As for "shelf life" vs actual road use, I think the conditions a tire is exposed to will affect it's rate of deterioration. For instance, a tire truly on a shelf, or mounted on a car, but, indoors, away from sunlight, may very well be 'safe' longer than one continuously outdoors and exposed. I believe the deterioration occurs mostly from leaching or evaporation of chemicals in the tire. Yoiu know that brownish coating that appears on your tires after awhile? That is the chemical residue emitted by the tire. The loss of which causes hardening of the carcass and which, in turn, reduces the tires ability to withstand the constant flexing of road use. The arbitrary useable life span of 6 years or so is just another "average" that will likely produce a safe tire life for the vast majority in use. Obviously, there will those with worse or better conditions that have shorter or longer useful lives. The problem is, it would be near impossible to instruct/educate and equip all field service facility staff to make judgment calls on every tire they handle. It is more practical to simply make a rule that is clear and easily administered to achieve the desired result. Now, I am NOT saying I necessarily condone all this regulation. But given the fact we are stuck with it, it is understandable as to how it would be implemented. As for the poster who thinks the tire companies lobby for the regs so they can sell more tires, maybe so. But I think it more likely that if they lobby for anything, it's regs that they can implement and use to defend themselves against unwarranted claims and which their insurance companies may also play a role in establishing. And can you blame them? It is easy for use 'little guys' to pot shot any business, especially large scale businesses, but if any of us found ourselves in their shoes, we would be doing the same things for the same reasons. Ray
my dad lent my brother in law Joe his 69 Caddy for a trip to Iowa, he had put new tires on it about 6-7 years before and always kept it garaged, Probably had less than 2k miles on the tires. Joe shredded 3 of the 4 on his trip.
I do all of my own tire stuff, mounting, balancing and repair. I got tired years ago for getting gouged for balancing and bought a bubble balancer; which cost me about $75 for the weights and everything. Then about ten years ago, I picked up a Coats 20-20 tire machine for $200. Before picking up the tire machine, I did it the old way with a bead breaker and tire irons. Getting too old for that now.
Recently had a problem of moving a junker with rim leaks and cracked old tires. Did not feel like spending a fortune on having the tires broken down and resealed so I filled them with green slime sealer. A $15 bottle did 4 tires and some left over. The hard part was rolling the tire around at the right angle to get the goop to go into the bead. Also you can water the stuff down 50/50 and it still works.
Okay, call me nuts, whatever. I was driving home from out of state one night, real late, a tire went down fast. After airing it up, I could hear the hiss. I inspected and the valve stem was ripped at the base. I SUPER GLUED IT!!!! Got on the road and made it a few more hours til I could get it repaired. Did the same to a roller in the garage. Desperate time mean desperate measures. I also had a set of good looking tires shred on me. No cracks, nothing. Once they heated the tread just ripped off.
My dad bought a set of goodyear tires 12 years ago and these tires only had about 2000 miles on them in that time, walked out to the garage one day and one of em was busted. The other 3 dident last much longer. And these failed just sitting! An old tire dosent need to be goin down the highway to fail! So I wouldent reccomend using them, but what do I know im only 20. Dont need to be young to be dumb.
OK, a lot of misinformation going on here. The US is one of the few 1st world countries that does NOT demand a 6 year shelf life on tires. USDOT recommends but does not require it. It's because of the rubber compound. They aren't intended to live that long because most tires wear out from use in much less than 6 years. The rubber just dries out and destabilizes over time and not by exposure to sun or weather. This is why older tires just majically lose their treads or lose air overnight. They are dead and need to be replaced. 6 years. Anything older and you are asking for trouble. I don't care if you have had rollers on your car for a decade and they look fine. They are dead inside, just like my ex-wife. A google search of the words "tire life years why" will get you these same answers. Here's a link with a video in case you don't want to read the words. http://www.wisebread.com/are-your-new-tires-really-6-year-old-ticking-time-bombs
I had a set of skinny Michelin ZX on narrow Centerlines. The car had a front end shimmy from time to time. So I took the wheels to Discount to check the balance. The dude at discount asked "is this for a racecar? They wont like the regular rubber valve stems at the track. I can change them to metal ones for $XX" Sure... go ahead. He then created a slow leak on one of them that he wouldnt fix when I brought them back for that, because of the age of the tires. But he'd sell me some new ones... Right... They weren't too old when he busted them loose to change out the valvestems a week earlier. I'd been going to that store for years. But with that, he lost me as a customer.
And, if he had refused to do the work a week earlier you likely would have been just as dissatisfied. Do you expect "he should have known" that a slow leak was going to develop? Whose old tire is it...his or yours? Were you in his place, what would you have done differently? Ray
If your hotrod is an around town ride then you are probably fine with tires that are still new from a wear standpoint but old in time. At 75 on the highway, you may discover they aren't. I have seen it too many times. Body damage due to blowouts on such tires. In fact one rollover due to same. I replace if they are much past the 6 year rule.
