Technical Got 5 year old tires?

Very interesting indeed, thanks. So that led me to do a little reading on my upcoming weatherstrip needs. The one I found that appears to do a lot of it is (ironically) Steele Rubber Products https://www.steelerubber.com and their stuff is made out of EDPM rubber. What is that? Here's are a dozen or more "rubber" compounds and what they are good at https://www.timcorubber.com/rubber-materials/

 

Not exactly. According to Federal Highway Administration, Americans now drive an average of 13,476 miles per year. That number has grown in recent years. So (as a ballpark figure) for the first 8 yrs, lets assume an average of 12k, thats 96k, plus 12.5k, 13k & 13.47k, you are looking at 134,976 miles. Relevant to this discussion, on average, three-year-old tires would have 39k on them, so the manufacturers are building to the average.

 

I have no reason to doubt what you're saying since you are in the industry. We, as consumers, have been sold out by large corporations for their bottom line. They want repeat business, they can't make a profit unless they sell a product which is understandable, yet they purposely produce products with a shorter lifespan to get us to buy more of their products, which we end up doing. Pretty good racket if you can get away with it, and they seem to have mastered it pretty well. I guess that's why some cheaper brands last as long as the more nationally known brands, they all build to roughly the same standard replacement schedule.

 

......EPDM rubber, is a type of synthetic rubber, which can be used in a wide range of applications. This is an M-Class rubber where the 'M' in M-Class refers to its classification in ASTM standard D-1418; the M class comprises elastomers having a saturated chain of the polyethylene type

 

After reading all of this....I know that some tires come apart and some don't.
Those that come apart may or may not be anecdotal.
Since I have a couple come apart on a car just stored in a garage and I have had all the others for sometimes 30 years without even them going flat, I have decided to.......er.......I don't know, I guess I will keep doing what I am doing.....I guess I have learned nothing after all.

 

The cost of repairs with me doing the work at $40/hr plus parts is just over $2K, cost of new tires just under $1K. I'm not a mathematician, but I can do simple math........and none of that counts the lost time with the car on the road.

 

The only certain fact is Shit Happens. My personal opinion if my tires are round & black and hold air I don't care who made them or how old they are.

 

Anybody decide to get rid of their 5 year old 285/70/15's before they explode, let me know. I'll pay the freight and won't even charge you a tire disposal fee.

 

Interesting. Got a good friend upstairs at Michelin. I had their tires on a 60 Healey. After one shredded and fortunately no harm to the car, I called looking for replacements.
Well, after my friend got done frying me for having them for so long, 18 years, and no longer available, reality was drilled into me.
From the head of design/engineering 5 on the inside to 7 at most. And that for any and all rubber.
When he was done I got an in-depth education on rubber and how it just dies over time and becomes really dangerous.
Lots on the web about it. Good reads.
.

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Wonder how many folks here are driving their rides that much.

 

"From the head of design/engineering 5 on the inside to 7 at most. And that for any and all rubber."

Any and all rubber? The motor mounts on my 55 year old Ford are still in pretty good shape. Even the windshield rubber is still holding up.

 

Funny, the current Michelin tire warranty merely recommends 'annual inspection' after five years service, but doesn't recommend replacement until ten years (or the car manufacturers recommendation if any, whichever comes first). So either they're playing the odds, or your 'high up' buddy is talking out his a$$...

https://www.michelinman.com/upload/michelin_us/editor/file/Michelin Replacement Owner's Manual Warranty_MDW41156 Rev 0918FINAL.pdf
Page 21...

There is so much BS flying around out there about 'tire expiration'....

 

Hmm, and they SELL NEW tires for a living, right?

 

My 1983 Laverda motorbike is still on the original Pirelli tyres and they look new and have no dry rot.
Do I take risks ? Yes of course. Do I replace them with worse quality new rubber, certainly not.
Just my humble opinion. Rubber these days can't compete with some decades ago.

 

Wrong. Rubber naturally ages into brittleness, lack of grip, and separation and self decay. Period. Take your risk but be aware.

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Everywhere, 5-7 years. Hiding outa ultraviolet light does not enhance life or stop the aging and decay.

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New years day I bought a 60 Pontiac catalina. the tags are dated 1970. all the tires where flat. When I picked it up with my wrecker and rotated them they went from being flat on the botton to flat on the top. I inflated them and all four are still holding air. Bias ply with tubes. street tread on the front. the same kind on back but they have been recapped as mud & snow tread. lets see those fancy new radials hold up that long.

 

Well I may just bite the bullet and buy some new rubber, even though I have upwards of 20 nice used tires, non of which I'm guessing are anywhere near recent manufacture. Local Costco would likely be my choice (just regular old 225/15s for the daily). Anyone have experience with Costco? A few things I'm wondering, in general:

They charge for mount and balance right? I have my own machines, if I cash and carry do they bump the price, void the warranty or anything crazy like that?

How do their prices compare with online (Tire Rack etc.)? No shipping charge but 10% sales tax that might not be charged online.

