scottmoyer

We've all been hearing about tires shredding due to age and dry rot. For those that have not seen the news stories or experienced it, here's a video worth watching.

I know some are asking how this is thirdgen related so I'll answer with this...my 3rd gen has tires that I put on in 2000. They might have been manufactured in 1999 making them 9 years old. I am starting to see some surface cracking and they are definitely harder than new. With only 8k miles on them, I should be good for a few more years, right? I'm going to look for tires tomorrow. We have a lot of low mile original cars on this board and this seems appropriate.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897

Tehsocks

WOW!

what a shocker! last christmas mom went to KAL tire and got 4 brand new pirelli's put on my car.

just checked the date on them

41st week of 2001.

unbelievable.

Jaime-TA-84

iTrader: (1)

Link not working anymore

Edit: Nevermind. It works now.

Dang! Now I have to go out and look at my tires' date codes

ruberbanman126

wow, thank you for that information, i will be sure to check the tires on my car, my moms car and my dads car tomorrow.

Guest

The surface cracking is what you should be worried about, not the 9 years. If its significant, good idea to change them. Climate and location along with the compound can have an effect on the tire as well, I've seen some go bad within a couple years (from the date on the tire).

TOM-1LE

Great story. It's for this reason that I took the original 16-year-old tires off my car and stored them away. They still look OK, but are definitely getting hard, and I was worried about driving on them.

Sonymaster20

iTrader: (3)

I know what you mean tom it can get dangerous. Good video. I remember seeing this and was also concerned but didn't know it was still available. Also if you have a blowout on your car, it really does some damage.. one of my GFX got screwed up good by a previous owner due to a blow out. so changing out your tires is a good idea instead of having to do excess bodywork..

yevgenievich

iTrader: (4)

So that's what those $40 a tire specials are.
I'm glad i'm getting rid of 30 year old tires i had. But now i need to check those new tires i got a year ago.

Saber

iTrader: (2)

When i first bought my car, it had tires on it that were like 11 years old, i had it up on jacks and when i let the car down the front tire split right up the sidewall.

Jaime-TA-84

iTrader: (1)

Cool! Just checked the date codes on my tires (Fuzion HRi) and the rear tires are from 2006 and the front tires are from 2007.

Guy In A 90 RS

HOLY CRAP!

That video definitely woke my *** up.

I've been looking around for new tires 'cause I'm in need. The tires on the RS were on it when I bought it. The driver's side front is cracking along the sidewall. It appears to be a cheap-o tire by "Dominator". The other three are Kumho's. The scary part is I was considering a couple of places mentioned in the video- Sears, and yes, even wondered about WAL-MART. (In the event that I didn't have a decent amount of cash. Which I don't right now) Even today I was shopping at Wally World and noticed they had a $55 special on Goodyear's. Hmph.

Now the part where I about crapped my pants- was after seeing the video I went outside and checked tire dates. And (If I read the proper code) found that the Kumho's are over 4 years old. (27th week of 2004) And that the cracked tire ***which is even more cracked than I ever noticed before*** is over 5 years old. (18th week of 2003). Where the tread meets the side wall, its splitting, pretty deep. And it probably doesn't help that I often really like to take the corner's. . .

So first thing tomorrow I'm getting tires- Maybe at Les Schwab or America's Tire- dunno. Was thinking Goodyear or Bridgestone. I'll dive into my savings account most likely. But who cares- better safe than sorry.

Thanks for posting the link to the video. It made a difference.

Seriously, thank you.

webeeZ28

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for posting this Scottmoyer. Very valuable information!

85 T/A WS6

Petrol based products made to make you sidewalls shine will break your tires down and parking on cement floors in a long term storage scenario will bleed em dry.

Kevin84Z28

iTrader: (3)

I've read everybody's post so far and I think that some people are getting it and other's may not. It's not about having tires for X amount of years and now their showing signs of wear and they might come apart, It's about buying what you think is a brand new tire when in fact they could be 10+ years old already. It's a safety video for sure but it really is about consumer fraud when they sell you a tire that's already past it's "shelf life."

Cali Z

Eagle F1s on my Camaro looked to be from 2001, I'm not seeing any cracking or unusual hardness to them though, I hope they are ok.

Kevin84Z28

iTrader: (3)

What year did you buy them?

TIMMYS89GTA

iTrader: (28)

yeah,if you see cracking in the rubber thats not good.
When they start dryrotting they come apart fairly easily when they get driven on (especially on hot Fl. highways!)
good info! Thanks Scott!! And BTW,change your tires!!
On another note.
What can be done about these tire shops?
I bought new tires for my car last year and the shop charged me a $3 disposal fee for each tire.
I went by the same shop a week later for something else,and they were pulling my OLD tires off the rack to install on a customers car!
I asked the guy how much those tires cost and he said $15 each plus the mounting/balancing which was another $8 per tire!!
Whats up with that?????????!!!!!!!!!!

Sonymaster20

iTrader: (3)

Wow . I would go to another tire shop. Thats chicken $/-/IT. How do you know your tires weren't someone else's with armor all on them?
Not very reputable At all..

And a 3$ fee? No tire shop charges that.. Atleast discount tire doesn't. Bull.

Kevin84Z28

iTrader: (3)

Can they even sell used tires?... Never ever heard of that. Remember when they used to sell re-treads or re-caps...Now they only do those for semi-trucks.

355tpipickup

iTrader: (5)

very interesting....now im goin to go check all my tires!

TIMMYS89GTA

iTrader: (28)

yep,tire places around here do sell used tires!
The shop in question charged me almost $15 to DISPOSE of my old tires and then turned around and sold them to some poor guy that couldn't afford brand new tires for $15 each plus the mounting/balancing fee!
Thats just wrong AFIK!

Reid Fleming

iTrader: (2)

I agree. If you're driving in Arizona on blacktop roads that can fry eggs, you have a better chance of getting dry rot than somebody who drives in Oregon as a summer car only and then is stored in the winter.

I took my Gatorbacks off in 2007. They were the original factory installed tires. Car was made in August 1988. Still had 5/32nds of tread left. Had 'em up over 100 mph many times.

Of course that was when I lived in Canada, and only drove them in the summer (75° outside), garage stored year round. In Texas I've been told that people go through tires a lot faster due to the constant heat as well as increased UV ratings. (A HOT summer day in western Canada would be 8 on the UV scale. It's 11+ in TX quite often during the summer)

I blew up my new GS-D3 on the highway when it was 4 months old. Go figure. (Steel chunk on the road, about the size of a throwing star)

I'd be worried about old tires if they were on a daily driver. But most daily drivers tend to wear out tires in a couple years of driving. Although with front wheel drive cars, you can drag those back end tires around forever it seems.