tire age and size

[paulmars]

My 2003 tacoma 2wd 2.4L. Just hit 60k miles. Ive had several flats (nails and screws) over the years so I think each tire must have at least one plug. Plugs are fine, no leaks. However, these original tires, which have plenty of tread left, are getting old and have been baked in the Florida sun. Additionally more then once it sat in the driveway with a flat for a few days up to a week, which cant be good for the sidewalls. Sidewalls are all cracked, which i dont think matters, but im not sure.

I drive it 2 to 4 times a month between 10 and 100 miles each time. Often on the highway. No off road driving. Rarely do I carry anything in the bed and i have never towed anything and have no plans to change. Never has more the 200 pounds been in the bed, except for the 3 loads of dirt that i moved 5 miles each. the bed was full, I dont know how much that weighs.

Two questions:

One: should i go ahead and spring for a new set of 5 tires? (for safety reasons)

Two: Looking at truck tires, they are more expensive then car tires. So, looking at car tires I found some inexpensive tires that get good ratings by rating services and by users and this tire is rated at 97s which is the same as my original tires and the same as specified in the owners manual. Now, this tire that Im considering does not come in my size. My size is 205x75r15 97s which equals a circumference of 153.75 The closest I find in the tire im considering 215x70 which is circumference 150.50 which is close enough for me. i dont think 10mm wider should be an issue. Using the original alloy wheels.

Tire im considering Firestone Precision Touring 215/70r15.

Advice?

tks,
pa

 

[WiskyT]

The size will be fine. Sizes are "nominal" anyway and a few mm's here and there won't matter because even two different brands of the same size aren't going to be exactly the same size.

As for age, I don't know. We did some pretty scary crap back when I was a kid. We'd buy old Valients for $100.00, air up the tires, slap a plate on it and drive it till it puked. The tires on those things were worse than yours I'm sure and we'd put six people in them and go places at 70MPH (80 downhill lol). But, maybe we just got lucky.

I don't know why you'd want 5 new tires, a junky old tire is good enough for a spare. If I was 19, I'd run the tires you have until the belts showed through. Now that I'm older, and wiser, and have a wife and kids that depend on me, actually my wife hits the lottery if I die...,but anyway, I'd put some Costco specials on the truck for a couple of hundred dollars and call it good.

And a yeah, a passenger car tire is fine since you are not hauling foundry slag. The load rating on passenger car tires is probably pretty high when you account for them being rated for 4 occupants, luggage, a full tank of gas on a car that weighs as much as your truck does anyway.