If you have a warranty issue with an online tire how is that handled?

 

I've bought multiple sets of tires on line, and have been happy with the transactions. I got most of them off eBay, but it does pay to shop. If you can mount/balance them, there's a large savings to be had in addition to usually getting better prices on just the tires. Plus you'll generally avoid any state charges for tire disposal, although you'll still have to get rid of the old tires which can be a PITA. The downsides to installing them at home is if you damage them while installing, you're on your own and if a mileage guarantee is offered you usually won't get that.

Some of the online retailers have warranty procedures, some don't. In those latter cases simply find a retailer that sells that brand and take the tire in. I had to do that with a Falken tire, no problems, the retailer honored the warranty.

 

There is a guy in Halls Tenn that wants scrap tires. If you have enough he will come get them. he doesn't charge you for disposal. there are cement plants that burn tires for fuel.

 

In2004 when the car went back on the road I put four 205 75 15 Uniroyal Tiger Paw Radias from Walmart. In 2007 we decided to travel from Central NY to Charlotte, NC. I replaced the rear 205's with aa pair of 225's from Pep Boys to drop engine revs a bit. I kept the 205's as they only had about 10 k miles on them. They went in their pep boys provided bags to the rear of my non climate controlled storage shed. Last year in preparation for a trip from CNY to Detroit, I replaced the front tiger paws, now with about 50k on them for the pair in storage, the P Boys Cornell brand still on the rear still sporting at least half their tread depth remained in place.
The trip to Michigan and back was made with no issues tires included. No long trips scheduled so I will hold pat aand see if they stand up to another 4k miles for the season. I know Radias are somewhat taboo here but we want that wy s if, when anything happens on the road replacements should be relatively available where ever we may find ourselves.

 

I used to buy tires almost exclusively from Costco. Lately, if it isn't a tire size installed by a factory in the last three years or so, the Costco stores don't carry them & have to bring them in from a warehouse, negating the convenience factor (and you can't inspect the tire's date code). They charge for mount, balance & nitrogen fill unless there is a free install promo running. I doubt they bump the price for carryout, but they are unlikely to recycle your old tires if they didn't do the mounting. There's nothing on their website about self-mounting voiding the road hazard warranty and it shouldn't affect the mfr's limited warranty, but YMMV.
Looking online, they are cheaper than Tire Rack for a Radial T/A in 225/70/15 (my guess on the aspect ratio). Costco wants to ship to one of their stores. Tire Rack will ship to you or one of their approved installers.
It is my understanding that the applicable sales tax is now charged on all online sales. Thank you lobbyists for brick & mortar stores...

 

At Discount Tire two days ago, getting new shoes on the ‘51 Pontiac. The tires on were from the original build 11 years ago, and they were used from my buddy’s salvage yard then. Over 60,000 miles on them in that decade since, most of them LOADED, towing our trailer. Honestly I didn’t even think about how old they were. It drives MUCH better with new tires!


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pewspalce.com has a current blog that shows what can happen with old tires.

 

D.O.M. Here is a link to 303 products in case you still are interested. I use them on my marine Sunbrella canvas stuff, the hot tub manf recommended it for protection of the vinyl cover, etc https://www.goldeagle.com/brands/303-products/ It is available everywhere, Wal-mart,E-bay,Amazon,West Marine etc Some of the products listed as marine are actually the same just with a marine label to sell at a higher price. I did e-mail them asking the difference between some products, and they said they were the same, just labeled different for different markets

 

Planned obsolescence on steroids.

And "they" are worried about plastic straws.......but 100 billion tires in landfills is O.K.!

 

I buy all my tires from Tire Rack, comes with road hazard, free shipping, possibly if you buy 4 at a time. Prices are competitive, shipping is the same day or the next day, very fast. My son had a damaged tire that couldn't be fixed and they stood by it. My buddy owns a shop and he did all the mounting and balancing. On my OT cars, I saved $120 on a pair over what I paid at Mavis Tire for the same tires a few years earlier.

 

Will they e-mail the date code on your prospective tire purchase i.e. before shipping them out?

Nothing like getting 3 or 4 year old "new" tires, esp. when everybody has a hard on these days about old tires.

 

The tires can not be sold but he can take them home.

 

OK, here's a story for you.Do with it what you will.

Years ago I bought Cody Parr's old Altered called the "Apache". I bought it out of a back yard and a tree was growing up through the trailer. The trailer was an old dirt track car with 16" Ford wheels and trailer tires. I aired up the tires and they held. I had all intentions of changing the tires but I was a new graduate and poor. This was 1987.

We ended up campaigning the car for 5 years. One night on the way back from the Muddy Water Nationals in Memphis, I was about an hour outside of OKC. I looked up in the rear view mirror and saw a shower of sparks. I assumed I had finally lost the tire. In the end, the wheel had departed the trailer with lug nuts and the wheel center still on the trailer. I found the tire fully inflated. These tires were from the early 60's.

My point is this, I feel like a manufacturing process has changed over time for profitability and ease of production. I really don't know what to believe these days.