When is a tire too old to safely run??

clutchsmoke said:

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

SV reX said:

You're not gonna use them. Put them on FB Marketplace and sell them to someone who wants pretty tread and doesn't ask questions about date codes. Recoup some money. 

That's berkeleyed. Maybe one of your kids buys them. Or maybe one of your kids gets clipped by the person who buys them.

I'm assuming SVrex was thinking the buyer of a Corvette size tire would use them just to store the vehicle and not drive on them. The problem is you never really know how they'll be used.

Yep. 
 

Never know how they'll be used, and never know how you'll be misinterpreted when you say E36 M3. 
 

I guess I shouldn't drive the Cobra replica any more until I replace the tires! I bought the wheels/tires that are currently on it from a nice gentleman in DE. He bought them when he originally built his car back in 2000. The date codes on the front tires is "2101" and the rears are "2900". Not too bad, only 23 & 24 years old. Since the car has only been driven about 100 miles since we bought it, maybe it's time to consider retiring the old rubber in favor of something a bit newer. Hopefully I can get 20+ years out of the new tires.    
 

Just kidding......

I may have a winner.  In 1963, my aunt bought an Imperial Le Baron.  Fast-forward to 2009 when care of the car was passed down to me, the original tires were still on it.  This is what 46 year old bias ply tires look like.

SV reX said:

In reply to Driven5 :

I see no reason to defend a driver who made such terrible decisions and put many lives at risk. 
 

45 mph speed limit signs are never put in places that 90 makes makes sense. It was a neighborhood, not an Interstate. 

All true. 
Also totally unrelated to the op and tire safety

except for the part that tires DID factor into the deaths. 
Not defending the bad decisions that contributed, but IS an example of "old tires that LOOK good CAN be dangerous "

In reply to Coniglio Rampante :

Ida run the op's tires on an 'ol' beater , or the ones I replaced on our Sunday car. 
Not even a nut like me, would use those for anything!

In reply to 03Panther :

Agreed.  Tires were the first thing I did on that car.

 
After my aunt died in 1974, the car basically sat in a shed on our farm for the next 35 years.  My dad basically started it and drove it around the farm buildings and maybe on the empty country road once or twice a year...maybe putting 5 miles on it per year just to keep the drivetrain from seizing.  It worked, but I had an almost "everything else" restoration/greatly deferred maintenance project on my hands.  
People at car shows marveled that it only had 21,000 miles on it thinking that was a good thing.  Nope.  I'd tell them every single hose, belt, fluid, and too many other items to list, had to be replaced.  

Ask the guy who crashed his C4-based Falcon at a 50-degree Road Atlanta in March.  Or don't.  Spit on them thangs, then get rid of them immediately.

In reply to Coniglio Rampante :

Yep. 

This is very common with Corvettes, my parents bought their '94 in 2003.  They replaced the rear tires shortly after buying it, so those were about 20 years old.  The fronts had never been replaced in their almost 21 years of ownership (and no idea how many years before they bought the car).  The car drove fine in normal, reserved driving, but the tires always were in the back of my head.  They were in perfect condition, the car was garaged it's entire life, there was zero dry rot or cracking, but they were ancient.  If it was my car, that would be the first change I would have made.  That said, tire options in Corvette sizes are very limited.

Before I even posted the question I had already ordered new tires from Tire Rack that will be installed in my driveway on Friday.  As much business as I've done with them, I'm confident that they will properly dispose of / destroy the current tires when they take them.

These things are as hard as boulders and out of balance:  I can't wait to go 50 mph smoothly...

Just finished a track day on eight year old 340 TW tires, stored on the car in the sub zero garage, very interesting.  Not much grip, they chunked, overheated and turned to grease after four laps, and I set a PR on them.   I'm gunna be stupid fast on some less old 200TW tires. HaHahahahahaha

Can't say I recommend it but also wouldn't fear it either. 

akylekoz said:

Just finished a track day on eight year old 340 TW tires, stored on the car in the sub zero garage, very interesting.  Not much grip, they chunked, overheated and turned to grease after four laps, and I set a PR on them.   I'm gunna be stupid fast on some less old 200TW tires. HaHahahahahaha

Can't say I recommend it but also wouldn't fear it either. 

I ran some 4 year old Hoosiers on the Datsun once (track day) as my new tires were near the cords.

Beyond the lack of grip the balance was crap; you'd get a slight push on entry followed by 3rd gear power oversteer..............in a car making 99hp to the wheels.

I put a set of 10 year old indoor stored Contis on the front of my Jag XKR. The next day it was damp, and the front pushed out on some mellow sweepers that wouldn't have given me pause and I tossed that car off the road. Maybe if I had scrubbed them for a little longer they would have woken up, but I learned a lesson that day for sure.