Technical Check your tires on your car!

I have seen many vehicles going down the road with under inflated tires which I hope is not a problem among us since we all should have air compressors,I think since most gas stations do not have free air any more and less and less full service stations that actually check tire pressure like they used to could be a major source for tire issues with the general public.

 

^^ Good point. Also many of our cars are not daily drivers and may sit for a week or a month before they get used so a leaky tire may go unnoticed.

 

Let's just say that this...

Image by JK posted Apr 21, 2015 at 9:25 AM

Caused this...

Image by JK posted Apr 21, 2015 at 9:25 AM

And this...

Image by JK posted Apr 21, 2015 at 9:25 AM

So check your tires no matter how old.

 

The peace of mind not worrying about outdated tires is worth the price of new tires.

 

A dot number is not a date code and I have seen both sides of these tires. I am not a street rodder. When Coker first started selling rib rubber front runners they had a disclaimer on them, "not for highway use", they had no DOT number yet.

What they told you is that they do not sell tires that are not approved for highway use.

The joke about this is that while we have burned more bandwidth then Google owns discussing date codes not a single expert has given an expiration date for tires. We have seen a few photos of blown tires and not a single one of us disagrees with keeping your tires up in shape. We also have not seen a single photo of a blown bias ply all have been radials which assumedly have date codes on them although we have no idea what it is or how old they were just that they let go which we all agree is not a good thing.

I don't think that anyone that has posted on this thread is against checking your tires. At one point I did post some things to look for to help the novice out. Which made me endangering the lives of everyone on the road so I deleted my advice on what one should be checking for. Now we are back to check your tires. Uh be sure that they have a date code and if they are old they are bad.

 

JK,Just out of curiosity, what brand of tires were they and how old were they? HRP

 

I don't know how old but they claimed that the tire that caused the Concord to crash was not out of date.

Crazy Steve thanks for the study information. I have tried to find good information and discovered that like you have mentioned there really isn't any stone clad information. Even the DOT doesn't have a recommendation or rule as to how old a tire can be. The only reason I can see for a date code on a tire is for liabilities sake in the event of tire failure. At that when a new tire lets go and they do there seems to be no liability to the tire manufacturer. There are too may variables, tire inflation, rim choice, load, and etc. and etc.

On a side not, my bike is 37 years old and the front tire on it was probably the original Dunlap. We all had a discussion about that when we changed it out at the shop and the conclusion that we came to was that if it was not the original Dunlap it was a very early tire judging by the tread design and the fact that it went farther while I owned it then the new tires are rated for.. I did run it for a year which was poor judgment so if anyone is inclined to do some beaner bashing let her fly. They used to build a better tire as far as longevity is concerned, the newer tires have better grip but they are a softer compound. Perhaps that is because they didn't use to sell a 160-200 mph stock out of the box bike.

 

I rarely care if I piss people off. Here goes.

IMO the odds that the car wrecked is because of how low it is. I've had tires blow on regular cars without the car being upset at all.

So while checking your tire pressure is just simple maintenance that everyone here knows about if it was all about safety we wouldn't lower our cars. IMO a car at standard height with 10 year old tires is safer than a lowered car with 2 year old tires.

Am I advocating we stop lowering cars? No way. What I am saying is we all know what the facts are and we all accept certain risks. Some are more willing to live life a little more carefree than others.

So a guy with limited funds decides his 7 year old tires are just fine and he is going to spend the $600 on interior upgrades he's an adult and knows what risks he is willing to accept.

Can you see what is going on around you as well if you chop your top? No. Chop away if you want. Can you stop as well with drum brakes but you really don't want discs on the front of your 36 Ford? No you can't. But leave the drums.

Are 10 year old properly maintained tires necessarily unsafe? No. And even if they are a measure not as safe as brand new ones, we all know the risks of what we do and many times do not take the absolutely safest route because that would make life very boring.

 

HRP they are Kelly Springfield tires. When it comes time for new tires, I will be running WWW 6.70's from Coker.

