[Rick Reece]

I had a tire that the tread separated from on my first long trip in the Insight since returning. The tire was 6 years old with 140K miles but still looked good but I guess you could say I was asking for it since I use 50PSI in the tires as well. Anyway the tread seperation acted as a whip and took out the wheel well panel, drivers side strake, vertical plastic piece, under-engine panels, and the metal front panel. The cost of the replacement panels and screws was in the 450 neighborhood. Kind of makes you think of buying a spare insight for parts. I'm lucky it didn't destroy the wiring harness behind the wheel well as it looks like it took a beating as well. The edges of the fender have some of the tire residue but I hope to be able to scrub the remains off. I did collect some of the pieces off the road but they had holes punched in them from the tread and the screws were ripped out. Have fun, Rick

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

Blimey, sounds like a severe blowout! Lucky you managed to stay in control / weren't doing 100mph at the time....

 

[kari]

holy cow! when I had my underpanels replaced (under insurance, luckily) my bro suggested selling them for scrap aluminum to recoup some of my deductible - is that an option for you?

 

[Aaron Cake]

That can't be right. I asked about ordering some from my local dealer and they quoted $80 per side for the big plastic ones that go the length of the car.

 

[Rick Reece]

I don't have the receipt yet since they are on order but the 2 big ones for under the engine were around 50 a piece not 80 so the dealer isn't the most expensive. The 1 aluminum pannel was 92 if I recall correctly. I know those were the two most expensive ones but then you add in 30-40 for the others it adds up. Have fun, Rick

 

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

Rick
Are the other tires in the same shape? May want to get a complete new set. More $$$$$, but better than taking out the other side.

 

[ScottH]

How did you get 140k miles out of a set of tires? My 2001 has 81k miles on it, and it is on its 3rd set of OEM Bridgestones. This is with the 38/35 psi, and one set had the steel belts sticking out of them.

 

[Insightful Trekker]

Actually he only made 139,999. That "last" mile is what cost the big bucks. Rick was a long distance hyper-miler commuter.

More or less straight line reasonable speed driving is the key to loooong tire life. Used to commute 160 miles / day myself in my old CRX Hf. Pulled 180K out of a set of Michelin LXi's. My second set of RE92's lasted 44k miles. Low and medium speed cornering is a big factor in tire wear.

Sounds like tire "dry-rot" finally caught up to him.

HTH!

 

[Resist]

Blimey

Blimey? :lol:

 

[ethicalpaul]

I'm not sure why "Blimey" is that funny?

 

[Rick Reece]

In regards to tire life if I recall correctly I replaced 2 at around 95K, 1 at 120K and the other at around 140K. I had tires/wheels from a wrecked insight that I used as a second when I changed the tire at 120K. In all cases the tread still looked new on all the tires but the sidewall failed (Can't tale on the last one but on the previous ones I had a bulge in the sidewall that could be seen). The long life is probably due to easy driving on the interstate (Same things that give high mpg). The insight is a light car so I think the tires have a easy time. Note I had a civic VX prior to the Insight and I got about 80-100K on its tires as well. Drove it 250K before selling it. Have fun, RIck

 

[Resist]

I'm not sure why "Blimey" is that funny?

Right...like you use Blimely in Michigan.

 

[Ed]

Blimey – since the word 'dude' seems to be making a strong comeback in polite UK society it's only right that Americans adopt a new British word in exchange. I for one would like to see Californians in particular embrace cockney rhyming slang,
e.g. 'Cor blimey guv, sounds like a lionel blair. Lucky you didn't pie and mash'.

In all seriousness though does anyone know when it's a good idea to get rid of tyres due to their age; my rear B391s have 5 years and 45, 000 miles on but still have a lot of tread. I asked the kid at the tyre fitters the other day but he just seemed a bit mystified as to why I wasn't running the widest set of low profiles I could get my hands on.

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

In all seriousness though does anyone know when it's a good idea to get rid of tyres due to their age; my rear B391s have 5 years and 45, 000 miles on but still have a lot of tread.

Thanks for the first part of your reply Ed. You can tell when tyres are getting too old when they start to 'dry out' which is demonstrated with lots of small cracks or 'crazing', especially noticeable on the sidewall. HTH.

 

[ethicalpaul]

Right...like you use Blimely in Michigan.

You are right. But not using it in Michigan doesn't make it funny.

 

[Insightful Trekker]

I asked the kid at the tyre fitters the other day but he just seemed a bit mystified as to why I wasn't running the widest set of low profiles I could get my hands on.

No trans-Atlantic reverse exchange going on there. Its apparently already common to both sides of the pond. :lol:

 

[Aaron Cake]

In all seriousness though does anyone know when it's a good idea to get rid of tyres due to their age; my rear B391s have 5 years and 45, 000 miles on but still have a lot of tread.

Bridgestone recommends 6 years as the maximum a set of tires can remain on a car and still be safe at highway speeds. If you only drive in town, then you can probably get away with a lot longer.

I asked the kid at the tyre fitters the other day but he just seemed a bit mystified as to why I wasn't running the widest set of low profiles I could get my hands on.

He probably has a Civic with a bloody 6 foot high wing, 12" wide exhaust can and a set of 26" wheels...

 

[Ed]

Thanks for the advice, I best get them changed early next year.

I believe the kid at the tyre fitters drives the Golf outside, equipped with tractor sized wheels wrapped in what appears to be a strip of liquorice. Must be better at avoiding kerbs when parking than me.

 

[terndude]

Underbody damage!

Eeeek! I just had my underbody panels torn off while fording a supposedly "safe" muddy-water filled road in a construction site. The aluminum segment that apperas to hold all the other plastic ones in place is totally trashed and twisted like a pretzel... It tore out ALL the mount holes from the surrounding sections!

My local honda dealer could not even identify the two long plastic panels on either side in their computer system...only the two under-engine ones and the aluminum one.

Do you know what the part numbers were for the two long ones? your price estimate seems close to what I have estimated so far....

Any thoughts??!?!? I LOVE my Insight and want it on the road again ASAP!!!