emccomas

OK, so I am in the market for a fairly low mileage C5. And before you tell me about your.... I am looking for a Millennium Yellow exterior / Oak interior, automatic trans C5, no other color combo will work.

I keep running into ultra low mileage cars (less than 10K miles, in some cases less than 1K miles). The last C5 was a 2004, so that car could have been built July / August of 2004 time frame. So, the latest possible C5 is now almost 10 years old.

Many of these ultra low mileage cars still have their original tires, and that is where I am headed.

According to a study on tire aging done in 2008, between 1992 and 2008 there were over 100 fatalities, and over 100 injuries in accidents involving tire or tread separation. All of the accidents involved a tire that was six years old or older.

Without regard to the accuracy of the study results, in my mind simple common sense says do not drive on a 10 year old tire.

I guess I am wondering what the value (other than absolute originality) is in having 10 year old tires on these ultra low mileage cars.

When I am looking at C5s, that is one question I definitely ask. If the tires are original, I add the cost of a new set of tires into my budget considerations.

Thoughts?

Dave68

You are absolutely correct. The original runflats are very harsh-riding and dangerous if 10+ years old. I recommend non-runflat tires with a compressor, flat repair kit, pliers, and a scissors jack with modified puck. (or AAA membership)

bj1k

Here we go again , a conversation on why we should throw away perfectly good 10 year old tires. The last time we had this conversation I asked if there was anybody in my area that had a set of low mileage 10 year old tires that they would give to me or sell to me cheap and nobody volunteered. All of a sudden they had second thoughts when I saw some value in them. My point being that they could only be unsafe if they show obvious age cracks and if you run at high speeds on the interstates I would say change them , but if you just use the car locally for car cruises or shows and don't run at high speeds then it is a total waste of money to throw them away. I know plenty of people that still run the old classic bias tires such as red lines on their 60's and 70's cars to local events and never even heard of an event such as a flat tire. Just use common sense.

Borntorun04/17

When looking at cars if your concerned about the age of the tires you can check dot code on tire . When I was looking to buy the mechanics at work told be about tire code. My car I bought had original tires on, But my the deal thru dealer included new tires. Code on my car tire now are 2610 made 26 week of year 2010. I bought car in Oct.2010. Meaning my tires were made a round the end of June the year I bought my car. My car at the time of purchased had 10,000 miles on it.

bikeriderga

If you find a C5 with less than 1K miles on it, in many ways that is a steal!

In other ways, well the seals and gaskets drying out, fuel system issues, etc. can become a problem. It is going to depend upon how it was stored, what storage preps were used, where it was stored, and how it got the 1K miles to begin with.

emccomas

Date codes have been on tires for some time now, so we don't have to guess what the age of a tire is.

And obviously there are varying opinions on driving on old tires.

I do not, and will not drive on 10 year old tires, regardless of how good they look. I will not let my loved ones do this either.

We all have our opinions, and will make our own decisions on this issue.

I do agree with replacing the EMTs with non EMTs and carrying a portable air pump and can of fix-a-flat. This was the factory "spare" arrangement on my wife's Pontiac Solstice. Fortunately, she never had to use it.

I did a safety presentation on tire aging for my group at work about a year ago. I gave everyone a homework assignment to find the date codes on their tires, and figure out how old they were. Some were surprised at how old their tires turned out to be.

I also gave them the suggestion that when you go to buy tires, tell the salesperson that you would like them to record on your paperwork the date codes of the tires that they install on your car.

emccomas

I would honestly be concerned about a C5 (or any 10 plus year old car) with less than 1K miles on it.

Cars tend to deteriorate in different ways when they aren't driven much. Of course, how the car is stored and maintained has a lot to do with this.

I am looking at C5s in the 20K miles range.

baxsom

cars are meant to be driven and enjoyed. If I have no problems putting 10K a year on my 72 C3 big block convertible then imagine what my 00 gets.

Dave68

Over time, rubber loses its plasticizers, which allows the rubber to become harder and less resistant to cracking. Adhesion to the road, essentially, fades away to a point when they are dangerous. If I had stored 10 year-old tires, I would never risk the liability of even giving them to anyone who intends to mount them. It'd be like giving someone brake rotors that were well below the minimum friction disc thickness - not good!

rjwz28

Negative. If you are on the interstate on over ten-year-old tires, you are operating outside of the design spec and therefore taking much greater risk than you would with tires five years old or less; just because there are no external visual indicators of this deterioration does NOT mean that it doesn't exist. This is not an issue of opinion or agree to disagree. This is a fact; just as hoses, belts, gaskets, seals, and other rubber components of a vehicle deteriorate over time and due to lack of use, tires lose their ability to perform as they age. The difference between tires and those other items is that few of them have as drastic effect on the vehicle as the tires do when they fail at high speeds. Parade laps and local car shows are one thing; long trips, freeway speeds and enthusiastic driving are quite a different story.

Aren't you the same guy who took his Z06 to the track on his original decade-plus-old Goodyears? I seem to recall you noticing uncertainty in the behavior of the vehicle after that session due to those tires, although I may be thinking of a different guy.

03 A/E Coupe

I often wonder which is going to get me killed first....

A catastrophic 11 year old Goodyear Runflat tire failure...

Or... A night time collision due to the lack of roadway illumination



Perhaps it will be an electronic gizmo failure - an ECBM going haywire...

All part of the deal when driving a 10 year old plus car - Looking this great requires living dangerously...

* Edit * In all seriousness, be safe out there and update all the faulty old deteriorated stuff !

rjwz28

I almost creamed a deer in the middle of a curve on the edge of a cliff on my way home in my Z, before I installed the RadioFlyer lights

Chicago1

so spend a few hundred and buy new tires what's the big deal again...

Derf

Replaced my 12 year old run flats last week on my 03. They were original with 6K miles. Looked perfectly good but rode like rocks and were very loud. Replaced with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3's. The change is incredible, smooth and quiet. Bought a flat fixer and plug kit. Now I have four great looking 6K mile RF's in the garage. Probably try to sell them. Very pleased with the new tires.

bj1k

Not the same guy wiz kid and maybe you should learn to read. I said it is not advised to drive on interstates with old tires. Go back and try to read again.

rjwz28

No, you said it is not advised to drive on interstates with tires exhibiting visible cracks. Not the same.

I agree with you on the parade/show cars

chasboy

in addition, remember this simple fact: your tires are your ONLY contact with the road. Until you install a Mr. Fusion and Flux capacitor your only means of control are those 4 rubber to road patches.

donald4972

Do you really want to take loved ones, children, grand children, and people you care about; for a ride on ten year old tires?

I don't wish to meet anyone, on the road, with them having 10+ year old tires if I had a choice.

Just do the right thing. Get new, safe tires.
Save a few bucks, in some other fashion.
Don

oldC5

4XLR8N

Where originality isn't important, I agree that newer tires are better than older.

The exact point in time when a tire transitions from serviceable to no longer serviceable is a wide range depending upon the tire's rubber composition, it's design, how it was manufactured, how it is used in service, it's exposure to sunlight/salt/ultra high temps/ultra low temps/etc.

I don't think there is one answer for all tires in all situations.

I have a 1989 1/2 Olds Cutlass Calais HO-Quad 4 5-spd car. It is one of 200 built. Originality on this car is extremely important. The only things that are not original on the car are the shocks/struts and the battery (not including fluids here, which have all been serviced many times). That's it. It has 22k on the clock and runs as good as it ever did!

That said, I recognize the age of the tires and other components and don't drive the car nearly as hard as I did when it was new. Nor would I take it on a long trip away from home.

I think several others have mentioned it - common sense is what is needed.