I've heard that tires should be replaced after 10 years, regardless of wear, because the softening agents used during manufacture dry up. This makes the tire hard and that reduces traction. The BF Goodrich's on my '88 Trans Am have offered excellent performance in the past, and still have plenty of tread left. But this summer, they have been noticeably less grippy. I'll probably replace them next summer before they get to the point of being dangerous to drive on. Is there any way to extend the life of my next set of tires beyond 10 years?

 

The issue isn't grip that I am aware of as much as it is sidewall strength. In our car club some people have tried to go beyond the 10 year limit and some have gotten away with it, but quite a few have had blowouts at highway speeds which is quite dangerous. One gentleman's blowout destroyed his rim and damaged his bodywork. A car in Canada cannot be certified with tires that are over 10 years old so if you go beyond 10 years you may have an insurance issue. My 1986 Firebird still had the original tires on it when I bought the car in 2022, but the car had not been on the road since 1994 so if it sits in a garage and doesn't get driven your OK. Those old 1986 tires off of my car are now happily installed on a hay wagon, where speed is not an issue.
Original 1986 Goodyear Eagle GT tires had good tread and no weather checking on the outside, but on the inside there was weather checking..

 

For some reason the picture in my post does not seem to be uploading? A conundrum!!
Maybe it will show up later?

 

Keep them out of the sun and away from moisture.
I have no problem with 10 or 15 year-old tires IF there is no visible dry-rot and if the tread is good, BUT I would not be driving 100+mph on them...

 

I can see the pic. Maybe it just took a few minutes to update?

Anyway, it sounds like a good idea to do a close inspection of the inside sidewall of the tires as well. But thus far, everything I've looked at is great -- no signs of cracking or dry rot. But like I said, I have noticed a little less grip this summer than in previous years.

 

Here's how I look at it. Is being cheap with old tires worth a potentially very expensive body shop bill or worse? It's just not a risk I'm willing to take. I've seen enough old tires blow up and damage body panels that I will never run a set past 5-6 years. When I bought my Iroc in March, it had almost brand new looking Eagle GT HRs on it. They were over 10 years old though so I replaced them.

 

ive got some 15 year olds on a 69 camaro. stored indoors most their lives, not a crack or issue with them.
Now this camaro goes to the local car show once or twice a year, and might see 20 miles or so a year.

id put some fresh rollers on if i was going across country

 

Take 'em out and use 'em for that they're good for, after 10 years.....a MASSIVE F'N HORROR SHOW! Do donuts! Brake stands! Neutral drops! Roll backs and J-strips! F-YEAH!!

Then go buy new tires.

Old tires are unsafe and can even be DIABOLICAL Solution is HERE in post #45.

 

I've got a few drag racing tires that are well past the best before date. 20 years and counting. ET Streets bias ply slicks and McCreary Road Star dirt tires. I wouldn't use them in anger despite their outward pristine appearance. They're both low mileage and have been stored indoors but looks can be deceiving. One fellow racer commented that he wouldn't want to be in the next lane if he knew how old those skins were. I took that to heart.
That said, next swap meet that comes my way and I'll put them up for sale because as Tom said, they'd be great burnout tires. Especially in a competition sense. Then it's caveat emptor and if you shred a quarter panel, well, you knew going in.

 

Tell yourself that you just put them on and pray

 

I think to make a tire last longer than a decade, you'd need to be sealing it in an airtight room, in the dark, at a consistent temperature. Not realistic with how tires are used.

Burnouts are the best though, especially when you've got rubber to use up.

 

What I'm reading here is that no one knows of any steps that will prevent time-related deterioration of tires, with the possible exception of locking them in a dark, airtight, temperature-controlled room.

As for burn-outs, they're not nearly as much fun without a PosiTraction rear end. And the car has nice paint that I wouldn't want to coat with melted rubber. I think the lesson here is to take corners harder when the tires are new. Might as well use up the tread having fun rather than throwing the tire away after 10yrs with good tread still on it.

