Tire safety, date code question
Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 21,543
Likes: 3,216
From: Park City Utah
I don't advocate running old tires, BUT....
with this. I recently struggled at a track day with tires that were (unbeknownst to me) 10 years old. The car was a handful, and FAUEE is right; there was less grip -a LOT less. But it wasn't life threatening, it was just frustrating to try to exploit the performance from the car with those old, hard tires. But I drove the wee out of 'em and finished the day w/o issue....just disappointment in the car's performance that day.
OP, I would make a financial plan to slot in new tires purchase "pretty soon"....and in the mean time, I'd go do some massive horror show's with those old ones. Get pics!!
A lot of this is incorrect.
First,, most of the time when you see someone on the side of the road, it's not due to outdated tires, it's due to those tires shredding hitting something.
Insurance will not look to see what the date on your tires are. The idea that they would is preposterous.
Bottom line, old tires get hard. They lose compliance as the plasticizers degrade, making them less grippy. They're not landmines. They're tires with less grip. If you bought good tires up front, they may degrade to a grip level of a non performance tire.
It's a fairly.low investment to replace them, and I would recommend doing so. But the ramifications of tire age are massively overstated. Think of it this way, if tires only lasted 5 years like people claim, you'd be replacing your spare tire that often. And 99% of people have never replaced their spare tires.
First,, most of the time when you see someone on the side of the road, it's not due to outdated tires, it's due to those tires shredding hitting something.
Insurance will not look to see what the date on your tires are. The idea that they would is preposterous.
Bottom line, old tires get hard. They lose compliance as the plasticizers degrade, making them less grippy. They're not landmines. They're tires with less grip. If you bought good tires up front, they may degrade to a grip level of a non performance tire.
It's a fairly.low investment to replace them, and I would recommend doing so. But the ramifications of tire age are massively overstated. Think of it this way, if tires only lasted 5 years like people claim, you'd be replacing your spare tire that often. And 99% of people have never replaced their spare tires.
with this. I recently struggled at a track day with tires that were (unbeknownst to me) 10 years old. The car was a handful, and FAUEE is right; there was less grip -a LOT less. But it wasn't life threatening, it was just frustrating to try to exploit the performance from the car with those old, hard tires. But I drove the wee out of 'em and finished the day w/o issue....just disappointment in the car's performance that day.OP, I would make a financial plan to slot in new tires purchase "pretty soon"....and in the mean time, I'd go do some massive horror show's with those old ones. Get pics!!
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Apr 2022
Posts: 142
Likes: 48
From: Central NY State
I don't advocate running old tires, BUT....
with this. I recently struggled at a track day with tires that were (unbeknownst to me) 10 years old. The car was a handful, and FAUEE is right; there was less grip -a LOT less. But it wasn't life threatening, it was just frustrating to try to exploit the performance from the car with those old, hard tires. But I drove the wee out of 'em and finished the day w/o issue....just disappointment in the car's performance that day.
OP, I would make a financial plan to slot in new tires purchase "pretty soon"....and in the mean time, I'd go do some massive horror show's with those old ones. Get pics!!
with this. I recently struggled at a track day with tires that were (unbeknownst to me) 10 years old. The car was a handful, and FAUEE is right; there was less grip -a LOT less. But it wasn't life threatening, it was just frustrating to try to exploit the performance from the car with those old, hard tires. But I drove the wee out of 'em and finished the day w/o issue....just disappointment in the car's performance that day.OP, I would make a financial plan to slot in new tires purchase "pretty soon"....and in the mean time, I'd go do some massive horror show's with those old ones. Get pics!!
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 1,955
Likes: 340
From: Shell Point (Crawfordville) Florida
"FWIW, if you have a garage queen and want to extend the useful life of the tires get them nitrogen filled.
Most of the oxidation damage to the rubber leading to cracking and belt separation come from the pressurized oxygen in the air inside the tire.
This won't stop degradation of the plasticizers over time or UV damage from the sun.
The nitrogen fill is common practice for aircraft tires."
Sorry, not only do I not agree with that, I think it is all BS and hype.
First of all, atmospheric air is already 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 5% water vapor, and the rest CO2 and rare and inert gases. Unless you evacuate all the air in your tires down to 0 pressure with a vacuum pump and then refill them, you will never get them "nitrogen filled". If you empty your tires by opening the air valve and getting them down to atmospheric pressure and then refill them with N2, what percentage of N2 do you think you are really going to get - 82%?, 85%?, not a great increase for all the expense.
And N2 is used for aircraft and some other racing tires to eliminate the 5% water vapor that is in the air - that is what's responsible for the change in pressure with change in temperature, it's not done to eliminate "oxidation damage" from the air. If you look at a degraded rubber tire with the dry rot and cracking on the outer surface, you will only see it on the outer surface, you do not see that on the interior of the tire. There is the same amount of oxygen inside as outside, and even if there were no oxygen inside, you would still have that on the outside. How you going to stop that? So filling your tires with nitrogen is BS, hype, a waste of time and waste of money.
Even if you kept your tires out of the sun and UV, in a dark closet, you will still get the degraded rubber over time and they become brittle and hard. Don't waste your time with BS.
Most of the oxidation damage to the rubber leading to cracking and belt separation come from the pressurized oxygen in the air inside the tire.
This won't stop degradation of the plasticizers over time or UV damage from the sun.
The nitrogen fill is common practice for aircraft tires."
Sorry, not only do I not agree with that, I think it is all BS and hype.
First of all, atmospheric air is already 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 5% water vapor, and the rest CO2 and rare and inert gases. Unless you evacuate all the air in your tires down to 0 pressure with a vacuum pump and then refill them, you will never get them "nitrogen filled". If you empty your tires by opening the air valve and getting them down to atmospheric pressure and then refill them with N2, what percentage of N2 do you think you are really going to get - 82%?, 85%?, not a great increase for all the expense.
And N2 is used for aircraft and some other racing tires to eliminate the 5% water vapor that is in the air - that is what's responsible for the change in pressure with change in temperature, it's not done to eliminate "oxidation damage" from the air. If you look at a degraded rubber tire with the dry rot and cracking on the outer surface, you will only see it on the outer surface, you do not see that on the interior of the tire. There is the same amount of oxygen inside as outside, and even if there were no oxygen inside, you would still have that on the outside. How you going to stop that? So filling your tires with nitrogen is BS, hype, a waste of time and waste of money.
Even if you kept your tires out of the sun and UV, in a dark closet, you will still get the degraded rubber over time and they become brittle and hard. Don't waste your time with BS.
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 81,241
Likes: 3,062
From: altered state
St. Jude Donor '05
Interesting....sent a msg to M/T asking if mine would still be useable due to their age or replace?
Guessing the flat spotting would be permanent at this time. (junk).
Sunlight, UV really beats tires up..
In short, race tires they recommend 4 yrs, most others 10
Unless they sit outside a lot Every case is different I guess.
https://www.mickeythompsontires.com/...your-m-t-tires
Guessing the flat spotting would be permanent at this time. (junk).
Sunlight, UV really beats tires up..
In short, race tires they recommend 4 yrs, most others 10
Unless they sit outside a lot Every case is different I guess.
https://www.mickeythompsontires.com/...your-m-t-tires
