How old is too old for tires?

I ran with the original Michelin Redline tires that came on my TR6 in 1972, sold the car with them still on it in 2005. Never had a problem, not one.

Ran some ten year old Michelins on my Karmann Ghia for the eight or so years that I had it, making the tires eighteen years old when I junked the car, of COURSE, I still have the wheels and tires down cellar.

Again, no problems. Might be terrific luck or possibly a terrific tire.

With age comes wisdom; I've replaced all four of the Perelli P-Zero Nero tires on my '09 Mustang twice so far.

Have some Michelin ZX in the shed from the 1970s.
Hard as hell, will never wear out now but about as safe as juggling depinned hand grenades - to each his own.

I found that modern tires deteriorate in performance over the first 5 years of life and need changing if you ever drive hard.

Ive been told even when stored in climate controlled condition tires still deteriorate over time. They oxidize and 10 years evwn when stored properly is still the limit for tire.

Most tire and car mnaufacturers say 8 or 10 years

I see, yeah, thought I may have gotten lucky. Now to figure out what to grab for hyperfest in 2 weeks.

Trackmouse wrote: I have a set of hankook w401 hp zovacs I got for free. Tread is good. It's a studded tire. I have looked up the way to tell a manufacturing date off a tire and this one does not have the usual imprints. Anyone here a pro at Korean tires? I'm assuming 5mf6 means "fifth month" but have no idea if that second part is 2006 or what.

3-digit date code means before 2000. Those tires were made in the 24th month of 1997.

Over 3 years old, tires should be discarded. Winter tires, over 1 year old they should be discarded. Those tires are almost old enough to buy the pistol needed to suicide themselves If they could talk, they'd be saying "Kill me.... please... kill me..."

SVreX wrote:

Driven5 wrote: Food for thought.

That's a good article.

Indeed. Maybe a little too CRACKED-edgy, but:

"Nevertheless, the four small patches of rubber connecting your two-ton manslaughter machine to your city’s lowest-priced asphalt are, if you ask me, the best way to improve your car, or, the quickest way to berkeley it up, crash, and even die."

I learned this lesson when I was 17. And this is why I buy good winter tires and good summer tires and dispose of them when they age out instead of wear out. Life's too short for crappy tires and life's even shorter with them.

Wow. Why was this thread revived? Oh well, so everyone can sleep well tonight, you should know I have set these tires aside for burnout fodder. And burn they shall. For every hippy that tells me to "recycle" or "buy a hybrid" or "wash your car with no water", I will burn a tire.

So the 28 year old Michelin XZXs on my Spitfire are no good?

WildScotsRacing wrote: Every tire on every one of my cars gets replaced when they hit three years from DOM. Yes, I will throw away a tire with 10/32 tread at the three year mark. Yes, I can perceive the loss of stickiness at two years versus one year.

Discount tire sent me 2011 coded tires in 2014...

patgizz wrote:

WildScotsRacing wrote: Every tire on every one of my cars gets replaced when they hit three years from DOM. Yes, I will throw away a tire with 10/32 tread at the three year mark. Yes, I can perceive the loss of stickiness at two years versus one year.

Discount tire sent me 2011 coded tires in 2014...

I bought the last set of 205/60R13 Goodyear Eagle STs in Ohio. In 1998. They were ten years old when I bought them ($66 each, my cost)

They were comically dry, despite having had optimal storage. The car was a skateboard in the summer, and undriveable below 50F.

When our tire supplier sends us 3 year old tires, we send them right back. It happens occasionally. (You can even tell before looking at the date code, the rubber will be all shiny and brown) When we were having odds with them when they showed a given model/size as being unavailable while we could go to Tire Rack's website and order one or four or twenty, they told us that Tire Rack holds on to old tires longer.

I judge age of a tire when I first get it based on how it's going to be used. Summers for the Jeep? They'll be toast in a year or 2 anyway and I won't care about a tiny loss of grip, so if they're 2 years old at install, that's fine. Snows and such I'm more picky about, as I'll have them around for longer.