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Its pretty much common knowledge around here that we must be concerned about running old tires. I'm not sure if a car stored inside and hardly showing itself in the sunlight makes a difference. Not sure if the number of heat cycles cause premature aging. Low miles, high miles.
I'm wondering how common catastrophic failures are and has anyone witnessed one or has had one.
sorry my poll didnt work I dont know where it went
Its pretty much common knowledge around here that we must be concerned about running old tires. I'm not sure if a car stored inside and hardly showing itself in the sunlight makes a difference. Not sure if the number of heat cycles cause premature aging. Low miles, high miles.
I'm wondering how common catastrophic failures are and has anyone witnessed one or has had one.
sorry my poll didnt work I dont know where it went
My 69 got some 20 plus year old wheels and tires from a kit car I had the tires had less than a few 100 miles yet were dry cracked badly, I used them, around town, no highway and they have sat another couple years and I will use them again for the mile trip to the car cruise by our new place as I hunt new tires...I have never seen or heard of a tire like mine failing but I know it "could" so I use them accordingly.
Whether you run new tires or old tires, catastrophic tire failure, in other words, a blowout, is always a possibility. Granted, a greater possibility with old tires, but that doesn't mean it can't happen with new brand new rubber. What's more important is knowing what to do if and when it happens. No sudden steering inputs, no sudden braking, hold the steering wheel firm, keep the car going straight and gently ease over to the right slowing down as gradually as possible. There's a very good chance you'll live through it.
The 2008 factory new tires on my C6 are approaching 8 years old. From what little I know, I should get rid of them for anything other than street driving...if that. They are low mileage.
The tires on my 68 are slightly older and with almost no miles. I can see cracks for thread separation from the sidewalls.
In a continuing effort to answer my own questions I have dug this up from an article in "About Autos"
There are essentially four major factors that determine how fast a tire will age:
The Inner Liner. The inner liner of any tire is a specialized butyl rubber compound that is designed to be impermeable to air so as to keep the air inside the tire where it belongs. No inner liner is completely impermeable, so some air will always leak slowly through the liner due to osmosis. The quality of the inner liner determines just how much air leaks through, and therefore how fast the inner structure of the tire is exposed to oxygen.
Oxygen Concentration. It's pretty easy to see that oxidation rates will increase when oxygen concentration is higher. What this means is that a tire that is mounted and filled with compressed air will age much faster than a tire that is simply being stored, because the air pressure is orders of magnitude higher in a filled tire, and more oxygen will permeate through the liner.
Heat. Oxidation of rubber occurs much faster under high heat than low heat. In essence, heat increases both the permeability and reactivity of oxygen, making it both easier for oxygen to get through the inner liner and easier for it to react with the rubber inside the tire.
Usage. When a tire is driven, the pressure and flexing motion circulate the internal oils through the rubber. These oils lubricate the internal rubber and keep it from drying and stiffening. So tires that are used less are often more vulnerable to aging effects.
I put a new set of BFG's on my '71 in Nov. 1990. After sitting in the garage for 19 years, I came out one morning in 2009 and the left front was sitting low. Only a couple of miles on the tires, but it came apart due to age. Just to be safe, I put holes in the sidewalls of the other three tires so they wouldn't sold.
I put on another new set of BFG's that are now 7 years old with only a few miles on them.
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Ive had 2 blow outs on seperate vehicles. On a montero the rear drivers side exploded and disintegrated. All that was left was the bead and a few pieces.of sidewall. No vehicle damage.
I had a tread seperate after a lefr rear blowout on my 01 f250 super duty. Pulled right over and the flipping rubber had ripped out the inner fender well, flattened the rear of the exhaust pipe so bad it had to be cut off to get flow, and broke the fender retaining bar and bent the rear quarter panel up midway on the tire.
If it was vette I'd be curled up in a ball wimpering, holding chunks of destroyed fiberglass. Wiping rubber will destroy whatever gets in its way. After I saw the old tire thread and pictures of broken vettes, I bought 4 new tires as soon as I could. My car had 2 front tires from 04 with good tread, and 2 rear bald tires from 14. They where 235 n front and 245 rear so he wasnt rotating them and the rear toe in was so far off the tires were eatng themselves
When I bought the new tires I had them check the age before I bought them. Luckily all were made in 2015
Last edited by Rescue Rogers; Apr 6, 2016 at 09:34 AM.
If you think having to replace 8 year old tires on your old vette is a bummer...try having to replace 6 tires on a motorhome with less than 20% of the tread worn. They cost around $800 each mounted and balanced. Having a 110 psi blowout on the left front while hurtling some 36,000 lbs down the highway at 65 mph is not an option.
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Last edited by Faster Rat; Apr 6, 2016 at 10:01 AM.
I grew up using old used tires and never had a problem, so never really worried much about it until my camping trailer tires at 7 yrs. old and almost no miles shredded, one at a time over the course of a summer. that convinced me not to drive on dated tires, but my '68 still has the brand new but from '95 tires on it, so I'm a bit of a hypocrite...really need to get new ones...
I also seem to recall just storing them out of sunlight isn't good enough, if you store inside a garage they say to make sure anything producing ozone is not nearby, ie. electric motors, etc.
I think the answer here is obvious. As our cars are not driven much, and driving old tires is dangerous, it is imperative to do regular burnouts so as to wear them out "on schedule"
Last summer I was taking my "new to me" '77 out for a Sunday afternoon ride. Tires on it were 1992 models but looked very good. On the way home it developed a tire thump. I took it to my local tire shop Monday morning and asked them to look at my tires. The manager took one look and said "there's your problem". He was pointing at a pregnant looking left rear. It was separating. I came real close to a catastrophic failure, got lucky that it didn't blow on the way home.
A friend of mine had a left front blowout at 80 mph on a 1980 vette. He held it on the road, but destroyed the left front fender.
If you garage the car so that UV rays don't get to the tires...that's "better".
If you drive the car regularly so that the tires get flexed and exercised...that's "better".
If you see no signs of sidewall cracking on the inside or outside of the tire...that's "better".
But, with all those 'conditions' being met, driving at highway speeds on tires over 8 years old, is a crapshoot.
You have to be the judge of how "safe" you want to be. You buy insurance for the car (which you do not expect to wreck); you buy insurance on yourself (when you do not plan to die). Why would you risk your car and yourself to save a few bucks every 6-8 years????
Very little, if any improvement. Tires age naturally with time, use and the environment. "Air" is about 80% nitrogen, anyway. For street use, putting nitrogen in your tires is about as useful (and financially wise) as an add-on $100 K&N air filter. It is desired by many...but is basically useless.
Old tire poll
I think the answer here is obvious. As our cars are not driven much, and driving old tires is dangerous, it is imperative to do regular burnouts so as to wear them out "on schedule"
