When do you need to worry about the age of your tires??

[toms68cst]

My low-mileage truck has done a lot of sitting in the last 20 years or so. All the tires were on the truck when I bought the truck about 5-6 years ago. I'm currently using it as a cruiser, light hauler right now.

I'm wondering if I should replace the tires on my truck due to their age. They are all radials. They are a mis-matched set. One pair is Sears Guardsman M+S all-season radial with pretty good tread yet and no date code that I could find (I'll have to check out the other side) and one pair is some off-beat el-cheapo no-name POS pair with a date code of 408. They have pretty good tread left too. The 408 date code on the el-cheapo tires means either 1998 or 1988 from what I've read on the internet. Since I know they weren't replaced in 1998 they must be from 1988 or even 1978.

My question is after 14 years (Or more??) should tires be replaced even if they have good tread and no other obvious flaws or cracks?


I need some way to justify the $$$ of a new set of tires to my wife! I got to thinking about this while crusing down I-95 today at 70mph+! Can I really trust my tires?

Thanks, Tom