 

... On a somewhat related note:

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Well I am definitely offended but not totally pissed of. Maybe you should work ta this a little harder.

You my friend are endangering the lives of everyone on the highway.

So tell me this how on earth did you ever figure out that you might just have a problem. That is about as big a bubble as I have seen on a tire in a long while. And probably not very good advertising for your batteries tubes belts and welding business. LOL

real glad it didn't cause you to crash.

 

Heres a picture of the 6 ply bias on my 66 GMC that the tread came off yesterday. I drove this tire over 30 miles after the chunk of rubber came off. It didn't blow out. If it was a radial bets are it would have blown out.

 

Beaner -

I realize you were just being sarcastic ... but I guess I should point out that those pics are not of my tire ... that's not me ... or anyone I even know.

Those 3 pics popped up on my facebook "news feed" this morning (i.e., one of my facebook "friends" had "Liked" the pics) ... and I thought they fit in well with this "discussion" here on the H.A.M.B. ... So I posted them.

Carry on ...

 

Yep definitely Pregnant ready to have pups.

 

actually the bubble indicates the tire is still pretty green newer rubber. it stretched and still held air. A old tire or radial would have went flat. Ive seen those bubbles before. sometimes you can poke the bubble with a needle or ice pick and let the trapped air excape. install a inner tube and it makes a good farm implement tire.

 

I do know for a fact because my tire never lost air pressure it just blew the tread off.

 

Yep done that before actually. Bubbles or bulges were a common malady when you and I were young.

hey that tire you posted is that a cold rubber recap? I flung a big chunk of recap off a tire on an old ford truck over by the Colorado border once. I just took a look at it and slowed down and drove home (Lake Ozark) had no other options at the time. So instead of driving 55( yea right) I took a couple hours longer and drove home at 45. There was a time that you could do that, those old tires were tough and we didn't know any better.

 

Time to end this! Please check your tires and replace them when ever you want.

 

Bias plys forever!

 

Hey bud
Checking your tires is still good advice. There are lots of things that you can catch by just a quick walk around before you head out.

 

This whole 'tire age' deal is ALL about liability in our sue-happy world. Ford/Firestone had dozens of lawsuits filed against them, everybody else got spooked (and the tire sellers saw an opportunity to sell more tires) so here we are...

How much of this is due to modified vehicles? Like Wvenfeild, I think this is more of a problem rather than tire age. Lowered cars with limited suspension travel that 'shock' the tires more, oversized tires that you run with less pressure to help with wear/ride, smaller tires used for lowering that are marginal or inadequate for the load. And I will agree that radials probably aren't as forgiving of abuse/misapplication as bias plys.

Seeing how that for most of us (and by 'us', I mean anyone in the car hobby; restorers, muscle car guys, anybody that's using 'obsolete' tire sizes) these are hobby cars and don't get driven enough miles to wear out a set of good tires in the 'time limits' being given, there should be a virtual epidemic of tire failures... but there isn't. Sure, you get a handful of antidotal horror stories every time this comes up, but with no proof that it was really the tires' age that was the problem. So if replacing your tires every so often gives you peace of mind, go for it. I'll keep checking mine and replace when in MY judgment they need it... and accept the risk.

 

Holy Cow,I bet you experienced some severe wheel hop!

This is kinda what I envisioned when my dad threatened to knock a knot on my head! HRP

 

At least we can agree on something we all need to get a life!

 

I can't find the date code on this;

 

No it wasn't a recap. its just a old bias 6ply cooper road master tubless. I grabbed it out of a storage bus and mounted it with a tube on the 6 hole rim. was intending to use on a trailer.. Had a flat and it wound up on my GMC its been running about a year. hard to say how old the tire is.

 

Yep I check to see if there round & black and still holding air. When one fails (or a chunk of rubber comes off) I replace It with another vintage weather cracked bias ply from my hoard.

 

Why replace it super glue it back together

 

how do they weather on the inside? Surely the cracking would be external?

 

Didn't realize there was a back to most tyres?

 

I wouldn't recommend this!