OKay so how do we read the date codes on tires? I for one would like to know how so that not only can I feel safe about the tires on my (and my families) cars but also so that I can refuse any new purchased if the tires have "diminished life" from sitting at the dealer.
Maybe just lazy. I live on 4 miles of dirt road when it rains I get mud inside the rims. Plays hell with tire ballance. Daughter had a flat took it to Walmart just the tire to be replaced it came back with mud still inside the wheel after being balanced.
Unlike some TV and radio stations, this is not the place for politics. Besides, this was a tire store rule, not a law.
Absolutely!! Had what looked like 4 new Goodrich radials on my coupe-around 10 yrs. old. On the way to a rod run, 2 of them went out of round, one threw the rubber. Was going slow, no damage to me or the car-but never again for old tires. cooger
Google it for current codes. Really old codes may not be decipherable. I bought used tires from a used tire store for a project last winter and even they could not read the age on some of the tires. One of them had a side leak that even Slime would not stop. How can a shop sell ancient tires legaly? That's all these guys sell. Lots of used tire dealers out there. How about huge car collections like Lemay's - they sure have a lot of old tires on cars. They must blow just sitting on occasion. In August went to get just a bead leak fixed for my Dart project and nobody would work on it. Went to get the winter tires/wheels put on the 2007 GMC last month and they checked the tire age before they would even just bolt on the set already on wheels. My COE project has new looking tires that are 20+ years old. I would be leary just going around the block on those - heck I don't work under it without jack stands with those old tires.
Havin been in the tire business fer years [ back when I was workin ] I kin definatively say, that the newer EDPM rubber valve stems are VASTLY superior to the old rubber compounds used -- saw MANY good tires ruined by valve stem leaks & failures -- my rule was ALWAYS replace the rubber valve stem when replacin the tire -- cheap insurance -- still is -- from my 46 years of "experience" of Playing on the Freeway and observing the results, and cleaning up after, incidents caused by tire failures - I've come to say -- "only spend as much on yer tires as you value yer LIFE, and those of yer loved ones!" [ I replace *mine* & my family's when they're half worn ] retaining them to pass on to those less fortunate I meet on the road, that I can provide them a measure of benefit --
When I wanted to buy 255/65 instead of 245/70 16's for an OT Isuzu Trooper at Sam's Club , the Computer wouldn't let them do it....it took the old tire guy there to override to even enter it.
wonder what the computer would say bout 255/70x15 tires on a 1955 Ford station wagon [ came w 670x15 ]
buddy of mine has a 66 Impala he bought in 72. He put new tires on it about 10 years ago. It got stolen shortly after that. he got it back a year later....still had the new tires on it but the motor/trans was missing. it sat in his shop until a year ago and he finally decided to get it back on the road. We put a TPI 350 in it and one day we put it on the lift to check for an oil leak. We turned our backs....and heard a strange noise.....kinda like bacon sizzling and popcorn at the same time. Turned around and watched the tread on front tire slowly crack and peel away. All that was left was the bald inner lining. The whole outer tread peeled off and fell to the floor. It looked like some of the steel belts in the center of the tread popped and just unzipped about 3/4s of the way around. Strangest thing I've ever seen. Luckily he wasn't running down the road when it happened.
Date code on a tire is the last 3 or 4 digits of the DOT number. This tire was built during the 12th week of 2012. The other letters and number indicate manufacturer, plant,tire size and model.
I expect him to fix his own fuck ups. And not throw his hands in the air claiming it was because of " them in the head office ", when it became convenient. I didnt ask him to change the valvestems. That was his idea. Its allright... There are lots of people with tire machines in Tucson.
I can't say whether or not a tire that is new but 10 years old should or should not be used. I can only relate an experience my daughter had. In an attempt to save money I had used 4 brand new full size spare tires on her 2002 S-10 Blazer. All the spares came off Blazers we had and junked plus the one that was on her current driver. One day while the car was sitting in the driveway a tire blows out, I was amazed since these where new tires. A week later as she is driving home from school, she cakks on her cell phone that the car is making a noise and is hard to steer, I go up to see what was up and was amased to see the tread peeld off the left front tire and her running board fender piece torn off and gone. I put on another spare tire and she drove home. I put 4 fresh brand new tires on it the next day. While one of the tires that looked good was sitting in my yard 2 weeks later it exploded. I paid $5.00 to get rid of the last "good" tire. Sorry this is so long. I just wanted to relate an experience I had trying to save money. I love my family more than money. Pat at smarter father.
Whenever I see a guy burning up his rubber, I think...Man, what a waste....After reading this thread, we might as well abuse the tires....they only are good for so long anyways
I think the term you might consider to describe the 'spares' you installed is "unworn"........they were not "brand new".......they were old tires, regardless of the absence of wear. Nitpicking, I know, as we got the idea. But using the term "brand new" suggests being influenced by appearance alone, rather than all relevant factors. Ray
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