In reply to Toyman01 :
Not a bad idea. Now that you say that that's what I did on thr old truck. But those tires were 15-16 years old and stored outside in the sun.
In reply to Toyman01 :
Not a bad idea. Now that you say that that's what I did on thr old truck. But those tires were 15-16 years old and stored outside in the sun.
In reply to java230 :
In my lifetime ( about 1&1/2 million miles ) I had exactly one blow out. I was on the highway next to the Bonneville salt flats heading east. I’d been traveling for hours at 80+ mph towing my Jaguar race car and there wasn’t another car in sight.
I eased that old Buick wildcat convertible up to 90 and she was still asleep. Lots of throttle pedal left. Well somewhere over 100 mph the $12 recap on the trailer decided enough was enough. Yep, I was pretty busy for a moment, and she woke up just as I regained control.
“Nothing dear, just a flat on the trailer” “I’ll change it and we’ll be in Salt lake for breakfast.
To be fair that recap already had probably 10,000 miles on the car before it was relegated to the single axle trailer with a 2750 pound Jaguar on it and enough extra weight to bring the tongue of the trailer back into balance.
Knurled. said:FWIW, I also believe that summer tires should be thrown out after two seasons and winter tires are only good for one.
We don't usually get much snow here but we switch to snows every winter and because of that can often get 8-10 years from both sets of tires on our vehicles. I checked the date on a set I'm putting on one of my summer cars the other day and it's 2009. I'll probably use them til they wear out, a few more years. 10 years is the rule I've always heard but I've never had a problem stretching that.
Tire shops here won't mount anything older than 7 years. Both sets of tires for my 996 Turbo look new but are 6 years old. The race tires I store in my heated basement, they're still soft and seem pretty sticky. The street tires I'll probably replace in the next year or two because of the age, they're almost full tread thickness....
About 20 years ago my father and I went to pickup a C3 my brother had purchased out of state, in CT. We drove it back down to NJ on bias ply Dunlops. Oh and it was during the winter, but thankfully no snow. My father drove most of the way, then we pulled over and I got in and drove the rest. Looking back, I would never do such a thing nowadays....driving locally maybe but would've payed for the tow or brought new tires to swap.
I remember storing those tires for some years until finally chucking them but when I got rid of them they appeared to still look fine, no cracking or anything. Do bias ply tires hold up longer than radials?
In reply to Stanger2000 :
Lifespan depends both on the tire and storage conditions. Some seem to last forever (just with some loss of grip), others look like they're about to fail after just a few years. The real reason for the age concern IMO is a combination of loss of grip with age and it being hard to tell how structurally sound the tires still are, especially if they're mounted on wheels.
Stanger2000 said:I remember storing those tires for some years until finally chucking them but when I got rid of them they appeared to still look fine, no cracking or anything. Do bias ply tires hold up longer than radials?
I can't imagine why they should, but it has a lot to do with how you store them. Three processes cause tire aging, UV degradation, oxidation, and offgassing. UV degradation for a tire practically means sun damage, and the heat from the sun (or just actually using the tires) also accelerates offgassing and oxidation, so keeping tires indoors goes a long way to helping them last longer. If you keep them indoors AND sealed in a bag/wrapped up, that helps even more to reduce offgassing and oxidation. If you want to go nuts with it you can store them in a refrigerated, nitrogen-filled container to slow outgassing further and prevent all oxidation...I don't think anyone's done that, but there is a hillclimber who was known to run on decades-old, meticulously stored racing slicks.
Tire shops here won't mount anything older than 7 years
Well, that's because they don't want to hear the complaining from the customer when all the rubber on the inside edge of the bead area starts flaking off on the machine and they don't want to explain everything that's in this thread to the customer when they only ever stood to make $5 anyway. Better to just refuse to work with old tires from their perspective.
Tires age primarily due to heat cycles and uv exposure. Something like a 911 Turbo is a perfect candidate for making old tires look new since they are driven infrequently and nearly always stored indoors.
In reply to Vigo :
Discount tire is 10 years around me. Wont touch them after 10 years.
To everyone else:
I am considering them still, if i can get them at ~50% tire cost.... I figure I can run them for a couple more years then replace the front two. The tires themselves are $535 each 
Thats basically what I did on my old truck, ran the older tires on the rear duals. I replaced them after two blew..... That was 16-17 years old and zero care, outdoor storage, in the sun etc.
Ask Paul Walker about old tires that look new. Oh wait, you can't....
So even tho the tires on my 911 look new and basically have new tread, I'm going to replace them soon because of age.
I find that modern tires (using the colouring agents that allow them to dry out more quickly than tires used to) start to lose 'stiction' at around 5 years old. I tossed my OEM tires at that age for that reason.
It is a problem for guys like me that have old cars that see little mileage - I had $1500 worth of Z rated Pirellis on an Old Lamborghini that had probably done 1,000 miles on them and they were pristine, but had aged out according to current principals, and new ones were no longer available. I kept the 'old' tires!
