Replace tires due to age

[JMHC]

I have a 1998 Trans Am that I bought about 5 years ago. The Bridgestone tires that are on it look perfect--the tread is nearly new and there are no cracks in the sidewalls, the tread blocks, or tread. The thing is, the date code indicates they were made in 2004, so they are now 10 years old. All manufacturers, Continental, BF Goodrich, Michelin, Goodyear, and Bridgestone recommend replacing tires after 10 years regardless of appearance. I store the car in winters, and only drive it about 2000 miles a summer. My drives are usually no more than 1 hour in length, and a country drive will consist of 60 MPH sustained driving with some 80+ acceleration runs with an occasional smokey burnout. Right now I can get a great deal on some BF Goodrich tires at Sam's Club for the car. My wife thinks I'm nuts for replacing tires that look new...but I've seen a lot of info where 10+ year old tires have tread separation and catastrophic failure. I really don't want to get hurt, nor do I want to damage the car which is in great shape with only 69K on it. What makes me hesitate is that I store the car in winter so it sees no salt, and I only drive it a couple days a weeks.

So what would you guys do? What are your thoughts on replacing tires in this situation? I appreciate any input! The deal ends Sunday so I have to act quick!

 

[Doog]

You will be a believer when you have a tire come apart at 60mph. I replace all tires at 6 years.

 

[redcon1]

Don't know much about tread separation but my experience with aging tires is you can tell immediately because of the traction loss, particularly in the wet. I've had some tires last lots longer than others.

For example, I put new Kuhmo KH16 tires on my daughter's Ford Escort when we purchased it. Now, 6 years later with occasional use by my daughter who is a student, the treadwear is minimal but the traction is terrible. So much so that we will replace the tires again this spring.

 

[Kuato]

Several extended smoky burnouts (please post on Youtube) and your rears will have to be replaced. ;D


Choice between money and blowout at speed is an easy one.

 

[JMHC]

Originally Posted By: Kuato
Several extended smoky burnouts (please post on Youtube) and your rears will have to be replaced. ;D


Choice between money and blowout at speed is an easy one.


You'd be surprised! I've only done a few, but it seems to have not affected these tires at all. They are wearing like iron. Seems like the consensus so far is 10 years is long enough...safety first.

 

[IndyIan]

Do they have decent traction in the wet?
If your storage doesn't get too cold in winter I'd think they are good for a few more years.
My experience with old tires has been low budget autocrossing and doing some low speed lapping with street legal R-compounds and with some being much older than 10 years. No structural failures and the rubber even got sticky again when heated up. I went through 6 or 7 sets over a few years and they all wore to the cords out without a problem

I guess I've never had a tire structurally fail as I do replace them when wet traction gets too bad, which seems to be 7 or 8 years of DD use. 2k miles/year and stored inside does help extend their useful life IMHO.

 

[JMHC]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Do they have decent traction in the wet?
If your storage doesn't get too cold in winter I'd think they are good for a few more years.
My experience with old tires has been low budget autocrossing and doing some low speed lapping with street legal R-compounds and with some being much older than 10 years. No structural failures and the rubber even got sticky again when heated up. I went through 6 or 7 sets over a few years and they all wore to the cords out without a problem

I guess I've never had a tire structurally fail as I do replace them when wet traction gets too bad, which seems to be 7 or 8 years of DD use. 2k miles/year and stored inside does help extend their useful life IMHO.


So another piece of info that's important--I don't drive the car in the rain, so I have no clue as to wet performance. In the dry it seems to still be good.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I made my father replace the original tires on his 2001 F350 in 2011. They still had 80% traction ... but were cracking and super dry.

 

[Wilhelm_D]

Originally Posted By: JMHC
.... The thing is, the date code indicates they were made in 2004, so they are now 10 years old. All manufacturers, Continental, BF Goodrich, Michelin, Goodyear, and Bridgestone recommend replacing tires after 10 years regardless of appearance. .....

Read and weep:

Tire Aging #1

Tire Aging #2

Six to ten years seems to be the limit. The problem is the only way to test the tires is to push them to failure. Have a "friend" conduct the test and if he makes it back ....

 

[Chris142]

I thought the safe limit was 6 yrs. A seperated tire can do some serious damage. The tires that were on my truck when i bought it were 9 yrs old,looked great but i replaced them that week.

 

[deanm11]

Inside/outside most of the time, long exposure to sun and temperature range experienced has to have a big impact. Agreed hard to evaluate well just from looks but the environmental experience has to shade the mid-point replace point, whether that mean/mid-point is 6, 8 or 10yrs.

