OT: Do tires get too old?

Went to have my 1990 Chev 1500 aligned and the shop refused to do it because he said the tires were too old. The tires are the original ones, but the truck only has 40,000 on it. It was my Dad's, alway parked inside and they look like new from the outside. Plenty of thread left.
My questions are: Would he be held responsible if one were to blow out?, like he said he would, and two, If stored right, do tires still get to old to use?

There's a new theory in the tire business. They claim tires have a life expectancy of 6 years, use 'em or not. So the claims go, tread begins to seperate from the casing after 6 years. It's supposed to be especially bad on steel belted radials. I have to wonder just how accurate this is, or if it's just ANOTHER scheme designed to get people to buy more tires.

I've got a '67 Camaro in my garage that's got 20+ year old steel belted radials on it that have less than 5000 miles. They're showing no signs of tread seperation.

i had a set of tires on an old pickup. Original tires and the pickup had 50,000 miles on it. Tires looked better than the ones on my daily drivers. Once i started driving the pickup tey just kept going flat. They were leaking for everywhere. I would just replace them and then ask yourself what your peace of mind is worth.

Get back to us when you have 50K on them.

Three of the original tires on my 1998 F150 separated before the tread was worn out. At about 8 years. The truck is not driven very far or very often.

LIABILITY... Its ruining the country in many ways.

About 12 years ago; when I was on the road to disliking the wal-mart fillocify! I went to a wal-mart to price tires for a chevrolet 3/4 ton. I bought the truck new, & it had the original tires on it! 265-75R 16's. Wal-mart refused to replace those tires because their book said the truck was made with 245-75R 16's. I told them the wider tire was an option. They said they had to go by the book. Why?

LIABILTY!!!!!

Scotty

Yes, but there is no sure way of knowing - unless you see dry-rot cracks. Some tires easily last 20 years and some others don't last over 5 years. All depends on the rubber-mix. Sunlight and ozone makes them go bad faster, but so does a bad mix of rubber.

Date code is stamped on only one side of the tire. Some states have been considering making tires illegal for highway use after 10 years old.

Tires made since year 2000 have a four-digit date-code on one-side, only. So, a code like "DOT U2LL LMLR 5107" means it was made the 51st week of year 2007 (or year 1907 I guess). Having two digits for the year mades it pretty certain.

Tires made 1999 and back, only show the last digit of the year they were made. So, "DOT EJ8J DFM 408" means made in the 40th week, and the year could be 2008, 1998, 1988, etc.

My 83 plow-truck has cheap no-name tires on it that I bought used around 1985 - and they are still fine. They are too old to have accurate date-codes, so I have no idea when they were actually made.

To the converse, I've got two sets (4 each) of Wranglers that aren't even 10 years old and they got so dry-rotted, I had to stop using them. Four that are 235/75-15" and four that are 235/85-16".

FOR SURE THEY GET OLD. They can get harder maybe tougher to maintian the bead seal,,,,,,,can begin cracking,,,,,,,can begin seperation.

But its your money and your safety and peace of mind ya know its your choice

best wishes

John T

there is a huge difference in tires types. car tires are good for 6 years per the towing industry and after 6 years are no longer capable of heavy loads and high speeds. Sidewalls are only 2 ply, and they will start cracking and loose thier ratings.

truck tires are completely different, especially heavy duty over the road truck tires. They have completley different contruction, different side walls, are made to be regroove once and then recapped so a tire carcus and side walls can expect to see 500,000 miles or more. truck tires have to withstand higher pressure ratings and a higher saftey margin. 10 years is nothing for a truck tire.

In a word...Yes. Tires will deteriorate from the inside out and should not be put on after six years from that date. Date codes are three digits before 2000 and four digits after 2000. A tire DOT number that ends 139 was manufactured the 13th week of 1999 and one that ends in 1309 was manufactured the 13th week of 2009. It doesn't matter if it's a truck tire or passenger car tire the deterioration can't be seen from the outside. As far as the aligment goes you can still physically align the car. Hope this helps. Gerard

What have they changed in the manufacturing process that makes them only last 6 years? Scheme or cutting manufacturing costs at the consumers expense.New unused tires still no good after 6 years even in controlled storage? Bill M.

I've noticed the tires on my car, which are no more than 3 years old(installed before I bought it in March of '08), are already weather cracking. Doesn't bother me though because they won't make it through next winter. I'll get better tires and move on.

My Wife's car has some Michelin's that were installed shortly before she got her car, which was somewhere around 6 years ago. They're checked pretty bad for what I would consider a good tire, but again I'm gonna have to replace them next year.

On my truck, I won't install too old of a tire because it's used sparingly and mostly for garbage duty and running to the farm. No way will I wear out a new set of tires before they blow. The last homeowner left behind a set of BFG's that are about 10 years old and 50% wear. Now 3 of 4 are on my truck. The last one still needs to be mounted for my spare. The old truck tires go home to the farm and are mounted on hay wagons.

As far as wagon tires go, we've got some that are well over 20 years old and are still holding loads in excess of 5 tons. Hauled 4 tons of wood pellets with one of our wagons on Friday, and of the 4 tires on it, it was a newer one that started leaking through the sidewall. It's got 2 newer ones on one side and 2 really old (probably 30-40 years old) tires on the other. Don't get me wrong, I'd never run one of those on a truck now, but for a wagon we'll run 'em till they pop. Then we'll put on another 6-10 year old truck tire.



Donovan from Wisconsin

Yep! I can't stand wallyworld's tire business either. They refused to repair a tire for my wife, but would give her a prorated discount on a new tire since we bought the tires there. Even hesitated to put air in for her so she could go somewhere else. We haven't darkened the door of their tire department in several years. I do less and less business with that company as every year goes by.

Christopher

The tires seem to go bad after about 7 years, driven or not. I have mounted a fresh stickered old tire in dark storage and it made it a week before the tread came off. Old bias ply tires will age much better than the radials do.

If you have a 67 Camaro, cough up for some good tires before you pile it up or a tire comes apart and slaps the car up.

A couple of years ago a guy at a car show had a vintage Mopar and he told me he always gets it up to 100+ mph when he takes it out. He had Firestone 721 tires that went to crap back in 1989 or so. I gently told him that but he wouldn't listen as his tires still had good tread. Oh well, if you have the VIN plate, you can always rebuild from there!

(quoted from post at 20:42:25 11/08/10) Yep! I can't stand wallyworld's tire business either. They refused to repair a tire for my wife, but would give her a prorated discount on a new tire since we bought the tires there. Even hesitated to put air in for her so she could go somewhere else. We haven't darkened the door of their tire department in several years. I do less and less business with that company as every year goes by.

Christopher

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You may be the good guy, but the idiot that spilled coffee in her lap would hit a curb, bust the tire, and get lawyers to bust walmart for a few mil because they were the last ones to touch the tire.

Sad but true...........

I went to wally world for tires i was missing a lugnut they wouldnt touch the truck and did not have any lugnuts available ,where is the point when it becomes stupid?

Controlled storage? Ozone is the main cause of tire degeneration after UV rays. So you have a hermetically sealed vessel for storing tires?

Would he be held responsible if one were to blow out?

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If you have a blowout that causes a fatal crash, your distraught widow and children may decide to sue everyone in sight to ease their pain.

I feel a lot of lawsuits happen that way. A little bit of egging on by a sleazy personal-injury lawyer looking for a quick score is all it takes.

Oh yes for sure believe anything you see on ABC. They haven't ever been caught lying have they? Give us a break, lie to me once it's their fault but the next is mine for even turning them on.

Jim