steve meltzer

The tires on my '66 coupe are 12 years old, by build date, but of course have great tread, having been driven little. The car, like many, is never driven hard, tho' some highway/freeway rides. The tread on all four tires has had this funky light brown appearance from the time I bought the car in about '07. The tires are BFGs. Are these OK? What's the deal on the wonky tan stuff? thanx steve

Gary's '66

Looks to me like they ran over some paint. Your car, but being 12 years old, I'd change them out.

steve meltzer

Yeah, they're old, so I might. Is pretty weird, eh? s

Gary's '66

I know how you feel. When I bought my car it had a nice, almost new (looking) set of BFG's on it and they looked nice on the car as well. I checked the date code and to my dismay I found that they were 18 years old! I hated to replace them but would have hated myself more if I had left them on and tore up a fender or worse.

rfn026

I had 2 tires blow out in the garage. They were about 10 years old and only had 30 psi in them. They blew out in about 30 days of each other. I'm a believer in age dates now.



Richard Newton

stvaughn

Too old, change them now or regret it later. Tire life is seven years.

dahogan

It doesnt matter.

provette67

If anyone has any original bias ply tires that are non DOT that they feel are junk because of their age please feel free to ship them my way

dahogan

And would you put them on your midyear and drive it on the freeway?

emccomas

If anyone wants some eye opening information, google "aging tires" and look at the fatality numbers.

provette67

All the way down to Cbus and back. Do you need me to come down and pick some of your old left overs

Kerrmudgeon

Just remember that climate affects how rubber ages. The colder the climate the longer it maintains it's integrity. That plus inactivity make all the difference. Think of finding an old rubber band....it'll break when you try to stretch it. But if it was stretched daily it lasts indefinitely.

Sometimes it pays to have really cold winters.

dahogan

I threw out the gold lines after one had an internal separation and b/c they were 14 years old. I still have the bias tires on the original rims that you will get when you buy the car. Stay healthy my friend.

67vetteal

From TireRack.
Tires Manufactured Since 2000

Since 2000, the week and year the tire was produced has been provided by the last four digits of the Tire Identification Number with the 2 digits being used to identify the week immediately preceding the 2 digits used to identify the year.

Example of a tire manufactured since 2000 with the current Tire Identification Number format:


In the example above:
DOT U2LL LMLR 5107
51 Manufactured during the 51st week of the year
07 Manufactured during 2007

While the entire Tire Identification Number is required to be branded onto one sidewall of every tire, current regulations also require that DOT and the first digits of the Tire Identification Number must also be branded onto the opposite sidewall. Therefore, it is possible to see a Tire Identification Number that appears incomplete and requires looking at the tire’s other sidewall to find the entire Tire Identification Number

Frankie the Fink

When I purchased my split window coupe last fall it had 12 year old repro tires on it. My 'go to' guy at Discount Tire said he can't touch them as its a safety/liability issue. Put new ones on. Of course, living in Florida the deleterious effects of heat, UV damage, humidity, etc.. prob decreases tire life span a bunch.

I wasn't gonna risk an original split window by running on old rubber.
Then you gotta wonder if the worst happened what your classic car ins co. would say about YOUR liability for driving on out-dated tires

BD104X

Don't do it! When I got my '64 it had 14yo BFG's on it and had been sitting for about 5 years. I took it for a ride and when I left my house it felt fine, but a few miles later I felt a little vibration. It started to get worse so I turned around, and by the time I got home This is what my front tires looked like. <br/>

dahogan

Don't do it! When I got my '64 it had 14yo BFG's on it and had been sitting for about 5 years. I took it for a ride and when I left my house it felt fine, but a few miles later I felt a little vibration. It started to get worse so I turned around, and by the time I got home This is what my front tires looked like. <br/>[/QUOTE]

Thats exactly what happened to me in my second year of ownership. I was lucky to get it back home w/o any damage.

provette67

The same thing happened to a 6 month old firestone on my suburban. The tire store replaced it of course. With another of the same. The tire installer told me "see you in a year or so" I sold the burb six weeks later

63redvette

every seven years at most

big block ken

I previously owned a '78 Pace Car that had sat in the original dealers showroom since brand new. It had only 63 miles on it, never titled, but those original (not reproduced) Goodyear Radial GT tires were 27 yrs old at the time. I spoke to an Engineer at Goodyear in Akron, OH who told me not to risk it, no matter how "new" they look. And that 6-7 years was the safe lifetime of a tire. I replaced them immediately, just before driving it to earn an NCRS Top Flight a few months later. I lost a few points, but at least I didn't lose my life.