on your parade but here is what I wrote in a previous posting. Your purchase kind of proves my point about buying used tires.

Have made many attempts at finding and buying used tires. I have bought some with mixed results. In general what I find is people overstate the condition of the tires and many trips to see them end up being a waste of time. I find what you often find is a chance to save 50% of the cost but end up with tires with 50% of their tread life gone. So in fact there is no savings. In the case of winter tires you're going to get the best performance out of the 1st 50% of tread life and much decreased performance out of the last 50%.

Quite often you will see ads stating that tires have 70% of tread left. Maybe 8/32nds. But a winter tire's performance becomes pretty compromised at 6/32nds. So in fact all you have is 2/32nds of tread life left before replacement should be considered.



So yes you saved money but in fact the winter tires useful life is almost finished. Your tires when new had 12/32nds of tread. The tires performance at 6/32nds is not near what it was when it was new. In my experience a winter tire should be changed at 6/32nds. So in my opinion you basically bought used Audi alloys for $400.00. Which in itself might not be such a terrible deal.

[aquadorhj]

michelin Xice only has about just under 11/32 inch tread depth at new, fyi. (about 8.5 mm, for those not familiar with idiotic fractional imperial measures...)

Bridgestone Blizzak is about 12/32.


so, if it really is 7/32, the tires aren't going to be optimal for winter.
Still passable, however.

My pirelli's, after 5 winters, are down to about 3~4 mm, and was still effective last winter.   I do need new set this year, though..

[Arthur Dent]

I've found good deal on used tires before. I usually look for a set already mounted on a set of suitable rims. I usually run for a season or two then flip then on.

[PJungnitsch]

I've sold good ones before. Got rid of the truck, the tires were left over, needed to get them out of the garage. A good deal for somebody.

As mentioned though, keep an eye on sales and something like Nordics come up pretty cheap.