Aged tires 20/20

[oilboy123]

News story
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=4826897


Tire rack date code info, explains about the 3 digit date codes.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

So the question is how old should a tire be before it's sold? I also don't see how unintended acceleration relates to old tires?

 

[JoeFromPA]

Reminds me of the 80s news story on Audi's "unintended acceleration" and standing on the brake pedal and still accelerating, supposedly...

 

[eljefino]

What a poorly done news piece. (And a Geraldo Rivera wannabe reporter) High on emotion (A little sneaker!) and low on facts. That warehouse full of wrecks was all SUVs but their topheavy contributions to the accidents was never mentioned. Then they asked PI attorneys... well of course!!

 

[ThirdeYe]

That's interesting. I just went to look at my Tires and I found that one I bought last winter when I had a flat was brand new, made in the 31st week of 2008. The other three tires didn't have a date code on the outside and I didn't feel like putting my car up on ramps to check the inside, but I'll try to check them when I do an oil change next. I don't necessarily think a tire that's more than 6 years old is a "ticking timebomb" though.

 

[Bluestream]

I wonder how many of the blow tires were driven under-inflated at some point in their life?

 

[daves87rs]

Hmmm...my GYs must be unsafe...they turn 6 years old next month.


At nearly 6 years, they still hold air very well....

 

[daves87rs]

I'm not sure how much stock I'd have in that story though...

 

[HTSS_TR]

I have two very old full size spare tires, 16 years old spare tire in my 1994 LS400 had been used once some years ago for few days, 10 years old spare tire in my 2000 E430 is brand new never used. What am I suppose to do with these old tires with either full tread or near full ? I think they are okay to be driven in city street but may not be safe on highway, specially on long distance.

 

[oilboy123]

Well I'm not telling anyone when to replace tires. The story is trying to inform and maybe scare people "part of the news drama".
That being said most people have no clue with tires and it's probably good for them to replace at 7 years. Especially when they run them low a few too many times.

I bought some Yokohama Avid Touring tires that had major sidewall cracking. I replaced them last year and have posted pictures on this forum. I bought a boat and towed it home in September 09. I believe the tires are original 1985. I made it home 30 miles OK, but you can see they are kind of starting to separate and degrade pretty bad.