 

[JMHC]

Originally Posted By: deanm11

Inside/outside most of the time, long exposure to sun and temperature range experienced has to have a big impact. Agreed hard to evaluate well just from looks but the environmental experience has to shade the mid-point replace point, whether that mean/mid-point is 6, 8 or 10yrs.


The car is garaged 90% of the time, but temperature ranges are pretty high here. This winter the insulated but unheated garage got into the teens and 20's, and in the summer we hit 80's and 90's. Sun exposure is very limited, except for when I drive it to work once or twice a week. Still I know, this is all subjective. There is no definitive answer.

 

[4D-56]

Change them, and post here for many more days

 

[krismoriah72]

Sell tires on craigslist. Be honest about age. They may find a home on a classic car that only sees car shows.

 

[bullwinkle]

Weird thing is, Bridgestone truck tires seem to be the toughest and longest lasting of any tire-I have 2 Dueler Revo 1s on the front of my F-450 with a 2002 date code-and they both look brand new.

 

[powayroger]

I agree. Wait until they fall apart on the freeway at freeway speeds. I had a set of Michelins with 75,000 on them with lots of tread still left and one day, one of the tires fell apart. I quickly replaced the rest of the tires.

 

[440Magnum]

Obviously the safest option is to spend money and (presumably) guarantee that you have safer tires. In fact I think there would be a liability if a tire dealer told you otherwise in today's litigious climate.

But I have yet to hear a convincing argument of exactly HOW the structural part of an undamaged tire deteriorates simply due to age. The first few micrometers of rubber- YES: UV and ozone cause it to deteriorate. But the cords? The internal rubber packed around the cords, totally protectd from UV and isolated from chemical attack unless there are punctures? I just don't get it. I never HAVE gotten it, and I've run a couple of sets of tires (admittedly on low annual mileage vehicles like my '69) for well over 10 years. Would I take them out and run at 80 on I-10 to El Paso? Probably not- but is that just because I've caught an irrational fear? I honestly don't know.

 

[zzyzzx]

I still have 1998 tires on a 1999 car that's garaged and only has 40K miles on it. The tires still look like new and really don't have much treadwear on them. The 6 year limit is for cars parked outside in parts of the country where tires get a lot of heat and sunlight (like most of the SW US). If you garage the car, you should still be fine at 10 years if the tires look and ride OK. Just keep your eye ope for any particularly good sales than might come along.

 

[Danh]

A few years ago, I replaced a set of winter tires with lots of tread left because they were 10 years old. Bought replacements at TireRack and had them installed by one of their local "certified" installers, which was a Goodyear dealer. I told the dealer I was replacing the tires because of age, paid the mounting, balancing and tire disposal fee and went on my way.

The tires weren't balanced just right (surprise!) so I came back a couple weeks later. Guess what were neatly stacked for sale on the showroom floor? Yup, my 10 year-old tires. Guess the "professionals" don't care much about age...

 

[Cardenio327]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
But I have yet to hear a convincing argument of exactly HOW the structural part of an undamaged tire deteriorates simply due to age. The first few micrometers of rubber- YES: UV and ozone cause it to deteriorate. But the cords? The internal rubber packed around the cords, totally protectd from UV and isolated from chemical attack unless there are punctures? I just don't get it. I never HAVE gotten it, and I've run a couple of sets of tires (admittedly on low annual mileage vehicles like my '69) for well over 10 years. Would I take them out and run at 80 on I-10 to El Paso? Probably not- but is that just because I've caught an irrational fear? I honestly don't know.


I'll offer an explanation, lets not call it an argument:

In my training at a Firestone factory they explained it in this manner:

Tires are made up of many individual components. Many of these components are different compounds of rubber. Each compound of rubber will vulcanize at a different rate. Accelerants and retardants are added to the different rubber compounds to ensure that they all finish vulcanizing at precisely the same moment. The accelerants continue to work once the vulcanizing process stops, the final result being the degradation of certain rubber components after 6 to 10 years. Sunlight, heat, air pollution, &c. have their role as well, but the accelerants are what cause the internal components to degrade.

Tires from years ago most likely had a much longer shelf life. My Dad has a pair of new General 7.50-16LT tires sitting in an wall-less shed that still look to be in good shape. They have been sitting there for 20 years.

Manufacturers also may add accelerants to speed up the vulcanizing process. Time is money. At Firestone's Cuernavaca plant each vulcanizing machine can only vulcanize four tires at a time. There are ranks and files of these machines, each is about the size of an automobile, and must cost a fortune to purchase and operate. If I remember right Firestone vulcanizes automobile tires for 9 minutes. Each additional minute would greatly increment the cost of the tire.