How old is too old for highway tires?

[68sportsatelliteragtop]

Took the 67 out to cruise night tonight, and as usual, when I am traveling solo, I tend too be a little heavy on the loud pedal. After the high speed romp on the interstate, I took it easy on the 2 lane highway section of the run, only to be rewarded with a tire failure. As I pulled off the busy road at 9PM, I said some thanks, as the tire didn't let go 10 miles earlier, then began cursing myself for not having the jack back in the car. A quick call to a buddy who was behind me coming back from the cruise lot got me a ride back home, but no jack. Just as we were about to leave the car, a guy in an old Vette pulled up behind us and had the needed jack. After I got home I looked at the tire to find a 1-1/2" gash in the sidewall and another soft spot in the sidewall a few inches from the gash.No dry rot between the tread. The date code on the tires put them at about 10 years old. I bought them new when I got the wheels at Carlisle in 2003. I had seen on 60 Minutes last year a piece on replacing tires that were at least 5 years old and kinda dismissed it as BS. Now I'm not so sure, but I will be purchasing 4 new skins before the trip next month to PA. Any thoughts, thanks....... Here's a little **** for everyone who bothered to check out my post......

 

[charliesharp]

I too wondered if that report was right or just something to get people to buy more tires

 

[Ron 73]

You got me thinking Ken, I just bought two new front ones because they were bad due to the front end of my brother in laws Cuda they were on. But my rear tires are older then 10 years old now im sure, There isint any visual thing giving away the age, actually they look great.. Ill be watching to see what everyone has to say about the title to your thread myself, I was hoping to get by this summer and get new wheels and tires for next year, but something tells me now everytime i leave, ill be thinking of you and what happened. Glad to hear it wasn't worse then just a blown tire!!! Thanks for posting...

 

[FatJack]

The US Gubmint now says 6 yrs max.

Like they would friggin know....

 

[roadrunnerman]

i deliver tires to stores once in awhile and did ask a guy at the cooper plant when it was in dayton,oh. about how long of life a tire has and he told me 7 years is the max whether you drive the car alot or it sits.That's how long he would suggest b4 you should replace the tires.

 

[67440chrg]

When I bought my car some years ago it had real good looking good years on it. I started looking for a date on them and there was not any. I know the original restoration was around 1990. They looked good but I replaced them for safety sake. Years ago I have bought a few cars out of back yards and the tires looked good until you let the air out and the cracks would show up.

 

[BIGSHCLUNK]

I've seen it happen w newer tires too..........

 

[Moparsmitty]

I'd be a little iffy about tires that are older than 10 or 12 years. Especially for freeway speeds, racing, etc. But there are a lot of variables. The quality of the tire. Speed and load rating. How the vehicle is stored and taken care of. Especially if the tires are always properly inflated. I had a tire guy tell me that the run flat tires that come on some newer cars are a lot less likely to blowout or come apart, so they might go a little farther.

 

[detmatt1]

A little insurance can sometimes go a long way! What's the worst thing that can happen if you know your tires are old and you don't replace them? Well they could come apart on the highway and cause damage to your car or maybe even jeopordise the people that happen to be around you at the time.

 

[tpodwdog]

BEING THE **** RETENTIVE MORON THAT I AM... i cant say i would drive on 10 year old tires. your tires are the only link between you and the asphalt.,,THAT MEANS LIVE OR DIE. youre damn lucky that tire failed when it did....otherwise things could have been catastrophic with your car and your ***. let me tell you something that just happened yesterday :

i have been BEGGING my buddy Andy to go to a car show with me for months. finally he went with me yesterday and took his '72 MACH 1 mustang....but before we left....he had to do a burnout . he has tires on the damn thing that were bought in 1986.....thats right....1986. these things were so hard and slippery that when he did these burnouts....the tires literally turned to powder right before my very eyes. they held together but the tracks left from the burnout was nothing but powder. i got down on my hands and knees, took a deep inhale... and BLEW the burnout strips right off the pavement showing him that those tires are JUNK. $600.00 for tires is a small price to pay to keep your car and YOU alive.....GET NEW TIRES DUDE!

........and for the record.....he left one strip....I LEFT 2 ! ( his hot rod Mustang is a one legger....lol )

 

[72 Charger SE]

Here's my 10 year old tire story. In 1998 the last time I drove my Charger on a trip, before the 440 transplant, I was driving back from Montana across Washington, about 400 miles from home, when one of my front tires began vibrating badly. I stopped and found a bulge in the sidewall where the cords were beginning to separate inside. I put on my spare tire (that was actually even older, about 13 years) and continued for home. About 180 miles from home, I start feeling the beginning of a vibration in the other front tire. Stopped and checked it, and sure enough, the beginnings of another sidewall bulge. The faster I drove, the quicker the tire deteriorated. Since I had already used my spare tire, I limped the car home at 35-40 mph the rest of the way without the tire degrading too much further.

You can bet I'll never drive on tires that old again. On the plus side, the reduced speed probably kept me from hitting a bull elk on White Pass that night. That would have been ugly.

 

[68sportsatelliteragtop]

.....GET NEW TIRES DUDE!


As I stated in the first post, I will have new tires on the car in short order. I started this thread to enlighten others who, like I do, have older tires that appear to be in good condition, but have age on them. With all the money we spend upgrading and re doing things on our cars, a set of tires with less then 12K miles on them is easily overlooked. I'm looking up BFG Radial T/A 's now 245-60r-15, anybody got a better old school style suggestion?

