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In Europe and Asia, tire manufacturers inform customers about the dangers of old tires, and the very real dangers of driving on ‘new’ tires that are actually six years old, or even older. But here in Uncle Sam, we’re being kept in the dark. And that’s hardly surprising, because tires are a billion dollar business, and no company wants to destroy tires and see profits literally go up in smoke. They look new. They smell new. They are new, right?
This article says that 'new' tires on sale were sometimes 12 years old, and some big named stores were selling them, like Sears.
I was reading a thread about favorite tire brands. Well, if the rubber is drying out on a tire, won't it run differently than that same tire, brand new?
The article tells how to determine the month and year of manufacture on the tire's code.
Even the spare tire sitting in your car is aging. The recommendation is to not use tires after they have aged for six years or more, certainly not 10 years or over. Chrysler, Ford, and Volkswagen are just a few of the companies that recommend removing tires older than six years.
I don't put a lot of mileage on my cars, so this would be an issue for me. People purchase used cars might have a problem with this, and anyone buying tires should know the coding to look for.
6 years is probably a good average. How fast a tire ages depends on the composition, hard tires that are good for high mileage age the quickest and become hard as a rock, while soft performance tires take a lot longer. I just bought a "brand new" set of tires, and the manufacturing date was 2010 on two of them, and 2011 on the other two. They are soft compound tires though, so I'm fine with that.
The article assumes everybody drives their vehicle on the floor at max speed. If that's yer driving style then maybe you need to keep tires changed every 6 years. But there's a lot of folks that their cars never see anything over 30 mph. In that scenario if it holds air and stops in wet weather is good enough. I change tires every 5 years and that's usually because the tires are worn. I do have vehicles that have tires over 10 years old. They don't see the hiway and are rarely driven. So according to this article I should run out and put tires on them every 6 years because..............., sorry, I'm not near dumb enough to do that.
We have had several threads on this. The 6 year mark is a thumb rule, no more no less. It is true that beyond 6 years you should at least drop down one speed rating in S, H, V etc. rated tires. I have run tires that were way older than 6 years, with no problems.
I would not want to buy a 12-year old tire new though.
Definitely depends on how the tire is used, and how it's stored. A tire that's used at least some, say once a month, and is stored out of direct sunlight and away from sources of ozone like electric motors, will age pretty gracefully. One that sits in the sun and is never driven may be toast before 6 years (think, motorhomes for example)
This has me thinking. I have BF Goodrich tires on the 77 Cadillac that are almost 18 years old! They look and feel fine, the car is always garaged, and there's less than 20,000 miles on them. Hmm.
We just rescued a Leyland (classic British) mini and the bride and I are discussing the tires.
The car has been in storage, out of the sun, for 7 years or so, so the tires are that old and older. However, they are still nice and black, the rubber is pliable and the sidewalls look good, no checks or splits. I'd be inclined to replace them, but 10" tires are not exactly off the shelf items and they do honestly look and feel good. They are Kuhmos so it's not like they are Maypop radials. She wants them changed out regardless.
Due to the fact I live "in town" as well as have two vehicles, I only put about 2k miles per year on each one, however, I always upgrade the tires once they reach the six years old mark . . . regardless how good they may appear.
Considering the relatively small "footprint" for a heavy vehicle (both steering and braking), it is just NOT WORTH THE RISK to be frugal with aging tires.
The sky is falling! Think of the children! The end is near! Gotta love the verbiage in the article title, "ticking time bomb". Perhaps someone could chime in when the last time you or someone you know had a blowout and further, a blowout where the root cause was age and age alone. It may surprise some but radial tires are held together by materials that are not significantly affected by age (at least relevant to the lifespan of a human), such as steel and synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon, rayon, kevlar, etc. The rubber is merely a means of packaging and to provide traction to the road. This is not to say that rubber does not dry-rot, crack and form leaks... however these are all apparent concerns that readily present themselves.
Don't believe me? Ask the federal DOT what they think about tire age... Kind of surprising when they are the ones regulating the 18 tires on that 80,000lb tractor trailer doing 75mph, 5 ft from where you are sitting.
Last edited by Lux Hauler; 08-16-2013 at 10:16 PM..
It's not "blowout" that's the threat. I deal with this issue all the time (just a Little bit more important on a motorcycle, and I'm a MC Mech). The real issue with tires as they age is that they simply don't grip any more, so when you need to do emergency maneuver or breaking (even at 25) because a child has run into the street after a ball, you may not maintain control. I know that my truck (I pushed the tires to 8 years before replacing them earlier this year) starting having a Really hard time in the rain despite having all the appearance of being fine, the rubber being black and pliable, etc.. you can't Visually inspect tires other than looking at the DOT code. Anyway, it was a need to brake for someone backing out of a driveway one morning (cold roads, slight dew) on a slight decline where I felt the tires slide on what should have been WELL within the limits for a 30mph slowdown that made me check the tire age. Once replaced and the truck absolutely transformed, I'm amazed at how well it grabs the road now... and that's changing from ~45k mile $1000/top tier tires to new $500 (installed) cheapest name brand I could find tires.
On a motorcycle, it's 4 years before the tires are worthless.
The way I look at it is that the tires are your first, last and only option of controlling a vehicle. A hundred dollars a year ($800) is a small price to pay to give you the Best chance at avoiding an accident. Maybe it's just because I have a significant amount of experience with motorcycle tires that are old, an knowing how little they grip as compared to new, but regardless I'm Very picky about tire age. It's something that's important enough to me that I've refused specific cars as rentals, and walked away from purchases because the sellers didn't agree about the tires/condition.
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