I know some of our cars are not driven much and tires seem to last a long time.. or they seem to...I have heard that tires that are 10 years or older are dangerous to drive on due to deterioration of the rubber over the years.. I know that the tires on my car were from 1998 and didnt think much about this until today....
I was driving about 80 mph on Hwy 5 this afternoon and smelled burning rubber. I had the tops off and figured that it must be one of the cars ahead of me.. a minute later I heard a loud noise and a rubbing sound coming from my car, but no flat tire.. I pulled over the shoulder and at first glance all of the tires looked good and were inflated, so I thought that maybe I threw a belt under the hood.. I popped the hood and all was fine there.. I took a closer look at my tires and this is what I found..


Other than the burning rubber smell there was no warning that it was about to go and I was very lucky that it blew on the inside of the tire or it would have totally ruined the new paint on my wheel wells..
The tire shop where I had it towed to only had one BFG TA tire in my size in stock, but I will plan on replacing the other 3 this week...

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up and hopefully learn from my mistake.. Dont trust old tires...

 

It's a good thing that nothing worse happened. A couple of months ago my brother and I where in my moms van on the freeway and everything was going fine until we heard a loud clunking noise. We pulled over to see what it was and a big chunk of rubber had come apart and messed up the fender, bumper, corner light, and the wire harness.

 

One of the problems with the tires available for a C3 are that all the tires in the 255/60/15 size are S rated (112 MPH) or T rated (118 MPH), another words no tires are available for the 15 inch rim that offer any type of performance or more importantly, any level of safety that accompanies a higher speed rating. Most people think that as long as the tire meets the minimum standard for speed that they basically are all the same. In addition, to a higher speed rating, a V (149 MPH) or better yet a Z (168 MPH or 186 MPH) rating, offer much more of a safety cushion for the car since trhe tire must be constructed with a much stronger tire carcass, will run much cooler at typical highway speeds than an S/T rated tire, have much better (softer rubber) traction in the dry and the wet, and will offer much better handling, braking, and steering response. I had BFG radial T/A's in the 255/60/15's up to a couple of years ago and finally decided on SLP 17 inch rims with Kuhmo 255/45/17 ZR's in front and 255/50/17 ZR's in the rear. EVERYTHING about the car's handling, safety, and ride is much better than with the BFG's and Goodyears amd Dunlop's before these tires. I wanted to keep the OEM rims on the car but could not stand the inferior tires in that size from a performance and safety point of view. Hope that helps!

 

Yes, almost all rubber parts tend to harden over time, and of course it's more critical with tires.
This is dependent on the rubber's composition and the conditions it has been exposed to. This is known as the heat cycle life.

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...ouncement.html

 

I had the Eagle ST on a Nova SS as well-another tire, IMHO, that is in the same category as the Goodyear Eagles GT, BFG Radial T/A, Dunlop GT Qualifier, and the Firestones in the 225/70/15 and the 255/60/15-S/T rated tires. All these tires are just basic transportation rubber with fancy side graphics and due to their marginal safety zone should be changed often if you choose to use them.

I would not run any tire on any car with a speed rating of less than H (130 MPH). One of my daily cars is a 2001 Pontiac grand Prix and I have always run Z rated tires from day one that it was new and always manage to get 40,000 + miles on every set as long as they are rotated. I currently run on that car 225/55/16 BFG g force sports ZR's, a summer only ultra high performance tire-incredible performance and again, a BIG safety margin on this type of car.

In the past, on a couple of occassions with ZR tires, I have accidentally hit curbs and pot holes that I am certain would have blown a lower speed rated tire but since the side walls are so strong on V/Z tires as well as the overall tire carcass, the tire was spared.

Invest in the best tire you can and don't shop by price necessarily since tires are one of the most important elements on your cars-the only thing between you and the road surface!

 

You were lucky - that wasn't very bad, here's what happened to me.

Here's a couple of site's with good info - I now replace tires older than 6 years regaurdless of how many miles they have on them.

http://www.tirelitigation.com/html/failuremodes.html

http://www.tirelitigation.com/sidewall_markings.html

 

I'm using BFG G Force Sport - 225-60 R15's they are V rated, still fill the wheel well enough for me, I needed the V rating for a Bonneville run and so far they seem OK on the street.

Frank

 

I have Toyo T1R ZR rated ultra high performance tires on my Vette now and it changed the car from handling like a Caravan with a broken sway bar to feel like a real sports car when going around corners etc.

I was waiting for a teeth chattering ride and when I took it out and low and behold the ride was softer and smoother than the BFG's the TOYOs replaced I was amazed, must be a softer rubber compound and I don't care how long they last, this is the third summer and the tread still looks new

 

I had a flat on my '87 Corvette (in the garage). I discovered the flat as I pulled out of my driveway. Took the wheel/tire off and filled it with air. Tried to find the leak by setting it in the pool and there wasn't even a bubble. Put it back on the car and it started hissing. Turned out the leak was from the clip-on weights -- it only leaked when the car was stopped with the weight at the bottom of the tire.

Took the tire in to check for damage and sure enough I had messed up the sidewall just driving it a couple of hundred yards. Remaining three tires looked like new so I tried to buy one new tire. Turns out BFG no longer offers the tire -- these were put on in 2000. Bought four new tires.

On the way home I started thinking. I put new 16-inch rims and 265-50/16 tiires on the '72 a real long time ago. I checked the DOT date. Tire is marked 094. Must have been manufactured in September 1984.


The tires are too big and the rims are Cragar uni-lugs that don't match the hub and require 7/16-inch spacers. I thought about getting some 245-55/16 tires (the size recommended on Tire Rack) Only found one tire in that size from Toyo for $800 a set. With shipping and mounting it would be $1,000 and I'd still have marginal wheels. (Checked today and the Toyos are no longer shown.)

For $1,100 I got four correct fit 17-inch rims and staggered tires (225-55/17 front and 255-50/17 rear) with lug nuts delivered to the house. Wife is still giving me grief about two sets of rims and tires for a car that hasn't gone anywhere in 25 years.

 

How can you tell how old your tires are???

 

We call those "road gaters" in the south (because they look like the back of an alligator). They usually come off of big trucks, but I had a Goodyear with less than 1,000 miles on my '78 Camaro do that, way back in '81. Sumbitch destroyed the quarterpanel and knocked a hole in the trunk during its deaththrows. The neat thing was, the air pressure in the scalped carcass was 32 psi when I took it back to Goodyear.

I'm glad that you didn't lose control of the car and get injured. As much as we love our cars, they can be replaced. An injury lasts for the rest of your life and death is, well, death.