Anyone else chase low treadwear tires even though they barely last?

I ran a set of 180 treadwear summer tires on my weekend car a few years back and learned the aging lesson the hard way. Only put maybe 8,000 miles on them over two seasons, tread was still at like 70 percent, but the grip was noticeably gone by the second summer. The rubber had gotten hard and the car just didn't turn in the same. Replaced them with plenty of tread left, which stung, but old sticky tires really do turn into expensive hard tires. The checking and cracking near the sidewall on yours would worry me more than the wear. That's a sign the compound is already past its best, especally if they sat in a garage or outside through temprature swings for a few years before you bought them. Fresh 80 treadwear rubber on a weekend car makes sense, but rubber that's already aging out is where the false economy part kicks in.

If I were you I'd enjoy these for a season, then step up to somthing in the 200s or 240s. My current set is a 240 rated tire and honestly the difference on the street is small unless you're doing track days or autox where a few tenths matter. Heat cycling matters too, short weekend drives never get the tires properly warmed, which ages them slower, so that works in your favor.

Check the date code on the sidewall if you haven't. Four digits, week and year. That'll tell you how old they actually are, not just how old the seller said.

I came at this from the middle and never looked back. I used to chase the lowest treadwear number I could find, ran a set of 140-rated tires on my daily-ish weekend car, and honestly the last half of thier life was wasted because I never drove hard enough to use that grip. Street driving just doesn't ask a tire to hold on at the limit often enough. The one or two times a month I actually felt the difference was not worth paying double per mile for rubber. The other thing that changed my thinking is heat cycles. A soft street tire that sits all week and only gets warmed up on a short blast never really gets into its working range, so you're paying for performance the tire can't deliver on a 20 minute drive. My current set is in the 300s and on a backroad at sane speeds they do everything the soft ones did, they just give up a little on the last tenth of braking.

On the aging question, I'd say if your 80-rated set already shows checking near the sidewall, that's the tire telling you its timeline, not the tread depth. I replaced a set once on age alone and the fresh mid-range tires felt better than the old soft ones ever did by that point. For a car that lives its life on weekend drives, I'd buy the 200s and put the savings toward more seat time.

I'd push back on the idea that a 240 feels basially the same as an 80 on the street. Maybe on a tame commute, sure, but on a good backroad I notice it every single time. My car on 200 treadwear tires vs the 100s I ran before is night and day in the first few corners, turn-in sharpness especially. If someone can't feel that on a weekend drive, I'd argue they're not really driving their weekend car. I get not wanting to burn money on dead rubber, but don't downplay the grip gap to make the cheaper option feel smarter. Try both, then decide.

First time posting here so hope this fits the thread. My situation is a bit backwards, I daily drive my car and threw on some softer tires mostly because they were what the shop had in stock, figured I'd just enjoy the upgrade. Two years later they're still going but the last six months they feel like a diferent tire, and I mostly drive gently so I know it's age not wear. Question for you all, does storage make that much difference? Mine sit in an unheated garage all winter and I keep wondering if that's cooking them or helping them.

I keep a dedicated wheel set with the soft rubber on it and swap at home the night before a track weekend. Street set goes on for daily stuff, soft set only sees events, and honestly that solved most of my aging problems. Tires sitting in a bag in a cool basement stay fresh way longer than ones on a car parked outside. One thing I'd check on yours is how deep those cracks near the sidewall go. If a pick or fingernail catches anything that looks like a real split, not just surface checking, I wouldn't run them hard at all. Curious what you paid, aged sticky rubber gets sold cheap all the time and it's rarely the deal it looks like.