 

If you have a garage, that is sufficient. If you park the car outside or drive it daily, they're gonna deteriorate.
If you're gonna be driving at high speeds, don't do it on old tires. Just cruising around town is NOT going to be a problem on tires with good tread AND no visible cracks (dry-rot)...

 

anyone here ever see the video of the Thirdgen practically breaking in half when a tire exploded in a burnout contest?

Broke the Thirdgens back.

no sir. Don’t screw around with old tires. Best case bad traction. Medium case blowout.

worst case totaled car.

 

Sure they are...just do what ya gotta do to get 'em BOTH going....and then GIV'R!!

Masking tape.

Yep. But you're way, way, WAY past that point now, so....light 'em up! Post pics right here, for our viewing pleasure.

 

Your life is worth more than a set of tires. 9-10 yrs change them out brother

 

No.

 

'Sorry, but it's just a myth that tires are automatically bad and dangerous after 5 years of age. But do what you want. Spend your money any way you like...

 

OP's tires are 10 years.

 

I mean, I'd drive mildly to the grocery store on 10 year old tires if they didn't have any checking / signs of rot.

But there's no way they aren't hard, and hard tires suck for everything except burnouts. My current tires are probably 10 years old now I can't really sling it into a 90 degree corner at speed because the grip gets unpredictable (i.e. snap understeering). I can't full throttle launch without spinning on the street either, old hard tires just put a performance cap on everything.

 

I also agree that 10 years is a good number for max age of tires, and that's for a garaged vehicle. If it lives outside, you'll like start seeing sidewall cracks around the 6-7 year mark.

I bought a 1999 Camaro SS in 2016 with 12K miles and original Goodyears. The car had always been garaged and tires looked great, but had no grip. I drove the car home and a little bit around town and then replaced the tires. I didn't trust them not to blowout and the lack of grip, especially cornering was unnerving.

As far as doing burnouts to kill off old tires, done plenty of that, but just a warning. If you do that with a very old tire, there's a real concern of a blowout that will do some damage to the body of your car. A buddy of mine at high school graduation put in a set of 15 year old tires on the back of his '83 Berlinetta and lost the tread cap on one of the tires while doing a brakestand. Luckily only a minor scrape to the paint on his quarter panel. The tire still held air, surprisingly. Drove a couple miles home on the tire carcass.

 

Ive always sprayed silicone on my tires in the winter , my set from 1982 are still nice, I do not drive on them though.

depends how much yiu drive. I don’t drive much, my tires are like 24 years old.

 

It's all a crap shoot. Newer tires with modern compounds tend not to last as long as older counterparts. But that is just a very general statement and there are a lot of exceptions. I used to trust decent condition car tires (truck tires are a different ball of wax) no matter the age. I've got some that I run that are 20+ years old and they are doing fine, but they are on cars where some incedental body damage won't be the end of the world. On the other hand, one of my nicer cars has tires that look and feel like brand new, but they are over 10 years old and I'll be replacing them this spring.

 

When I bought my 87 Monte Carlo SS, the tires had good tread on them, but I was unsure of the age. I did notice some traction issues. But the issue hit me right in the face one day during a routine left turn onto an on-ramp. A car was coming up on me in the rear kind of fast so I made the turn a little faster, but nothing crazy. Suddenly, the rear of my Monte veered right 90 degrees to the onramp. I quickly turned the wheel right as fast as I could. The rear end of the car went left, then I turned the wheel quickly as I could to the left. I eventually straightened it out and stopped on the side of the onramp then got out of car shaking. Folks were starring at me, driving past slow. I drove home very carefully. I removed the stock wheels with those awful tires and bought aftermarket wheels and new Firestone Indy 500 summer tires. On my second set now. I still have the stock wheels, but I had the shop remove and discard the tires.

Fred

 

these are the date codes of the tires on my customers 23 t bucket.
he drives it every weekend..