buffed1978

I bought new tires for my vette 6 years ago they have less then 10,000 miles on them they look like new.I have been told that I should replace them because of how old they are.The last thing I want is to blow one while driving on the highway.The tires are BF GOODRICH TA.What do you guys think.I had the tire shop look at them last week when I brought the car out of storage from the winter.They said they look alright but they said they want say to keep them because of liability.

GR8DAIN

I don't see why they should be replaced if they look OK and the car's been garaged much of the time. They do get bad over time but this is probably much depending on the environment and your drive habits. Again, I wouldn't change them.

spookytooth

The only thing I could find on replacing tires because of age and not wear was a time frame of seven years. I would think that if your tires show no outward signs of degradation, and short of a long trip or autocross event you will be fine for at least a few more years.

Roughrider

Of course anything can happen, but six years and less than 10k miles isn't much to be concerned about, especially if the car has been garaged and the tires kept properly inflated.

The main enemy of a tire is heat. Given proper inflation and alignment and balance, heat is what wears a tire. Underinflation builds up heat fast in a tire. Heat buildup over time will change the rubber composition and while it has tread, the compound will get hard and not grip like it once did.

While tire seller and makers will tell you about six years is about as long a tire will last regardless of miles, they're really covering their butts, though after they sell you the tire they no longer have any control over tire car, storage, etc. They do have a point as far as that goes.

As long as you see no cracking in the sidewall, no low speed squealing when cornering, and you maintain the air pressure and keep the tires clean, etc., I see no reason to be overly concerned.

Richard454

My chain of thought?

4 new tires ~$500

Replacing a fender when the tire seperates
- a lot more than $500

jackson

I'm not a materials engineer.

Tires go bad just setting around ... there're small, slow chemical reactions that're functions of both temp, time, ozone etc.

Typically, cold slows reactions & heat speeds them.

Seems these 6 year old tires are routinely stored in Canada?

Maybe it's routinely rather cold in ? albernini ?

It's quite different here in southeast usa ... it gets hot! ... old tires in a warehouse go bad as rubber's oils are cooked out & tires dry up & get hard ............. I remember a race at myrtlebeach speedway a couple years back where the "Track spec tire" were trucked in as usual ... only this time they were too old & been stored too hot .... tires were junk, race was junk!

Call it an elongated D4DR gene or just plain dumbazz, but I ran a set of OLD OE BELTED tires that were dry & hard as a brick but NOT cracked ... poor handling but they saw several road bursts above 100 & a couple years on hot SC roads.

Jud Chapin

I recently did some research on this recently as the tires on my '76 were about 10 years old with 10k miles or so on them. The general consensus of tire business is that they should be replaced at around the 10 year mark. That is assuming they have been out of the sun (ultra violet rays) as this greatly reduces tire life. This 10 year mark assumes also that there is no dry rot or any other tire problems. As a result, I replaced the entire set.

rihwoods

Check for bead cracking...if OK...don't worry about it...

dannyman

Are you racing this car at the track? If so, change the tires.

No one here wants to tell you to go ahead and use the old tires; just to have you have an incident and cause damage to your car or worse! If it was me I would check over the tires for signs of deterioration, checking or cracking in the rubber on the sidewalls would probably be the most obvious sign of imminent failure. Continue to check on a weekly basis until you feel comfortable with the tires.

Are you carrying a spare?

Pretty sure a tire company will say lifespan of 5-7 years!

71 Green 454

I bought BFG TA's for my '71 in 1990 and they might have 500 miles on them...still look good. Prior to that, other set (Goodyear's) were purchased in 1978 and they cracked pretty bad just from age. My original spare looks good too, but I certainly wouldn't drive very far on it.

Fuelie74

The BFG TA's on my 74 are at least 14 years old. The car had only seen 1700 mile in 10 years before I got it. I am planning on replacing them late summer or early fall. But I haven't had a problem with them in the last 5,000 miles or so that I put on them.

stock76

I had a tread separation on one of my Goodrich T/As at about 12,000 miles. They were ten years old and still looked new. I mentioned to the shop how old they were when I brought the car in and they strongly recommended I replace all four due to their age. (I did).

The internet research I did pretty much gave the safe lifespan of a tire to be six to eight years regardless mileage or how it was stored. They just start deteriorating. All sources I "googled" said any tire ten years old should be replaced. There are date codes on tires that give the maunfacturing date so you can make sure the tires you buy are "fresh" and not something that has been sitting in inventory slowly deteriorating. While it is not against the law to sell a brand new ten year old tire that has been sitting in inventory here in the USA, there are laws in Europe against doing it.

It is impossible to determine the condition of a tire just by a visual, unless you see a bubble or a nail. Looking at it doesn't show whats going on inside the tire.

There are some other good threads about this topic on this forum if you do a search.