The back tires on my ranger are 14 years old but the truck only drives 5 miles a day in town. I've purchased 40 year old polyglass and bias ply tires and used them for entire summers(traction not included, great burn out comp tires because rock hard). As long as they visibly look ok I'd run them.
More often then not when i buy tires for my trailer i get them on rims when there on sale. I often lock up my spares in the bed of the truck and cover them but I always have one or two of my old rims and tires to give that poor sole on the hi-way with no spare or who lost two at once but only had one spare. It amazes me how often i see double axle trailers with two flats. I've had it happen 10- 15 miles apart once myself. I think the shock load from one blow out overloads the other quickly and belts move around. When we go to FL in march i travel with more spares like 4 to 6. Once a boy scout always a scout "be prepared"
I bought two tires for my rv in similar condition. They were 6 year old Goodyear’s that they sold to me as new- I caught the date on the tire machine. I was stuck though, I had two blowouts, it was a Sunday, and we we 30 minutes into our 5 week long road trip. The tires were Goodyear (and I don’t want to read that article). They worked fine for me.
I will say that ive known a few people who have gone away from the 8r19.5 into a different rim and then put commercial truck tires on. It seems to come out quite a bit cheaper in the end. I sold my rv, and if I ever get another I’ll be looking for a common tire size.
frenchyd said: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.
I did Heroin, didn’t kill me. Must be good decision.
I guess my almost 30 YO Michelin XZXs should be replaced then. I bet they don't have 2,000 miles on them. Trouble is, there is almost nothing in the size available and certainly nothing that is sporty.
spitfirebill said:I guess my almost 30 YO Michelin XZXs should be replaced then. I bet they don't have 2,000 miles on them. Trouble is, there is almost nothing in the size available and certainly nothing that is sporty.
I put some old wheels with Michelin ZX on my MG to run it to the paint shop (they must have been late 1970s production). They weren't cracked but I forgot I didn't have modern rubber and had an 'oh shzt' moment on the first corner. They do harden up.....
I guess the real question with using old tires is, do you feel lucky. I am more inclined to rely on good than lucky.
This may sound stupid , but what do the Germans say about tires and the TUV safety test inspection ?
or USA states with a safety inspection ?
If you do end up using them , try and inspect them before any long trip where they will get hot......
Does cold weather make tires separate ?
Turns out the TUV has no rules about age specifically:
I am reminded of the time I struck up a conversation with my neighbor, who was checking out some damage on his early-90's Toyota 4Runner. He said he just had a tire blow out in the left lane of I-95 doing about 75 mph. Only it wasn't a blow-out. The tread separated from the tire all the way around, and was entirely and neatly missing--as if someone had sliced the inside and outside edges and peeled off the tread, leaving the rest of the tire intact. When the tread let go at 75 mph, it damaged the front fender, shoving the lower portion into the door, and denting it. He said it scared the bejeebers out of him. The part he didn't understand was that it was a "new" tire. Curious, and thinking it may have been some cheapo brand of tire, I asked for more info. "When did you buy the tire?" His response amazed me. "It's the spare tire that came with the truck when I bought it new. I just put it on a week ago. It's never been on the truck." Apparently to him, age had nothing to do with age and everything to do with mileage.
This happened a few years ago, but even so, the tire in question was at least 20 years old. Let's just say that's probably too old.
If it's an old cosmetically challenged vehicle that isn't going on the freeway I'll put 50 year old tires on a car/truck.
I've had my camper van for 11 years now. About two years after we got it I had the left rear come apart. The tires that looked perfect, they were 7-8 years old. I immediately bought a fresh set. Having not learned my lesson, that replacement set was on the 7 year mark and while towing my race car I had the right rear come apart. The tires looked perfect.
I was lucky , the damage was mostly bodywork. The first blowout took out drain pipe on the grey water tank. 5 years is my new replacement mark.
If you can't put fresh tires on the rims I'd pass.
Welllll I own them.... I will inspect them very closely. After doing a lot of googling on commercial tires and age I am a bit more comfortable. Seems casing are reused for many many years.
And now that they are mine, a few more details, they are a Hutchinson aluminum double beadlock wheel. DOT approved and meet some SAE mil spec. Rated at 6830# each and only 63# with the beadlock insert.
And since I didn't actaully know... I went and checked the stamp in my current tires, they are 2014/13 so about the same age! I will likely run them a couple years and replace the steers.
For Funzies...
I spoke to the head of the racing department at Maxxis Tire about this subject a couple of days ago, because Maxxis is the only company that makes a semi-streetable track tire in the oddball size (275/35-17) I need to best fit my 17 x 10.5" wheels, in their RC1 model. The inventory of RC1's in this size was all made in 2014. He told me that after all these years of speculation, circumstantial evidence, and urban legend, the industry to this day doesn't have a firm handle on the question of tire age. He told me he would offer me the same deal as he has offered to everyone else who has expressed concern about the age of these tires: If I'm not happy with their performance, he would give me a substantial discount on a set of new RC1's from their next production run. He said that so far, nobody he's offered this deal to has taken him up on it, which at least is an encouraging sign. If the weather cooperates, I will do a session this weekend, and I'll let everyone know how my new tires perform.
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