 

[MoparMitch]

Ken , Ithink those BFG's are a good choice. I also like the Goodyear GTII's.Got em on the Vette and they are 22yrs old . WHAAAT!!! No crap. I'm gonna look at em a little closer today.

 

[wahya]

Years ago, I had an issue with tires failing and the dealer advised me that the tire should be replaced after 6 years (date of manufacture). I didn't think I owned the tires that long, but the date on the tire revealed that it was 7 years old. I started checking the dates on the "new" tires that I purchase and found out that they are already sometimes a couple of years old by the time they make it to the consumer. Apparently the clock starts ticking from the factory, not when they are put on the car.

 

[Cranky]

I'm curious to know what brands people are having issues with. Sure, any brand of tire that is old should be replaced but some brands are worse than others. I've have 3 General Tires come apart on me over the years and all of them were less than 5 years old. I got pissed on the 3rd time and filed a complaint form with General Tire and they actually sent me a check for the damage! It didn't cover the full cost but I was surprised that I got something more than a 'sorry' letter but I will still never use any tire from them again. So far after 30 years of using BFG's, one shredded on my Durango and it was about 6 years old. I'm still using 2 of them on the rear of my Dakota and they are about 12 now with 10 year old Good Year Eagles on the front. Also, over inflating and running under inflated are early tire killers too....and try NOT to run ANY tire made in China! Michelin tires seem to be a very good brand and seem to hold up well even when old. I still have 2 Michelins that came on my 2000 Durango that I use for spares and have used them on the front of my Dakota about a year ago and my trailer has a set of 4 that are 18 years old! I'm a bit leery of them and when I use it, I don't drive very fast and carry a spare...and I never carried a spare for it before lol. There's no signs of cracking sidewalls and yes, I deflate to check em and also make sure they are protected from the sun. The sun is the big killer next to running low psi.

 

[68sportsatelliteragtop]

The tire that I had the problem with was a Cooper Cobra. Looking around on the net for tires, there isn't a whole lot out there anymore in 245/60-15. Lots of 17 and 18 inch stuff but not 15 inch. The Cobras are still around along with the BFG T/A's, but I'll be checking date codes on the tires before I buy a set.

 

[tpodwdog]

i have COOPER COBRAS. on my 70 Runner...nice tires,,,,not all that expensive and they are STICKY! ...all around nice tires, WEAR WELL,,,,HANDLE WELL....no issues yet,,,,,but theyre brand new.

 

[Moparsmitty]

Years ago, I had an issue with tires failing and the dealer advised me that the tire should be replaced after 6 years (date of manufacture). I didn't think I owned the tires that long, but the date on the tire revealed that it was 7 years old. I started checking the dates on the "new" tires that I purchase and found out that they are already sometimes a couple of years old by the time they make it to the consumer. Apparently the clock starts ticking from the factory, not when they are put on the car.

Good point. Beer isn't the only thing with a born on date. Check the dates when you buy tires to make sure that they haven't been sitting in some warehouse for a few years. You are paying for new tires. Make sure that they are actually new!

 

[67 coronet]

tire"life"do to age is very dependent on how they are stored.if not exposed to sunlight and with no load on them they will last a very long time.that being said,i would never run a tire over 5 years old.i have seen far too much body damage due to tires comming apart older then that.as to the original post,that appears to be an impact break.you must have hit something in the road.due to the age of your tires it burst rather then just going over the object most likely.i have been in the tire industry for more then 20 years and the common brands differ alot.
good tires:michelin,bfg,bridgstone,and firestone.none of these tires seem to have any common problems.
medium tires:good year(tend to dry out and get hard too fast)cooper(dry crack fast)big o(same as cooper)
junk tire:general(the seperation specialists,do not run them!)
any brands i didnt mention,i have not had enough experience with.
always check the tracktion and temp rattings of a tire.they should be b atleast.never get a tire with a c or lower rating.treadwear verrys alot and is comparison to other tire of the same brand,so it dosnt mean a whole lot.

 

[dgraver]

Hey friend, thanks for selling me the used tires I now have on my car. Your opinion on them really makes me confident driving the car to Carlisle next month. You just earned yourself a place in my passenger seat for the drive up there.

I know my tires are old, they are Goodyear eagle STs and those haven't been made for awhile, but I drive my car a lot and have not had any issues (hopefully that lasts). This is the last season for them though, switching to BFGs next year.

BEING THE **** RETENTIVE MORON THAT I AM... i cant say i would drive on 10 year old tires. your tires are the only link between you and the asphalt.,,THAT MEANS LIVE OR DIE. youre damn lucky that tire failed when it did....otherwise things could have been catastrophic with your car and your ***. let me tell you something that just happened yesterday :

i have been BEGGING my buddy Andy to go to a car show with me for months. finally he went with me yesterday and took his '72 MACH 1 mustang....but before we left....he had to do a burnout . he has tires on the damn thing that were bought in 1986.....thats right....1986. these things were so hard and slippery that when he did these burnouts....the tires literally turned to powder right before my very eyes. they held together but the tracks left from the burnout was nothing but powder. i got down on my hands and knees, took a deep inhale... and BLEW the burnout strips right off the pavement showing him that those tires are JUNK. $600.00 for tires is a small price to pay to keep your car and YOU alive.....GET NEW TIRES DUDE!

........and for the record.....he left one strip....I LEFT 2 ! ( his hot rod Mustang is a one legger....lol )