old tires? how long until aging makes them bad?

[roundel]

My 200 dollar 325 was outside for 4 years in a puddle. the tires were all cracked and nasty except for the 2 inches that were sitting in the puddle haha
anyway i just took the car to the nearest parking lot and slid around for a while. I later found 1/2 inch chunks of tire missing

[JGood]

e30spdfrk, nice brakes! are those the Massive ones?

Looks to me like Adobe made them.

Slits = Sipes

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

Uhh, I was definitely joking, hence the drunk smilie.

[euroshark]

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.

I sold and installed tires for 3.5 years and it is NOT safe to drive around on old tires. Not only does the rubber go bad, other materials in the manufacturing process (mostly the adhesives) do not hold up forever. You can do some research on your own if you'd like, but most manufacturers give tires a life of 4 to 5 years. You should see a tire when it comes off of it's carcass at 60mph, it's not pretty... And that's exactly what they try to do as they get really old.

[Hick]

I sold and installed tires for 3.5 years and it is NOT safe to drive around on old tires. Not only does the rubber go bad, other materials in the manufacturing process (mostly the adhesives) do not hold up forever. You can do some research on your own if you'd like, but most manufacturers give tires a life of 4 to 5 years. You should see a tire when it comes off of it's carcass at 60mph, it's not pretty... And that's exactly what they try to do as they get really old.

Same work experence for me and i say otherwise. Its not a definite that they need replace, its on a single unit basis and even then is based on personal opinion.

[Jordan]

I sold and installed tires for 3.5 years and it is NOT safe to drive around on old tires. Not only does the rubber go bad, other materials in the manufacturing process (mostly the adhesives) do not hold up forever. You can do some research on your own if you'd like, but most manufacturers give tires a life of 4 to 5 years. You should see a tire when it comes off of it's carcass at 60mph, it's not pretty... And that's exactly what they try to do as they get really old.

Leave it to me then to give you every opportunity to say "I told you so" but I don't expect you'll ever get to voice those words.

[JK_E30]

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 dont drive around on it. Its a spare. I just that it was amazing that it still holds air and looks brand new. Thats all. I wouldnt even get up to 60 on it. I have 4 other brand new tires that could go on anytime. So whether or not it shall fail, doesnt really matter.

[Farbin Kaiber]

the last four digits of the DOT number indicate week/year of manufacture.

0606 means 2nd week of feb 2006 manufacture. older tires you dont usually see on the road anymore used to use A THREE DIGIT DATING SYSTEM, (E.G 066 INSTEAD OF 0606).

[JasonC]

I got some that's around 15 years old. I keep them around for smokey burnouts. Infact they are the ones on the back of my dart in my sig. There not weather cracked but i wouldn't want to use them for daily driving.

[asubimmer]

tires do get harder when they get older. I don't think it should be a problem for 4 wheelin in the snow though. Its not like they are racing slicks.

[nando]

the tires on my 67' dart were so old that the belts started to break while the car was PARKED. LOL. I'd got in to drive it and there was this horrible vibration! after the 2nd one went out the same way I replaced all of them, but I was poor at the time so I got the cheapest ones they sold (think they were like 175/75-R13 or something, uhhh yeah).

[LINUS]

Had the rubber deterioration conversation with a tire guy once. I remember him saying it was ozone & UV light that was the killer. If you were going to store tires you want to do it indoors out of direct sunlight - so don't leave 'em in front of a window without putting them in a colored trash bag. Something about the bag made it less vulnerable to the ozone thing too.

He said that anything more than a decade from date of manufacture was a safety risk, no matter how well stored. Sounded all like good moderate advice to me.

[bmws50b30]

here's my own experience.

in 2005 bought 4 new falken azenis and mounted them. i stored them in the garage on their side with air. i never mounted the wheels to the car at all. the first time i used the tires was this summer and i've been autocrossing with said tires. so far nothing bad has happened (crossing my fingers).

[E30SPDFRK]

Looks to me like Adobe made them.

MS Paint, actually:)

[mrl325i]

When I bought my E30, the tires on the bottlecaps were 12 years old. They looked fine -- plenty of tread, no visible cracks. I replaced the tires (and wheels). The old tires rode like they were greased; the new ones are nice and sticky. The old ones were worn out, even though they looked fine, due to age.

[turnofftheradio]

old tires my hold air and seem to last forever, and may, unless you have to test them in an emergency situation. that seems to be the last place I would want to find out they are bad.