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Tire date codes exist for a reason:
This happened at 80 mph on I-40 in the middle of nowhere 120 miles from home. I bought my '00 in April of 2018 at 46k miles. Had these Firestones on it that were at least 75%. Date codes said 36th week of 2007. Since then, I have driven it across the country 4 times and done a dozen laps on my local track. Have put 18k miles on it. Thought they would be fine. Looked perfect, no cracking, no leaks, good grip. Didn't matter - old tires are old tires. They should be replaced. Fortunately, the inner structure of the tire held together and no damage was done other than the disappointment of my wife while we waited 2 hrs on the side of the interstate. The wallet damage consisted of a $500 tow bill and four new Conti DWS.
Moral: Garage queen C5s are great performance bargains, but old tires are a gamble. Just replace them.
I hope that you had NO other damage.
Me, same story; bought new tires , old tire mounted on the rim blew
on the shop floor. Nobody hurt, if it were on the vette I would have lost
a fender or worse.
Modern tires do not like getting old, they self destruct.
Later
12yr old tires? You were really pressing your luck, OP, and damn lucky it wasn't worse.
I know. The age, a trunk full of luggage ( was driving back from a summer internship in VA to NM), high temps, and high speed conspired to do them in. I got very lucky. As an engineer, I should know better. The manufacturers don't pull the replacement recommendation out of their ***. Thus, my public service announcement.
I should bookmark this post for all the people who argue that tires are fine even though they are 8, 9, 10......12 years old because........they have been kept inside, I only drive around town....insert other excuse
Agree 100%. I recently bought a c5 vert. Once delivered, I learned that, not only were the front tires a different brand than the rears (Sumitomo vs Nankang), but made in different years (2009 vs. 2015). Thanks to info on this forum about tire date codes and explanations of why tire age matters as much as tire mileage (the vette is an '00 with only 35k miles), I immediately searched for a new set of replacement tires. Now very happy (and relieved) to have new Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s! Thanks to info from this forum, I was also able to reprogram a new set of TPMS sensors.
Discount Tire, along with others, recommend changing out tires that are 6 years old or more. They won't patch your tire if it is over 10 years old. Makes sense.
I don't know what is more shocking, the picture of that tire or the $500 towing bill Thanks for posting. Maybe someone will read this and it could save a life.
Also don't be like him and buy the DWS, they are for (D)ry (W)et (S)now with a 540 wear rating, get the DW instead.
High performance all seasons are past the point in dry grip that the best summer tires were at the time the C5s were being built. One reason that the C8 will come with AS tires Also, I live in NM, where it gets very cold but stays nice and dry most of the winter. The DW would be crap at 30 deg F. I used to be a summer tire only die hard, but one has to evaluate what you actually need instead of immediately jumping to the "highest performance" thing possible.
I don't know what is more shocking, the picture of that tire or the $500 towing bill Thanks for posting. Maybe someone will read this and it could save a life.
Yeah. That bill hurt. That was after my insurance paid for the first 13 miles. 120 mile tow from the middle of nowhere to my house.
Glad to hear there was no damage and the whole tread didn't fly off. I've only had problems with 6 year old truck tires flying apart at 70 mph including the top of the line Michelin's. Sure tears up the body panels.
The last 500 miles on my 02's factory issued tires were all highway/freeway miles doing an average of 70-80 mph and the last trip on those 16 year old tires was March of 2018 when the ride and handling really sucked. So at 16000 + miles and being 16 years old they were replaced.
Also don't be like him and buy the DWS, they are for (D)ry (W)et (S)now with a 540 wear rating, get the DW instead.
If you are an aggressive driver and want to replace your tires more often, then buy the DW’s. If you are mainly driving for leisure with an occasional heavy go peddle, then buy the DWS 06’s.
Don't be like me
