Tire age

[Mister-B]

Originally Posted by Rufton

I've noticed shorter expiration dates on just about everything

Yup. I just heard a mattress ad on the radio, in which they were trying to say a mattress has an expiration of 7 years. Whatever!
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[Rufton]

Originally Posted by Mister-B

Yup. I just heard a mattress ad on the radio, in which they were trying to say a mattress has an expiration of 7 years. Whatever!
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That's funny

[srvivor71]

When my wife and I went out to Idaho to pick up our truck, the tires had great tread and no visible sign of dry rot. Because the owner told us they were "very old", we toyed with the idea of replacing them before we set out to drive it back home to NY, but decided they looked good enough. On the 2nd day of our trip, we regretted the decision when the front right blew out and almost threw us off the road at 55 MPH. After a quick change of shorts, we decided to buy 4 new ones on the spot. Here's how it looked:

[lolife99]

I guess my big and little Mickey Thompson's on my Pro Street Camaro will have to go.
I bought the tires in 1990,...

[Daddy Brim]

Originally Posted by srvivor71

When my wife and I went out to Idaho to pick up our truck, the tires had great tread and no visible sign of dry rot. Because the owner told us they were "very old", we toyed with the idea of replacing them before we set out to drive it back home to NY, but decided they looked good enough. On the 2nd day of our trip, we regretted the decision when the front right blew out and almost threw us off the road at 55 MPH. After a quick change of shorts, we decided to buy 4 new ones on the spot. Here's how it looked:

Looks like you got lucky and did not damage you sheet metal.

[72 tigger]

This is interesting- a lot of good info. I read an article on how rubber hardens with age. When tires are new they're much softer than aged tires. The article mentioned a farmer who bought a new combine and used it to shell a field of corn. Corn stalks can be pretty tough and by the time he was done with his first field- the front tires (think monster truck tires) had stalks stalks sticking out them and they were going flat. Firestone replaced them but told him to install stalk skidplates in front of the tires to smash the stalks down. They also said that if these tires were a year old they would have hardened enough that the stalks wouldn't have punctured them. Maybe some tires come apart because they're getting too hard??

[Rufton]

Originally Posted by srvivor71

When my wife and I went out to Idaho to pick up our truck, the tires had great tread and no visible sign of dry rot. Because the owner told us they were "very old", we toyed with the idea of replacing them before we set out to drive it back home to NY, but decided they looked good enough. On the 2nd day of our trip, we regretted the decision when the front right blew out and almost threw us off the road at 55 MPH. After a quick change of shorts, we decided to buy 4 new ones on the spot. Here's how it looked:

Looks like you can see contrast between aged grey outside vs nice black inside. Did you notice born on date?

[SS Tim]

For what it is worth I just got some numbers back from a Big City FD spec writer.
They run their tires 7 years as is allowed by CHP for any commercial rig.
CDF (California Dept Forestry) only runs them 5 years.

[SS Tim]

Great, so this means the new tires I need to license my 2-ton are going to cost me about $42 a month just for calendar time to stay legal (6 +spare) regardless of condition.

[special-K]

It's obviously planned obsolescence. Tire companies are putting our safety at risk to dip deeper into our pockets. I have tires on a truck that have been mounted since 1989,they have never lost air,and don't have a single check in them...24 years! The tires I had on my '72 mounted on turbines were bought in '91 and run till they wore out in '08...17 years.

Anyone notice how wiper blades don't last,either? You used to be able to run them till it was ridiculous....all streaky and squeeky due to "age" and "wear". Now they just split way before they age or wear. It's a good way to force people to keep good blades on their vehicles. They used to recommend changing once a year,now you have no choice!

[Boog]

The shortened lifespan of many products are the result of modern technologies. Most of us older guys remember when a plain old incandesant light bulb might last for years where as now days maybe a few months. Take a late model od trans in GM vehicles for instance. You can just about expect it to fail somewhere around 150,000 miles. I know some go well past that but most do not. They have built a shorter lifespan into them. Just past the warranty period.
Shocks, tires, bulbs, compressors, steering sectors all have a reduced lifespan. They are cheaper built but cost more than ever.
Cheaper made, sell more parts.
It's the new business ethic partially thanks to foreign competition.
Tires are expensive but cheap compared to what one failure can cost.
I was looking to buy some new trailers once and told the salesman mine were all about 8 years old. I asked him what the life expectancy was on trailers. He said about 8 years.. oh he was a sharp one.
Be carefull what you ask and how you ask a salesman.

[srvivor71]

Originally Posted by Rufton

Looks like you can see contrast between aged grey outside vs nice black inside. Did you notice born on date?

Didn't know about that back then. Actually, my spare is one of the old ones. Next time I'm under there, I'll check it out.

[GuyO]

Old tires are a huge risk. In 2009 I nearly flopped my 2004 Country Coach 40' RV due to a blowout on the right front. Even with a brand new and very expensive Tire Management System that gives me each tires internal temperature and each tires pressure, it blew out. I drove the bus off the road, lucky I wasn't on a bridge or near a ledge. If it had been left front I would have crossed the median and taken someone head on. DO NOT RUN OLD TIRES. Change trailer tires too! It is not worth the risk.

[special-K]

Don't forget spare tires. It's bad enough tires can "go bad" before they wear out if you don't drive the vehicle about every day,but how about the spare that may never get any miles? You need to buy 5 tires at a time these days to be properly a-tired. Might as well do the 5 tire rotation. On secind thought,just go out and find a 25 year old tire for the spare and forget about it. It should be fine. The old Gum Dipped Firestones were virgin rubber. They NEVER check EVER. That's right. My buddy has a 1940 Harley with the original tires!!