Buying Used Car Tires Saves Money, but Is it a Good Idea?

Buying a brand new set of tires can be financially exhausting, especially if you live in an area where you have to switch between types due to poor road network. It may sometimes be tempting to save money by buying the cheapest tires on the market or seeing if you can find a set of tires used, but that doesn’t always mean it’s the best idea. 

It’s always best to spend and buy new tires for a few reasons. Here are some of those reasons:

1. Buying Used Tires is Cheaper Than Buying New Tires But…

In most cases, buying a used set of tires is cheaper than buying new tires unless you are buying the cheapest, lowest-quality tires on the market. Whether you are trying to save money or be a bit more eco-friendly, used tires can be repurposed in many ways, but being put back onto a vehicle isn’t always the best or safest way to reuse tires. 

It isn’t illegal to sell used tires, and many people do this through a private sale, but that doesn’t mean putting them on your vehicle is a good idea. Besides that, used tires may be cheaper initially, but they have a shorter lifespan than new tires, meaning you’ll be paying to have them replaced sooner rather than later.

2. Used Tires may not be the Safest Options

Experts don’t beat around the bush regarding used tires, claiming that it isn’t the safest option regardless of the potential savings. While we can gauge the age of a tire by treadwear, this isn’t necessarily the only determining factor in how much longer a tire has to offer a safe driving experience.

Used Cars are Sold with Used Tires: What Difference Does it Make?

Chances are, if you are buying a used car, the tires on that car aren’t brand new, though that isn’t always the case. This leads to the question:  why are some used tires OK and some aren’t? There isn’t a 100% guarantee that used tires will be unsafe, but there isn’t a 100% chance they will be. 

For this reason, it is usually recommended that you buy new tires even when purchasing a new car. However, most people aren’t interested in such an expense unless necessary. The reason behind avoiding used tires is simple: you can’t determine how much wear the tires have had during their life on the road just by a glance.

Gauging Used Tire Treadwear

Treadwear is the easiest and most measurable way to gauge a tire’s life, but it isn’t the only critical component of the tire that you need to worry about. Tires that have been sitting for a while can experience dry rot, and tires that have been driven in harsh conditions, underinflated, overinflated, or at high speeds for long periods can cause nonvisible internal damage to the tire.

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Conclusion

Buying used tires isn’t always unsafe, but there is no way to honestly tell how safe a used set of tires will be. Besides being potentially unsafe, used tires have less of a lifespan left than buying new tires, so while it may save you a bit of money initially, you will have to replace them more frequently.