Anyone have any thoughts on the shelf life of stock tires on an 86? I'm running the same tires that came with the car; they look fine from the outside, only 33,000 miles on them, and the car has been garaged since new. I'm wondering if at some point there is a safety issue with older tires, even though they appear new. I've heard some horror stories.

Thanks,
Joe

 

The only thing I would be concerned about is the grip of those tires. By now, the rubber must be about the same softness as the rim itself.....
The strength of the tire (the cords and belts) will not be an issue, but driving on them will be akin to driving on wet pavement ALL the time!
Replace them.

Larry
code5coupe

 

The hardness is definitely something to be aware of, but also look for stress cracks on the sidewall and between the tread. If you see any, replace them. Also, I wouldn't be doing any sustained high speed driving over 85 on those puppies!

I heard rumors that some states are considering making tire life part of the inspection process. If a tire is over 7 years old it won't pass inspection. This was the result of the whole Firestone blowout thing. Of course, a tire salesman told me this so I'm taking it with a grain of salt at this point.

Mine are eight years old with plenty of tread left and this is the longest I want to go with them. I'm getting Michelin Pilot's next spring.

 

Get those tires off the car, theyve dry rotted by now.

You dont want to do any spirited driving with them on the car.

 

The Goodyears on my 17 year old car appear to be the originals. No cracks or anything, lots of tread. Like others have suggested, they do seem to be too hard. Not real great traction even on dry pavement. There's also a balance issue @ 70 mph and above. I'm too cheep to replace them with this much tread, but in a way looking forward to having new tires some day. Maybe I can get my wife to get me a new set for xmas.

 

i used to have 10 year old GSC's on my 92. they were acceptable if i didn't drive hard. in autocrosses they made me feel like i was driving on ice. in winter they were also acceptable (even on snow) if i didn't drive hard, but they were quite dangerous on ice.

i replaced those with proper summer and winter tires. now i can actually open up the throttle a bit.

despite my relatively positive experiences on old tires, i would make it a financial priority to save up enough money to get new tires ASAP. as others point out it is a safety issue.

 

When you guys spend the $$$ for new tires you will think you have a new car. There is more to tires than tred depth. Old tires just dont drive good.

 

Thanks for the input. I just took the car up to Vermont(from NJ), put about 600 miles on the car in 5 days. One of the longest trips the car has ever made. It ran great but I did notice that there was something missing in the handling, kind of like a feeling of losing grip without actually losing grip. Hate to spin or have blow out at high speed. Guess it's time for a tire change X 4.

Joe