old tires? how long until aging makes them bad?

[ptownTSI]

I have 3 tires i purchased 3 years ago, 2 of those years they have just been outside in the elements.

tread wise they have 90-95% tread left and were hardly used, only about 5000 miles.

they cost $115 a tire.

am i better off to sell these 3 tires for $150 and go buy a brand new set or should they still be ok. they are for a 4x4 I want to take to the snow so I don't need to run my chrome 18's and V rated street tires up there.

[Turf1600]

Are they cracked?

[Jordan]

If they are not dry rotted, and they hold air... run them.

[ptownTSI]

no dry rot they do not have cracks either. ok well instead of buying a new set for $450 and sellin these for $150, i'll save myself $200 and just get 1 new tire.

to the snow I goes! well when it comes, just planning ahead.

[JGood]

The cracks from the dry rotting increases tread separation which helps in snow - same concept as snow tires for cars with thousands of little slits.





:drink:

[Hick]

Slits = Sipes

however dryrot is indicative of chunking and that is the opposite of what snow tires do.

Be that as it may... holds air - use them.

[JK_E30]

I have the original spare in my trunk. still good and holds air.

they are fine, just make sure you look for the signs people have stated.

[euroshark]

Tire go out of date just like food. If you have your original spare, even if it is not dry rotted or cracked, it's not safe to drive on. Rubber deteriorates over time. Same idea with changing your timing belt every 60,000 miles or 5 years... if you car covers 5000 miles in 15 years, your timing belt still isn't safe.

I have the original spare in my trunk. still good and holds air.

they are fine, just make sure you look for the signs people have stated.

[Jordan]

Timing belts and tires just aren't the same thing, sorry.

I know several people on this board who have collected a full set of unused factory spares with the original tires and then driven around on them. None of them complained of tire failure.

There is a lot more in a tire then just rubber, its not going to magically fly apart just because its old. If its in good shape then run it without fear.

[Jscotty]

Even if the tire isnt cracking, like spoiled food, something about the tire will just look "not right" if its about to go bad. Like if the color and texture on the tread is the same as the sidewall of the tire or if the tread itself is not moist and supple like a pencil eraser then you know its dry rotted.

3 years on a tire is not a big deal if it has been on the car the whole time but what concerns me is that you had the tires sitting around unmounted. I wouldn't even sell them. Just trash them and keep moving forward.

[AndrewBird]

To me, just sitting out in the weather seems like LESS sever conditions then if they had been on the car. Then they would have been out in the elements AND had load on them.

I say run them if they look good.

[Hick]

The things you cannot see are slipped belts and/or impact breaks. youll know once you mount them up if they are bad or not.

[ptownTSI]

from what i could tell when i took them off the vehicle 2 years ago, only one tire got hit in the crash and it was popped from the tie rod slashing through it, or was it the fender, i forget exactly but something slashed one of the tires.

[E30SPDFRK]

moist and supple

Lol

[ptownTSI]

e30spdfrk, nice brakes! are those the Massive ones?