Old tires-dangerous?

[Ramblin Fever]

You know, I happened to have owned a set of those Firestone recalled tires years ago, had put them on a 3/4 ton Chevy 4x4 hauling a heavy camper and boat.

Tires had maybe 3k miles on them when we headed up to Alcova, Wyoming to go fishing for a week - back tire passanger side, while doing 65mph, blew.

Man was that a thrill trying to get that load over to the side of the road; tire had peeled like someone took a can-opener to it.

Long story short, Firestone replaced all 4 tires, no questions asked.

I have used other Firestone/Bridgestone tires since with fantastic results and don't hold Firestone at fault for anything - any manufactorer can come out with a defective product at some point.

I honestly feel that Ford was to blame for this too, as in their psi specs on the door, they are listed way low for a vehicle of that size. AND, if what Capriracer says is true, Ford keeping their psi at a lower level to prevent tip-overs, that tells me a lot about Ford and their responsibility in the tip-overs too.

I have seen first-hand from following a friend in a Ford Explorer, along the same path I've taken numerous times in my Isuzu Rodeo, how tipsy the Explorer really is.

Don't get me started on Goodyear tires.

 

[mrsilv04]

But the problem is, Goodyear made a tire for the Explorer to the same specs, and it had the same recommended inflation rating, yet didn't fail at the same rate as the Firestone. Why? It was simply a better designed, more robust tire.

Firestone used a design in the Wilderness tire that was known to be a problem as revealed in the massive 1978 Firestone 500 recall. The reason this risk was taken? To reduce cost, of course.

Part of the reason why the Goodyear tire was used less frequently as an OE tire in this fitment, was that it was a few percent more expensive. The safety of Ford products was compromised over a few dollars per vehicle.

The Firestone plant at Decatur did have a different way of making the tire. Not mentioned yet is that Decatur also was in the midst of a heated multi-year prolonged labor dispute which also led to tires that also had more failures. Over these years, Decatur earned the title of "Striketown, USA", becuase of labor problems at multiple local plants.

Increased tire failure rates were successfully charted to milestones in the labor problem. Remember, tires have time stamps on them... week and year. With the data, this can be done.

The Decatur plant was closed, is still empty, and the building is slowing crumbling away. Good riddance.

 

[unDummy]

Mileage is just 1 spec for tire replacement. Age, looks, and performance of a tire are the common criteria seriously overlooked by vehicle owners.

Tire manufacturers were looking to put expiration dates on tires. I think that they were looking to reduce 'lawsuits'.

IMO, if a tire is 5 years or older, replacement should definitely be considerd.

I personally don't care for tires that last forever. They just don't grip well. And, if the owners doesn't drive much, they will dry rot of the rim. But, marketing/sales seems to be driven by how many miles a tire will last and how cheap it costs. Consumers fall for it every time---contagious wallyworld attitude!

I also don't care for OE tire PSI recommendations. Most of the Explorer issues could been prevented with a 35psi tire recommendation. I vaguely remember that 26psi was the requirement by Ford(to cushion the ride quality of the archaic suspension in older exploerers). Add to that owners that didn't check their tire pressure, and owners that didn't know how to drive a truck, and lawsuit mayhem results. Even though Furstone got caught cutting corners, the lawsuit was overblown(like most are now).

 

[Russell]

1 have 58,000 miles on my bridgestone truanza tires which are 4 years old with 6/32 of tread left. No cracking, but they may also be replaced by winter depending on teh traction i have in teh fall rains. No rain yet though.

 

[Lonnie]

If you have old heat checked tires don't worry about replacing them. They will blow up and then you can replace them if you survive the accident. I had and old tire blow like that and it felt like a bomb went off. The tire had well over 50% of the tread left and I was just trying to get another summer out of them. Great way to save money. Save a few bucks on new tires and get killed doing it.

 

[Brett Miller]

I agree with Lonnie. Good rubber is the cheapest insurance.

 

[Russell]

Read my post, these tires on my BMW have no cracks, they are less than 4 years old and have half the tread left. The explorer tires do need replacing. So how about cutting me a bit of slack. I do know something about my own cars and tires. OK

 

[Lonnie]

I was writing about heat checked tires, not your tires. "If you have old heat checked tires..." I was trying to share my experience and warn others that the hazard of getting a few more years out of low mileage tires is a bad bet. I will revise my words, If you have old heat checked tires and you are not lucky enough to be driving a BMW .... The heat check problem probably only applies to other people's cars anyhow. You can also drive on your high pressure spare, too. Our international ambassadors from the south get a lot of use out of them. When they are out shopping for new tires they don't have to fumble with a jack and all that hassle. They can get a new tire by just taking the spare. And even if it's a high pressure spare they have rubber for a few more miles and it just takes a hammer and a pry bar. They are smart about using them too. They limit it to 2 on their car, one on each side so a cop only ever sees one at a time. Heat checked tires are so dangerous that they don't drive on them either.