Tire Age.. Any Experience
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 1,875
Likes: 27
From: Long Beach NY
Tire Age.. Any Experience
Does anybody have any knowlege or experience about life expectency of tires? All the Manufacturers give 4 years with 6 years as maximum safe use. Is this an issue to really worry about?
Many of our cars go for years never wearing out the tread but "aging out first".
Do most of you follow that Age Limit and replace tires in 4-6 years?
I know Firestone recently had a Massive recall over that, was that a liability issue or real Dangerous situation?
Barrier
Many of our cars go for years never wearing out the tread but "aging out first".
Do most of you follow that Age Limit and replace tires in 4-6 years?
I know Firestone recently had a Massive recall over that, was that a liability issue or real Dangerous situation?
Barrier
Tech Contributor
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 32,910
Likes: 2,402
From: Anthony TX
CI 6,7,8,9,11 Vet
St. Jude Donor '08
Tires,, as they age get hard and the rubber dries out. You loose the original compliance, road adhesion and sometimes the rubber dry rots and cracks. If your tires don't have dry rot (cracks in the tread or side walls) it's probably OK to still use them as every day drive back and forth to work and car shows. If your going to do some serious driving or high speed driving, it would be strongly recommended to get new tires suited to handle those conditions. Every year the quality and road handling capability of tires improves. So in a nut shell, if you want the most up-to date and best handling tire, you should replace them about every 4 years. If you just drive your car, replace them about every six years or so or when the rubber shows signs of cracking.
I know people who have tires that are 15 years old and they look brand new! Would I run a Solomon course on them,,,,
Would I drive the car to the local car show?? YEP!!!!
BC
I know people who have tires that are 15 years old and they look brand new! Would I run a Solomon course on them,,,,
Would I drive the car to the local car show?? YEP!!!! BC
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 8,812
Likes: 2,029
From: eastern NC
About two years ago I replaced the original Goodyear Gatorbacks on my 1985 with new tires. The Gatorbacks have only 8,000 miles on them and look outstanding with no evidence of cracking. When these tires were new, the car would hook up nicely and just take off. After 20 years however... the car would want to "skate" all over at the least application of power whenever I drove it. On top of that, they rode extremely rough and transferred every vibration from the road to the car. With new tires, the car is as quiet as when new and once again hooks up quickly. It now requires a deliberate effort to get the tires to break loose.
I also recently replaced a set of Bridgestones (RE-92's) on a Miata I own that were 10 years old with about 10k miles on them. The tires looked excellent and even rode well. However while swapping them out with my autocross tires one day, I noticed that there were serious cracks in the rubber down between the tread.
The more heat cycles a tire is exposed to the harder the rubber becomes. Time and exposure to UV radiation will also age tires, but more often leads to cracking. The older the tires are, the more time you need to spend periodically examining them for deterioration. The outside sidewall is a good place to start, but check the tread area as well as the inside sidewall... your life could depend on it...
Be safe out there... GUSTO
I also recently replaced a set of Bridgestones (RE-92's) on a Miata I own that were 10 years old with about 10k miles on them. The tires looked excellent and even rode well. However while swapping them out with my autocross tires one day, I noticed that there were serious cracks in the rubber down between the tread.
The more heat cycles a tire is exposed to the harder the rubber becomes. Time and exposure to UV radiation will also age tires, but more often leads to cracking. The older the tires are, the more time you need to spend periodically examining them for deterioration. The outside sidewall is a good place to start, but check the tread area as well as the inside sidewall... your life could depend on it...
Be safe out there... GUSTO
Burning Brakes
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 752
Likes: 1
From: Tulsa OK
I have an 03 (purchased Oct 02) with 30,000 miles and original RF tires. The front tires are still pretty good 5/32, the rears probably have about 5,000 (3-4/32) left on them but they seem to be getting hard or maybe the compaound is dry. I don't know but they don't hook up at all and the ride is real noisy. Even if the tread is good, I think the rubber compound starts to go after about 4 years. Your climate makes a big difference - hot and dry is rough on tires.
I recently sold a vehicle (chrysler) that had a set of michelins on it that looked almost new (maybe 8500 on the tires) but were about 4 years old. The outside sidewalls looked great but on the inside where nobody ever applies wheel shine, Armoral, etc, the rubber was cracking and eventually sprung a leak.
I think 4 or 5 years is about it regardless of tread depth.
I recently sold a vehicle (chrysler) that had a set of michelins on it that looked almost new (maybe 8500 on the tires) but were about 4 years old. The outside sidewalls looked great but on the inside where nobody ever applies wheel shine, Armoral, etc, the rubber was cracking and eventually sprung a leak.
I think 4 or 5 years is about it regardless of tread depth.
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 36,836
Likes: 244
From: Dear Karma, I have a list of people you missed.
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16
Originally Posted by Bill Curlee
Tires,, as they age get hard and the rubber dries out. You loose the original compliance, road adhesion and sometimes the rubber dry rots and cracks. If your tires don't have dry rot (cracks in the tread or side walls) it's probably OK to still use them as every day drive back and forth to work and car shows. If your going to do some serious driving or high speed driving, it would be strongly recommended to get new tires suited to handle those conditions. Every year the quality and road handling capability of tires improves. So in a nut shell, if you want the most up-to date and best handling tire, you should replace them about every 4 years. If you just drive your car, replace them about every six years or so or when the rubber shows signs of cracking.
I know people who have tires that are 15 years old and they look brand new! Would I run a Solomon course on them,,,, Would I drive the car to the local car show?? YEP!!!!
BC
I know people who have tires that are 15 years old and they look brand new! Would I run a Solomon course on them,,,,
Would I drive the car to the local car show?? YEP!!!! BC
True story! And BTW, for those that may want to check on the mfg date of your tires, just find the date code numbers that are stamped into the sidewall. They will be the last three or four numbers of the tire serial number. They indicate the week and year of manufacture. Prior to 2000 they may be three digits long and beginning in 2000 they are four digits long. Example: 0156 would be the 15th week of 2006 or the 2nd week of April.
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Racer
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 479
Likes: 2
From: Hollywood Maryland
Tire Age
Pat Goss of Motorweek had a segment on tires and he recommends keeping tires no longer than 5 - 7years from date of manufacture (not when you bought them) since they begin to break down and you can't always see the detrioriation. All tires deteriorate over time and usage. He also showed a method of determining the maufacture date of your tire. Tire manufacturers are required to mold the manufacture date on the tire. He said there's typically a 4 digit code code on most tires showing week of maufacture and year (0213 = 13th week of 2002).
IMHO If you're buying tires, it'd be a good thing to know how to read this code before you buy. Contact the maufacturer or DOT to find out how to determine the date or have the installer/seller show you the maufacture date before buying. Some 'discount' tire chains will sell you a brand new tire, but its been on the shelf for a long time.
IMHO If you're buying tires, it'd be a good thing to know how to read this code before you buy. Contact the maufacturer or DOT to find out how to determine the date or have the installer/seller show you the maufacture date before buying. Some 'discount' tire chains will sell you a brand new tire, but its been on the shelf for a long time.
Last edited by HollywoodFRC; Sep 2, 2006 at 12:55 PM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 8,847
Likes: 795
From: Longview Texas
I usually wear out a set of tires in 3 or 4 years, and am not too concerened about running them that long, but I would hesitate to buy tires that someone took off their car and just let them sit around in the garage unmounted for that long. I am more concerned about air and moisture getting to the inside of the tire than the outside.
