Looking for some opinions!
I found some "new" tires, but they are 2013 mfg. Been in a warehouse in plastic wrap mounted and balanced. My understanding was generally 10 years and they are trash, thoughts? I hate to think of already having half their life (or more?) gone and spending good $$ on them....
Are you going to use them a lot, or will they age out first? For snows or something that I'm going to wear down in 1-2 years, I would absolutely buy them- for a trailer or other limited use vehicle, I wouldn't, since they'll age out sooner.
I have worked around tires, and the general idea seems to be that after 6 years they're past their prime. I don't know enough to tell you how plastic wrap affects them, but indoor storage beats outdoor. I would think that if they're a good enough deal you'd be fine, but I wouldn't expect to get another 5-6 years of safe/"as-new" performance out of them.
I've read 10 years old is the oldest date you can still use safely. That said, I suspect you might expect performance degradation at say 8 years. I think your decision to buy these tires rests partially on the price, intended use and how much you drive. If you can extract most of their useful life in the next few years, you're probably fine. If they're commuter all seasons, I'd be less concerned than if they are performance tires where you have high expectations of them. If they're cheap enough, they could make sense no matter what.
Inside, but temperature controlled? Or subject to wild temp changes? That woudl be the determining factor for me. If they have been stored out of sunlight and in a temp controlled environment and you would use them up in a year, go for it. Any of those 3 a no, and its a no go for me.
Thanks Guys.
More details: For my RV. I have put 15k on it in the last 1.5 years.
No I highly doubt I will use them up in 3-5 years, they are 19.5 truck tires (hard as rock and long tread life).
No idea on storage other than inside warehouse that appears to keep them out of the sun. (they look good?)
Hes asking basically new tire price, but with rims.... Unbotainium rims.... (that he doesn't know what he has, add is listing the tires and just says "mounted on rims")
My issue is I don't want to buy 3500$ of tires in a year or two.
For the rims they may be worth it. If they were indoors and plastic-wrapped they wouldn't have aged much. I wouldn't be afraid to run them for at least 3 years even on an RV. If they were for a car I would treat them like new tires.
I'd say considering they are RV tires on rare rims, go for it. RVs don't handle for E36 M3 or have grip anyway and don't lose the fights they start with most of the stuff on the road, so i'd say the safety risks (to you) are actually somewhat less than if they were regular car tires. I also think that in general, rubber aging on tires matters less with commercial tires because the tires are so much thicker that the rubber degradation never seems to get deep enough to matter. I have seen 40+ year old commercial tires holding air while regular car tires will just sit in the sun and blow up (literally) in less than a decade.
I'd go for it. They're going to be sufficient for five years, at least. The information about the rims (unobtanium), tells me that you'll kick yourself later if you don't.
In reply to Vigo :
True on the thick tires, I didnt think about that. They do have a lot more meat than a car tire.
And my RV has 1.5" sold sway bars :P
In reply to Floating Doc :
I guess they are not fully unobtainium, just expensive if I was to get them made.... Probably in the $400-500 rage a wheel. (I am getting a quote....)
Buy for the rims toss the tires. RV tires make a hell of a mess when they go. It's not if they blow it's when. That when will never be a good time, it will be in the rain in a construction zone trapped in jersey barriers while you listen to the tread beat the living snot out of your wheel well.
Well if you have my luck...
If they were indeed stored well, then they should be okay. It's not like they sat in the sun for five years.
New tires are cheaper than a blowout, way cheaper.
In reply to 44Dwarf :
Yeah blow outs are not fun..... I've done it twice. Dualies, and on the back both times luckily.
In reply to Toebra :
Yeah, wheels+new tires is way out of the budget at the moment. I would need to run them for a couple years ideally.
My '71 Triumph Bonneville has original Dunlops on it. Fifty years is my cutoff and not a decade older. I'm hoping "original paint and tires" is an attractive selling point if I ever get around to advertising it for sale.
FWIW, I also believe that summer tires should be thrown out after two seasons and winter tires are only good for one.
In reply to old_ :
Nope Toyo, who has nothing about age on their site....
In reply to Knurled. :
Last winter I had brand new winter tires... that were 20y/o NOS. Not good. But one year? My boss/landlord gets about 3 from a set that he commutes on 20 miles per day 5 months out of the year. And we get lots of snow in Tahoe.
I bought my 332Ti with 9 year old Pilot Sport 2s though and they sucked big. They spun through 2nd in the dry/warm.
Knurled. said:FWIW, I also believe that summer tires should be thrown out after two seasons and winter tires are only good for one.
I'd say that's overly conservative. My last set of snows weren't really showing any signs of hardening up and losing grip from that at the end of their 4th winter (although they were worn enough to warrant replacement at that point). For summers, it depends a bit on the tire. I've seen some that are definitely down a bit on grip when year 2 rolls around and others that seem to age better.
I wouldn't trust them.
I throw away street tires at six years. Five years is getting iffy. Storage method isn't really going to get me to extend that. Blowouts suck. Blowouts on an RV, well, I don't even want to think about that. Sounds like a "good deal" on tires could end up being hugely expensive.
Knurled. said:FWIW, I also believe that summer tires should be thrown out after two seasons and winter tires are only good for one.
Please let me know where I can come get the take offs. What you are tossing in the trash to me are just broken in. I bet your tire store really likes you.
I'd probably buy them for the wheels and plan on putting two new tires on the front as soon as possible.
SanFord has 12 year old Yokohamas on the rear and new tires up front. A rear blowout would be a non event, the front might get a little exciting.
DWNSHFT said:I throw away street tires at six years. Five years is getting iffy. Storage method isn't really going to get me to extend that. Blowouts suck. Blowouts on an RV, well, I don't even want to think about that. Sounds like a "good deal" on tires could end up being hugely expensive.
Gee, those tires I used for decades should have killed me. Why didn’t they?
When I restarted racing SCCA I bought 6 treaded Corvette tires still in wrappers but at least 12 years old ( these were treaded tires and Corvettes had been running slicks for at least 12 years )
Two drivers schools and all the regional races that season and not a single blow out. Why am I still alive?
Those truck tires that hauled race cars to vintage races all over the country must have been pretty old based on the checks in the rubber. None went down to the cord and they were so old they not only had tubes but split rims. They were still on it when I sold it to a guy in Montana.
How come?
Are tires less than optimum after 6 years? Sure, but isn’t that caring planned obsolescence a bit far? I know Firestone made tires that contributed to rollover deaths in Ford explorers. But that was at least in part due to the natural tendency of tires to lose about 1&1/2 psi a month.
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