2003 electronblue

Called tirerack today to buy a new set of michlin a/s plus zp front and back and when i asked how old should i expect the date on the tires to be he told me they will be from week 46 of 09 that seemed to me to be to old for the price they were asking so my question is how old should tires be when buying them new?

RedSoxFan

I'm sure opinions will vary on this but I would want newer tires than that. I have the same tires and they were only a couple weeks old when I bought them, but they had just become available. I would want tires 3 months old or less but that's just my opinion.

LisaJohn

5 years. Info straight from my own Michelin/BFG man.
L

2003 electronblue

Five years? the tires would be rotten to the core at that age...i would never drive on 5 year old tires never mind buying them new at 5 and traying to get another 3/4 years out of them...i would not do business with your bfg man....but thanks for your input anyway...

LisaJohn

Just reporting Michelins policy.

moserbe

All the research that I've done indicates that you should not drive on tires 6 years old or older.

BobAruba

Mike, you want to obtain as new a selection of tires as you can get. I paid an extra $10 for shipping from another warehouse just to obtain a newer set of tires. Ask and thou shalt receive.

46 wk of 09... that would put them at around the third week of November of 2009... hey, we're talking about nine months old guy. That's not bad at all. You're not doing too bad when you can obtain tires manufactured anywhere in 2010 to late 2009.

There's no reason to accept a new set of tires older than that. If they were I'd pass.

Good luck.

Hurraah!
Bob

steve8

Interesting question.
I don't know the answer, but 5 years???

Oldvetter

The Tire Industry would like to see 6 years old as the recommended life of a tire, but have not been successful.

The way the tires are stored/used makes a LOT of difference. Sun light and ozone are the worse things to age tires (garage kept cars and not near any electric motors are best).

$$$frumnuttin'

you can flame me if you like, but that 6 year thing is for the average tire, not the high performance stuff we deal with here. First, the construction of our Z rated tires is so superior to the ordinary one it isn't an issue. Secondly, if you store your tires in a garage or basement away from ozone and UV exposure your tire surface will be protected against cracking and excessive evaporation of oils and plasticizers present in the original rubber compound. I am currently on pilot sports that are 8 years old, and I have no concerns. I check the durometer readings and they do not waver from original. google it if you don't speak automotive engineering jargon.

Yello95

wtf?

Jistari

hattitude

Tire manufacturers like to say that 7 years is the max tire life, regardless of wear. There is, in fact, some science behind those claims.

I'm sure things like where stored, temp, UV exposure and all will affect the true life span. Also, if manufacturers are claiming 7 years, I'm sure there is a fudge factor built in.

But having said that, in a tire that has an 84 month life span, 8 months on the shelf is about 10% of the tire's usable life. If someone wanted to sell me a tire minus 10% of its usable life, they better be offering a discount.

Buying a 6 month old tire (7.1% of it's usable life) off the shelf, is about as old as I would accept without a discount.

FWIW........

$$$frumnuttin'

Here's some more info. I just talked with Discount Tire manager while buying new tires for my spyder wheels coming next week. He stated it is their policy to NOT work on anything over 10 years old. This means if you are running anything over 10 years old, and you have a nail or screw causing a slow leak, or whatever, Discount Tire is forbidden to make a repair, regardless of tread depth, etc. So, moral of the story is, drive the **** out of your vettes!...and hold off on the 'garage queen' attitude!

$$$frumnuttin'

I think it's more like 9!