The tires on my son's Miata were made in 2008 (Riken Raptor, a semi-budget AS tire) and while they had probably half of the tread left, they were hard as rocks and starting to develop lots of fine cracks in the sidewall, both on the outside (which I thought may be from UV) and the inside (little to no UV gets there).
We ended up with a set of budget Kumho Sense 195/60/14 (barely any summer tire choices in 195/60/14 or 185/60/14 and what is there is mostly more pricy than the 15" equivalents) and I didn't want to spend a lot of $$$ since we are moving to 15" wheels once we find the right deal on a set. According to the Kumho site the Sense has the best dry grip out of the three tires in that size but I'm not sure... TireRack seems to differ.
Kind of OT, but I do feel a lot better now that the tires are replaced.
If you don't ever hit the limits of whatever tire you have now, maybe a budget tire like Sumitomo HTR Z III (I have them and they have been fine, and performed well at two tracks days and one autocross, admittedly I am a beginner) Then you won't feel bad about replacing them with a lot of tread left.
Steve
Edit: I didn't see this part:
Quote:
Originally Posted by gregdacat
They are nice and supple with no signs of dry rot.
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If it was me I would take a good close look at the sidewalls and they look good I would probably keep driving
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