Looking for opinions - Recently purchased a '78 with only 15k original miles. The tires look brand new. No wear, no cracking, they literally look like they rolled off the showroom floor. However the BF Goodrich DOT code indicates 0314 and if I'm reading correctly that means the 3rd week of 2014. Almost 10 years old. I think that is a no brainer but they look so good and with no wear. Thoughts?

 

Replace the tires. A lot cheaper than bodywork.

 

 

Nothing to even think about here. Replace the tires!
Not just body work. Your life might be worth something as well.

 

Replace. You are driving on very hard rubber that will not allow you car to handle properly.

 

Why take a chance?????

 

So, I'm of the opinion that you should replace them... however, I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't say I drove around on 10+ year old tires before.

 

Replace.

 

Very grateful for all the input. I thought that was the right decision but I just wanted a little verification. Thank you all for taking the time to respond.

 

tires fail from the inside out ..before you buy new ones take one tire off and look inside for any rot

 

Unless you're just going to drive around the corner or up to the local diner at low town speeds ...otherwise it would be wiser to replace them.

Relatable story: I had 6 tires of the same type and age for a snow plow truck (I had two exact same back-ups). They probably weren't even made at the same time, b/c 2x were bought a little later as back-ups. They started cracking pretty bad around yr 7 which seemed really pre-mature to me. But the strange part is three of them 'tore' on the inner sidewall a couple yrs later within a short time-period ...where you wouldn't think UV would do much damage. There was some cracking on the outer sidewall and tread but the inner sidewall looked great. And this was in the winter (they say hot temps they can fail more). But the rubber seemed to have degraded enough I guess on those 3 (maybe all) tires. But for tires less than 10yrs old those tires from a mfgr which starts with a G ...didn't hold up very well at all. And I've had tires which were made by a company starting with an M that severely cracked prematurely too. I used to be of the "that's urban myth" till those 3x tires tore with a 1.5" gash on the same spot on the inner sidewall within a relatively short timespan. The first one..seemed to be an odd place to tear. The second was seemed like a fluke. The third one ..in the same spot as the first two got me scared. I replaced them right away after that.

OTOH, guy I know real well had a 10-ply set of no-name tires on a pickup which were almost 20 years old to the day when they were removed (2yrs ago). At that point they were starting to crack to the point they needed replacing but they didn't look awful. It was more of a rural farm truck situation (I'm not advocating doing that)

My boss several yrs ago bought a Chevelle. Drove it to work a few times after he bought it. One summer morning a rear (old) tire exploded on the interstate and screwed up the quarter panel. I forget how old they were. I saw the old shredded tire in the trunk. We all stood there gawking at it..and the damage. Someone looked up the age, I don't remember now how old it was but it was a bit more than 10 yrs, as I recall. Maybe closer to 15. Who knows if it sat low and had cracked sidewalls, etc. Obviously it's something not worth saving a few hundred bucks on. Not to mention putting lives at risk.

You'll have a lot more peace of mind with trustworthy shoes on your nice new (to you) car.

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Doing some deep-digging a few years ago, I read an interesting Reddit post where a guy was supposedly a tire engineer. His response to a "dry-rot" and "How long are they safe?" post was ..it depends. In his detailed reply he essentially said outlined that oils contained within the compound normally sort of lubricate (to a small extent) nearby molecules during normal driving. Tires which don't get driven much the compound gets dryer faster, tends to not last as long and can become 'aged' faster and become unsafe faster. I thought it was an interesting response.

That was a Reddit post...take it with a grain of salt. The guy seemed very knowledgeable on tire compounds and molding process ...but obviously I don't know the guy at all, or can't prove anything. Just thought it was interesting, something I hadn't considered before and does seem to parallel with what I've seen on tires that sit.

 

I did too, once, although it was somewhat accidental. I bought a brand new 4x4, back in 2005. Since I bought the truck primarily for winter driving, I immediately bought 4 brand new snow tires for it (Bridgestone Winter Duelers). After about 5 years of driving on these tires, I happened to look at the date code, and just about soiled myself! Turns out the "less than scrupulous" tire shop sold me, as brand new, tires that were already 6 years old!!