killain

Seems a guy had ten year old tire on his sports car. they looked perfect but they were so old that at highways speed one blew and he rolled the car. In England they now don't allow tires older than ten years old to be used. I know when i bought my car it had fifteen year old Michleins that were so hard you could berely push in on the sidewall. I suppose there is some mirit to outlawing tires older than reasonable. They were noting that tires today seem to be abused more than in years past?

Matt Gruber

my 67 galaxie has 15 year old tires :eek:
and the spare is about 30 :eek: :eek:
But the front on my 61 are almost new, only 9 :eek:
my 72 only 4 !!!!

Metal Wulf

not a problem for me, my tires only last a couple years before they're bald anyways... :jester

77-C3 & 89-C4

I had summer jobs at Bell Canada and one of the safty lessons was to inspect the safty rubber gloves and they made it very clear any rubber item over 5 years old was not to be used, Because of the break-down of the rubber. I will never have tires older then 5 years on any car period. The 1st thing I did to the 77 is buy new tires. The previous owner did not know how old they were. If you ever bought a ferrari the owners manual states to replace the tires evry 5 years regardless of tread wear. Not a big secret Just the scum tire companies could keep on selling their old tires

Matt Gruber

here in FL the sun is brutal on rubber.
But my 67 is only out of the garage 10 miles a month. Last month i took the wheels off to rebuild the brakes and i carefully inspected the tires. NO signs of age! I think the 10 year rule is good for cars not garaged.
And for spirited driving. my 67 doesn't know what a G is :D

Turbo-Jet

I have BFG Radial T/A's and they have an oldschool tread pattern that hasn't been available for years. How do I date them? I’m guessing at least 10 yrs old.

Tom73

Look at the S/N on the tire. The last digit is the year. Believe, but not certain, that the two digits before that is the week of the year (01-52). But the last digit is definitely the year.

tom...

Matt Gruber

yes, they saved a lot of money by eliminating one digit :lol:
my tires are 448
44th week
of 1998
or 1988
or 1978
or 1968
:confused:
the only dumber numbering was Y2K computers :crazy:

bigvette1

Interesting - I have the 73 and the BFG's looked good. Coming out of the garage I backed ove a clay flower pot and it cut the sidewall like a knife. Took the tire to store and the guy said he can not duplocate the tread pattern as it is obsolete. Looked at the serial # and the DOT stamp on the inside and said they were from 1986 only 17 years old.

Then the scary part, he stood on the case and jumped and the thing split inside the tread - what an accident waiting to happen. Dry rot. You bet I bought a new set for the next 17 years.

Moral - if the tires are old go have them checked. All you have to do is take one off, deflate it and stand on the side to see if the rubber starts to crack.

redvetracr

I have Goodyear tires on my race trailer and they have started to 'throw the tread" last year one and this year two (almost) at once. Those three are the ones that sit in the sun year round. ...redvetracr :cry

mayberg

That's precisely why I changed my vintage '84 Goodyear Eagle ST tires. Tread was fine, they were a bit hard, and I didn't want to have that happen to me.

Tom73

Very seldom, if ever, was a tire/tread combo manifactured for a ten year period.

Matt Gruber

Very seldom does a tire salesman stay at the same dealer 10 years :lol:
The code is a secret code for industry experts. One needs considerable tire knowledge PLUS the last digit to form an OPINION as to the decade of manufacture. A goodyear dealer might look at my Bridgestones and be sure they are 1978. Another might be sure they are 1998. The Bridgestone dealer might get it right, but they moved out of town.
All this subterfuge is so a dealer can sell an old tire without the date being obvious. :yesnod:


[Modified by Matt Gruber, 10:52 AM 9/25/2003]

SnoDrgn

deja vu
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=658454

:leaving:

Alwyn678

Tires are a lot cheaper than your life or tearing your car up :nono:

MN-Brent

I checked my tires last night and the DOT numbered date code is 393 meaning 39th week of 1993. (The older tires get the 3 digit date code). Its time to replace them babies. They are giving me some vibration at around 65 to 70 sometimes. I can also see the dry rotting a little bit on the sidewalls but the tread is still very good (60-70% left). These came on the car when I bought it 2 years ago. Im lucky nothing has happened.

My newer blazer tires date code is are 3100 which is the 31st week of 2000.

Sometime relatively recently the switch to the 4 digit date code must have come into effect.

Brent...

Paul Borowski

Now is probably a good time to buy tire company's stock :lolg:

signature pic red x

Matt Gruber

what are goodyear radiator hoses made of? They offer a lifetime guarantee. are they rubber? :skep:

Fevre

If they offer a lifetime guarantee on tires does in end when you die from them coming apart? :confused:

Matt Gruber

:p: