Celebrated my 89th yesterday after my wife celebrated her 92nd on March 1. Her dementia is relatively stable and I continue to be her care taker. My health is good. It amazes me I will be in my 90s in a year and am still driving. My reflexes are good and I take my time on the road. I am heartened by the 94 year old with a new Corvette who frequently comes to the bakery where we have coffee. The Z has 139,600 miles on it. Still looks beautiful.

That ticking sound I heard last year on the front passenger side that was supposed to be due to a needed valve adjustment turned out to be due to a cd stuck in the player. The mechanic figured out the sound was behind the dashboard coming from the player that started up each time I turned on the ignition. I had attempted to play a cd a few years ago, it got stuck and I forgot about it. Removed it with a butterknife.
Had to get rack and pinion replaced about 6 months ago.
Got a tire question. Got my tires 4 years and only 11,000 miles on them. Garaged. Michelin Primacy. Mechanic says they should be changed every 5 years regardless of mileage. Sound right?
That’s about it. Next year will be the big 90!
Bob

 

Nah. Only if they are dry rotted, which isn't going to happen to a garaged vehicle in 5 years

 

Hey Bob!

^^^ I concur with Deadeye on the tires. I ran my last set of Michelin Pilot Super Sports from 2018 to late 2025 (nearly 8 years). Similar situation, garage kept most of the time, not very many miles. I finally replaced them because the rear tread was in wear indicator territory. I regularly condition the sidewalls of my tires with AMMO NYC Tire Mud (really great product), this helped extend the life of the rubber and prevent cracking & dry rotting. The little rubber pegs from the mold process were still intact on all 4 tires (mostly) after 7+ years of use. Even then, I always inspect the inner sidewalls during oil changes and I never saw any signs of cracking or dry rotting, which I attribute to keeping the Z garaged and living in a moderate climate. Being in Arizona, is your garage climate controlled?

Anecdotal experience out of the way, a general rule of thumb from Auto Shops is to replace tires after 5 years, more for safety/liability reasons. That being said, if the tread life is under or near 50%, I would recommend replacing them now vs. later. Reason being, prices are expected to increase on tires and just about all petroleum based products in the coming weeks/months. If you can score a good set of tires right now, I would jump on it to save some cash a year or two down the road. But if your tires look great, then you could go another 2 years I would say. Me personally, 7-8 years is my limit regardless of climate/storage conditions and conditioning products.

Glad to hear you and your wife are still kicking. It's incredible that you're able to provide care for your wife at 89! Keep it going!

The ticking from the CD player got my chuckling a bit. I've long since ditched disc media, but your description of the root cause took me back decades when I still heavily used CDs in my vehicles. Glad you got it sorted out! What a relief that it isn't valvetrain related!
Cheers!
-Icer