Technical Check your tires on your car!

Everyone that has a car old or new needs to check your tires on your car. Check for any signs of cracking and check the tread depth. If they are over 5 years of age replace them. A friend of mine Jason Ketch wrecked his 51 Mercury yesterday due to a tire blowing out. A few years ago I slammed my 47 Ford coupe into a cable barrier on the way to Springfield Mo after my left rear tire thru a tread. A new set of tires is a lot cheaper then what could happen.

 

OK I'll check today.

Good advice for the masses.

 

Sorry to hear about your friend, hope he is ok. Good info about checking tires. Mine are getting old ,don't get many miles on them ,but are old.

 

Old tires can be scary and dangerous. Every tire has a date code on it... make sure you figure yours out and know how old they are. Here's a good place to start:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

 

Jason is ok. His wife Tammy had to have surgery on her ankle this morning but she will be OK.

 

I was dropping off some old tires at the tire shop the other day ($2 a tire fee) and noticed a stack of new looking tires at the pile. I mean new looking, blue stuff still on the white walls, soft, never mounted. I asked what the deal was, they said they were over 7 years old and could not be sold. They had spent those 7 years inside and if you put them against a newly made tire you would not tell the difference visually. He said a truck comes by and takes them to Mexico.

Not an opinion on tire age, just an observation.

 

I had a the tread separate on a tire as I was going 2014 GNRS on the freeway and it put me into the median guard rail at about 65 mph. Totaled the car. I learned the hard way. Even thou we don't drive the hot rods as much, it is a good rule to get new tires every 5 years no matter what.

 

Bob
Thanks for posting the info. I was looking for that.

 

Just look for weather checking.I had a set of BFG's that had sat for 6 years inside,and they were fine.

 

I am rebuilding my 47 right now. i was lucky that it is repairable. Sucks about your car.

 

Did you check the inside of the tire? some time you cannot tell from the outside.

 

I learned that lesson years ago, I bught a '63 tempest with 40 thou. on the odometer , and tried to drive to Montgomery AL , from Moultrie GA. on the orig. 1963 tires. The ditch is a bad place to spend an afternoon, I imagine the hospital is even worse. Hope they have speedy recoveries.

 

I totally agree with you on this. Now granted this tire had some dry rot, I wasn't driving it due to the rebuilding, but this happened as a result of just sitting in my garage on a 100 degree day a few summer's ago.

 

A lot of bad info on this thread as always. For example not all tires have a date code, that only came about with radials. Not all tires can be considered bad because of their age, it is completely dependent on the condition of the tire itself.



It is a crap shoot, you do the best that you can and don't live life in fear is something happens you deal with it when it happens.

 

Well said beaner!!!

 

The whole 'tire age' thing came out of the Ford Explorer/Firestone tire debacle. The DOT and various manufacturers tested for ageing, thinking that may have been a reason for all those blowouts (it wasn't). So you got all these 'recommendations' (note that there's no requirement, legal or otherwise) to replace tires if they're X number of years old, with tire vendors jumping on the bandwagon by refusing to repair/mount tires past a certain age no matter their condition; easy way to sell tires... panic the owner about 'unsafe' tires and refuse to work on their car unless they buy new.

Heat and UV exposure is the tire's environmental enemies, and the 'official' recommendation is replace at 6 years. But the official testing was done in Phoenix AZ (the urban area with the most sunshine and highest average daily temps in the US) so if you live there or another sunbelt state this has some merit. They also noted that tire ageing from heat was an exponential curve (the hotter the heat, the faster the tire aged), so if you live in a cooler climate they age much slower. They also attempted to determine just how many tire failures could be blamed on age only. The answer? They couldn't find ANY documented cases in ANY state. Road hazards, underinflation, and overloading is what kills most tires, with the latter two causing the tire to overheat and then fail.

Bottom line? Make sure your tires are properly inflated, big enough for the load on them, and look them over at least once a year. If they look bad (weather checked, cracks, bulges, etc), then they probably are. If you live somewhere where it's hot, look a bit closer; California, Arizona, and Texas had the most tire failures, in fact the majority of tire failures were in the sunbelt. If you live in the northern part of the US, the rates there were about 1/3 of the southern half. Tires do fail on occasion (even 'new' ones), but tire age is very unlikely to be the cause....

I'll add one thing I haven't seen addressed anywhere; contact with soil. If a tire/vehicle is parked for an extended period on a dirt surface, the organics in the soil will damage the tire (I've seen this personally). This is probably why oldtimers put cars up on blocks when storing for extended periods. Paved surfaces don't appear to cause this problem, but if the vehicle has sat for a year or two, look carefully at where the tires were in contact with the ground.

