Tired...Tire

[Kube]

Originally Posted by JayJay

I had a flat in a tire on my Mom's car, which rarely got driven, and the first shop gave me that crap - "We're not allowed to work on tires over 10 years old". I do think that it's a good idea to carefully assess older tires to see if there is any evidence of aging (for example, sidewall cracks) but I also think that this "10 year rule" is something that has been dreamed up by retailers. And unfortunately, enough people buy into it that it becomes self-perpetuating.

I thought the same thing for many years. So did my friend, Mike, who owns a Merlin Muffler Shop.
Not any more... it IS a real thing.
I own a number of exotic cars that rarely get driven. The last time I swapped the tires out on an Aston of mine, they were five years old and had less than 6000 miles on them. They appeared beautiful.
On the inside the ugly truth showed. There were cracks and upon very close inspection, ply's were just beginning to separate.
He told me he sees this quite often on cars similar to mine. That is, cars that are stored carefully and driven minimally.

Guys, believe what you like but tires are not what they once were.
Me? I'd rather drop $2k for a new set before one blew out.