Old wives tail about tires, true or not?

[wbedwards]

Up till now, I would not replace tires that had good tread and weren't cracked or dry-rotted. That has all changed in the last two years. I bought a car with 5 year old radials that weren't cracked and had great tread. One had an internal separation I caught while rotating the tires and I replaced it. The second one separated internally on a long trip and you could feel it driving real slow. If I had kept on driving, it would have come apart. I replaced that whole set and replaced another set on another vehicle that were 8.5 years old and looked perfect. I don't want a blow out at any speed.

[RalphG]

Maybe some tire brands are better than others. I don't know who makes Co-op tires but I've had two Co-op LT tires that started to separate in the tread and became "thumpers" which is how I found there was a problem. I've worn a set of old Michelins down nearly bald and they are still driveable but I don't go very fast or very far. Got some used Coopers that look clean and unbroken except for tread wear and I know they are at least a dozen years old. I'm saving them to put on the 52 Merc. My vehicles don't sit out in the sun so that makes a difference.

[AnthonyG]

pyrodork, I keep them inflated on the car, if they're put away for the season put the cars on Jack stands to get the weight off and deflate a bit, maybe 10 lb's. I wouldn't think fully deflating is a good idea as this would move the material too much ( fully stretched then fully retracted ) too many times can't be good for it.

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by AnthonyG

I wouldn't think fully deflating is a good idea as this would move the material too much ( fully stretched then fully retracted ) too many times can't be good for it.

Ya think? Have you ever noticed how much a tire's material moves, and squirms, and stretches, and retracts on the bottom where the tire meets the pavement........during EVERY ONE of the millions of rotations it makes in a lifetime? DD

[AnthonyG]

Jmo dd

[al's28/33]

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My 15 YO Firestone blackwalls barely have 5000 miles since 2001, I think I may go a few more years unless I see any visible issues. Certainly a good enough reason to change over to Goodyear diamond treads!!

[Tinker]

I'm getting these...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wAvxQfusWU

[Fortunateson]

I think the main culprit is heat/UV. I have read that the degradation relates to radials far more than bias ply. I have set of brand new Michelin red line radials for a TR6 that were stored in a "cool dry place" (Travelling Wilbury's) and I will use them but I haven't decided for show only or actual driving around town.

[tiger.1000]

I think "the trick" for preserving tyres, particularly when a car is in storage over winter, is to keep them slightly over-inflated and in the dark. Sunlight tends to deteriorate tyres. Having said that we don't see too much of that here in the UK.

From experience I have found that good quality cross ply tyres like Avon Turbospeeds
and Dunlop RS5's seem to fair well given the above treatment

[Snouts out]

I've got a set of 25 year old Cooper 6 ply 600-16 on my 38 standard.Been to Nashville,twice from Cincinnati, & many adventures in Kentucky & Indiana,no problems yet! The down side,with the 6 ply tires,you can feel everything on the road!

[waterboychuck]

The tire in the photo had less than 36,000 miles on it when it blew. The problem was it's age. I also had this happen on my boat trailer tires.

[GB SISSON]

I have 2 things going for my use of old bias plys. I live in a place where there is way too little sunshine, and there is only one stretch of road on this island where the speed limit is 40 mph. The rest is 35 or less. The island is 75 sq miles. On my tonner panel, all the tires are all older 7.50 x 17 8 ply that had never been mounted. I feel I'm ok with these. Last year I bought a tonner chassis and before I unloaded it I wanted to top off the tires. I couldn't find my good dial type gauge so I used an old, all plastic pencil type from the globemaster tray maybe 30 years ago. I checked this seiberling 7.00 x 17 and it had about ten lbs so I started filling and checking. It took forever to get to 15 and then it stopped filling as I heard no air transfer. Still read 15 lbs. Clogged valve stem? But why? I then tested my 16" load range E trailer tire and it read the same, but I knew it was at 8O. What? I looked hard and found my good dial gauge and put it on the trailer tire, yup, 8O lbs. I put it on the sieberling and it pegged at 1OO. And yes, it's an old multi-piece wheel that managed not to come apart. My compressor is set at 12O lbs, so perhaps that was what was in this rayon cord tire. I fully understand it's a miracle I wasn't killed. I have had an old 8 ply blow at 30 lbs and it was deafening. Moral of this long winded tale: Old, Crappy gauges can kill too. Test yours. But I left thinking, that's a hell of a tire......It's got 20 lbs in it now for a roller.

[Bill S]

On my motor home I had tires that were 7 yr + some months. Looking at a front tire I seen a split between the treads. There was a lot tread left. The tires are always covered when the motor home is not moving.