 

Tire date codes have been included with the stamped DOT info for many years., just not sure what year that started. The older pre-2000 3-number codes show the week number and year of the decade, but the actual decade is unknown. Starting in 2000, the 4 digit code shows the number of weeks and actual year, and these codes are on all DOT approved tires, radial and belted, according to published info, like the link below.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret...tires&ef_id=UgT3-AAAAa8NyBOT:20150420171410:s

 

If your tire is relatively new, it has a date code on it... if it's too old to have a date code on it, then it's too old to be safe, and you are risking your life, and the lives of others around you, if you're out driving on it at modern speeds. I work with elastomer/rubber compounds every day... I design stuff that uses these kinds of compounds... and I can tell you without a doubt that visual inspection will not tell you with complete certainty that you've got a problem. Any kind of rubber... even if kept in pristine storage... has a shelf life. I personally don't feel it's 5 years... more like 10 with modern compounds and minimal abuse... but I sure won't be taking my car on the freeway if it's got tires older than that.

I love keeping things old school just as much as the next guy... but whatever you do, don't mess around with safety. It's just not worth it.

 

Thank you Bob! I was wondering about the "A lot of bad info on this thread as always" mean't. I started this as a warning and not to say you have to replace you tires. If I had replaced my tires at the 5 year rule then I would not have to replace the front sheetmetal on my 47.

 

The bad info is that all tires have a date code which is a non truth, I have a new( 3 year old set) of bias plys on my Willys that have no date code. I checked the last time this came up and even went out and checked again today. not all tires have a date code all tires manufactured in the US have a date code. unfortunately 90% of all bias ply highway tires are made in India. Contrary to popular belief we have very little control of manufacturing done off shore.

I never said that a visual inspection of your tire would let you know if they are safe or not, there is no inspection of any tire out there that guarantees that you are not going to have a tire let go. I gave a few things to look for when looking at your tires but I will delete the advice because Mr Elastomer has better inspection advice to give. And he knows for a fact that all tires have a date code on them as well.

Anyway carry on and good luck with your inspections.

 

Just last friday night we had a front tire on our fairlane pull the side wall apart the tires were sold to me as new. I called the guy i got them from he said they were new he had them 10 years and never on a car ! never seen a TA blow the side cord come apart like that.

 

What brand of tire are they? you bring up a good point about tires made outside to the US. I wonder if there is another way to tell the year of foreign made tires? If you will let me know the brand I will do some research to find out. I just don't someone to get hurt of damage their car if it can be prevented.

 

Are your bias tires DOT approved, and what brand are they? My 9 year old Coker bias Firestones are DOT and do have date codes, jfyi. My understanding is all street tires sold in the US must be DOT approved, and therefore will have a date code.

 

Mine are Intercos. They are a good brand tire. They were shipped to me the day that they came out of the shipping container.

Here is the rub there are things that you can look for that will let you know that your tire is going bad. There is not test in the world that will let you know that it is bad. you can test the hardness of the rubber and the tool (you'll have to ask Squirrel what it is called I can never remember) to see how bad it is getting but if you have no baseline you can only come up with current hardness. The tool is not expensive, I can usually borrow one but why bother I'm not racing so as long as I am not sliding off the road I am good.

new tires are not sold by years of use to be expected they are sold by mileage to be expected, like 40K tires or 60k tires. You will find that they are not guaranteed to go that far but after X miles or tread depth they will be pro-rated. New tires let go just like old tires and there is no way to know which one will do that. it just happens.

The absolute best you can do is to know what to look for as far as a warning sign that a tire is going bad and to keep your pressures up to par so that your tires don't overheat and come apart on you. It also helps if you are buying new tires to seek out user reviews, not all tires are created equal.

@V8 Bob
We were typing at the same time so as not to produce any more drama than has already happened on this thread check your messages.

 

From what I have been led to believe bias ply tires due to their construction have a much longer life than radials.

And for what it's worth the Michelin radials on my sedan are fast approaching their 19 birthday,yeah they probably way overdue and need changing but there are no cracks. HRP

 

I emailed Interco about date coding on their tires, but have not heard back from them yet. From what I was able to find out on the internet all but one type of their tires are made in the US. The one type of tire LTB are made in India. If anyone else has a tire that is not date coded let me know and I will try to help. I am not trying to create drama just help.

 

(There is not test in the world that will let you know that it is bad. you can test the hardness of the rubber and the tool (you'll have to ask Squirrel what it is called I can never remember)

Durometer

This is a great tool and cheap too. Check out this video..

 

Thanks Pete
Every time this question comes up I can't remember what the tool is called. I guess I should write it down, then all I'll have to do is remember where I put the note.

Something I have found of interest and I suppose it has to do with the original tire compound or perhaps it is age. Sometimes tires get harder and others they get softer with age. if you don't have a baseline all you have is the current number so if it is something that you are going to check do it at least once or twice a year and write it down.

 

$1300 for a set of WWW radials from Diamondback and toss them away after 5-years? Sounds like a recommendation from a tire Dealer.

I keep my cars inside, out of the sun when I'm not driving them. I keep them properly inflated and check them visually several times a year. I keep tires for 10-12 years or until I see or feel a defect. I've been doing it that way for 50-years and have never had a problem.

 

Summit Racing sells them $60-$75 dollars. I have never seen these before.