My "new" set will be replaced when they hit the six year mark regardless of mileage or how they look. Tires are a lot cheaper than Medical bills, lawsuits, or major fiberglass repairs.

vetteguy75

According to the news:



Chrysler: Change tires after 6 years

Beginning in 2006, all Ford and Chrysler vehicles will highlight threat of older rubber.

By Jeff Plungis / Detroit News Washington Bureau

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WASHINGTON -- DaimlerChrysler AG is advising U.S. customers to replace new car and truck tires after six years, even if there is no sign of wear, beginning with 2006 models.

The warning will be placed in Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep owners' manuals, following a practice the company established in Europe. A few 2005 Chrysler Group models carry the warning.

"Tires and spare tire should be replaced after six years, regardless of the remaining tread," the warning reads. "Failure to follow this warning can result in sudden tire failure. You could lose control and have an accident resulting in serious injury or death."

Ford Motor Co. began warning customers to replace older tires on its Web site a few weeks ago. It will also include a warning with all 2006 models.

The companies are responding to new research that suggests tires can degrade rapidly as they get older, regardless of how much they are used.

Chrysler spokesman Max Gates said the tire warning was added as part of an ongoing review of safety information provided in owners' manuals. "We're trying to get our customers to focus on tire maintenance," Gates said. "It is important to raise this issue. It's often overlooked."

The moves by Ford and Chrysler represent a break from the U.S. tire industry, which insists the research about tire aging is inconclusive. The Rubber Manufacturers Association says there is no set period after which all tires represent a safety risk.

You can reach Jeff Plungis at (202) 906-8204 or jplungis@detnews.com.

marines

I work part-time (retired) at Sears Automotive for something to do and to get away from the house. One thing I have noticed, frequently, are tires that have plenty of tread but are 5 years old or older. If one looks closely aging cracking is usually present. This can be on the sidewall or interior sidewall of tire. Personally, just like a battery, after five years they go. I am not willing to take the chance of a blowout from separation or other problems caused by old tires. It is not worth your life, or someone else's, or even your car due to faulty old tires.

markdtn

Michelin did a study on truck tires and said 7 years max life. I have tires older than that on my car, but I will change them in the next year.

Ron R

Two things to consider that affect the tires reliability:

1. Ultraviolet rays accelerate dry rot, so tires stored outside (or on a car that's parked outside) will deteriorate faster than tires stored inside.

2. The longer a car sits still, the more likely it is that you're going to have tire problems later. Sitting on the same spot for extended periods of time leads to flat spots. On heavy vehicles, it can actually warp the steel belts so you end up with a lopsided tire that isn't going to last long.

3. You can't always see dry rot! I bought a trailer once that had been sitting in a guy's yard for two years. The tires that were on it were only 8 years old. Visual inspection revealed nothing unusual, but on the way home (from Alabama to Florida) I ended up with 3 blow-outs on the trip home, losing both of the passenger-side tires (was a double axle trailer) about an hour apart from each other, and the spare I left with 3 hours after that. Interestingly, the tires on the drivers side made it the whole way home.

So why did this happen? Because the passenger side was the side that faced the sun - the other side was in the shade up against the owner's house. Every day the sun would come up and beat down on that side of the trailer for two years, and a portion of the spare that was visible to the sun. On my way home one tire went out first and I replaced it with the spare. Then an hour later the other one on that side went out, so I left the trailer on the side of the road and bought a new tire and a new spare from a tire shop. Then 3 hours later the spare that came with the trailer blew out - fortunately I had bought a new spare at the tire shop. So now the right-side of the trailer had two new tires, and the left side had two old tires. I was about 4 hours from home and it was the middle of the night so I drove 55 the rest of the way home without issue and bought 3 more tires for the drivers side the next day.

If it hadn't been a double-axle trailer things could have gone really bad. And I don't want to think about what could have happened if that had been a car, because these things were literally SHREDDED like someone had put a bomb inside the tire and hit the remote detonation button.

Now tires aren't something I mess with anymore. Even though they're probably still good for a few more years, it's cheaper to buy new tires than a new kid or new car so when the tires hit the five year mark I replace them. If the tread is good you can sell them to a used tire place, they'll usually give you a few bucks for em - selling them a set of four is usually at least enough to pay for one of the new tires you're buying so it offsets it a little.

400hp427vette

well there goes having an original spare. Guess thats way to old

71 Green 454

Yeah, I guess my original spare is only worth what the wheel is worth.

Ron R

It's valuable for a show car ... it's not going to explode backing on and off the trailer. Other than that, DO NOT EVER mount that tire on the car and go for a drive - very very dangerous.

71 Green 454

What...you wouldn't want this tire on my '71 LS5 coming towards you on a curve on Bearss ave.???

Just kidding, I'm just keeping all of the original stuff on the car in case the next owner wants it. The last time I used this spare was in 1978 when I had a flat tire going down 581 (now Bruce B. Downs) on my way to Brooksville.