Tires older than I thought, how bad is this dry rot?

[OCDriver]

Seems I misread the date code when I bought the tires, and they're older than I thought

They looked brand new with full tread, but the DOT code is 1809. All four tires look about the same as this. I don't see any similar dry rot in the tread. Tires are still soft and pliable.

These are winter tires. I have to drive a couple hundred miles in a few days. I'm debating whether I should swap in the newer all-seasons before I do since it's starting to get warmer.

 

[Muskieteer]

Not good.... I wouldn't risk it as Michelin says "There's alot riding on yer tires" Rotating tires on and off can also degrade the bead of the tires too.

 

[MParr]

10 year old tires. Not good!

 

[Macsignals]

As someone who had 7 year old Firestones that looked just like that let loose on the Jersey Turnpike... I wouldn't!!

 

[OCDriver]

Thanks for the replies, all. I'm going to install my all-season tires tomorrow and not worry about replacing these until next fall. The temps are getting above 0C/32F daily now and the all-seasons M+S rated.

 

[240_Ed]

Oof, that's nasty. I'd get those off ASAP, a long journey to put some heat in those and they may well go bang!

 

[Pelican]

Don't know where you are Cabada, but if you in southern BC or Ontario and even Qc take a look at the "All-Weather" tires.
This way you don;t have to switch.

 

[maxdustington]

That's nothing, run them!

 

[Spector]

Originally Posted by maxdustington
That's nothing, run them!



Agree that is pretty minor cracking and as long as the tread area does not have major cracks IMO okay. After 3-4 years in sun and ultraviolet rays mine always look like that

 

[geeman789]

If you looked closely at the tires on 5 year or older used cars / trucks, 50 % would look like this or worse ... very minor cracking, probably due to age. The outside tire rubber does not hold the air in the tire, there is a different, very air tight rubber lining on the inside of the tire.


The tires are 10 years old, but look to be in decent shape. Probably not going to hurt you if properly inflated ... but as others have said, EVERYTHING is riding on the tires ... !

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by Spector
Originally Posted by maxdustington
That's nothing, run them!



Agree that is pretty minor cracking and as long as the tread area does not have major cracks IMO okay. After 3-4 years in sun and ultraviolet rays mine always look like that
These are winters, so you have to take that into consideration. Winters will almost always be aged out, so old snowies that have a lot of tread are very common. When you combine that with low UV in the winter, you can have ten year old tires that look like they are a few years old. My snowies were around eight years old when I got them from the scrapyard, and they still had the nibs on them.

 

[SZR48207]

The surface you are seeing the cracking on is not necessarily the surface that holds air. You'll have to go on youtube or something and look for 'how a tire is made' to see that the outer appearance of a tire is added as the last step (the tread and sidewall parts), and on TOP of the part that holds the air. The two parts are heat molded together, but are distinct surfaces.

For this reason I think you're fine, but as you are seeing, a lot of people freak out anyway.

 

[c502cid]

As long as they are at proper pressure I'd run them for a few more seasons too.

 

[OCDriver]

Thanks guys, now I don't know what to think

 

[FordBroncoVWJeta]

Doesn't look bad at all. Looks like new old stock. I would probably run them and watch them. If you do a lot of highway/interstate driving I probably would switch them out though.

 

[maverickfhs]

I replaced some Goodyear, made in Murica this weekend because of some similar dry rot and cracking and they were from 2011.

After reading this thread I feel like I should get some spare rim and put those puppies back on and drive them until they are bald!

Good luck OP , subscribing to see what you decide.

 

[OCDriver]

Originally Posted by maverickfhs


Good luck OP , subscribing to see what you decide.



I'm planning to switch them out for my M+S all-seasons tomorrow. They're much newer (~2.5 years) and they handled the snow surprisingly well before I changed to winter tires last year.

 

[Dinoburner]

The two year old Mastercraft on the 95 GMC look just like that and I`m not sure about them either. But then the previous tires went 10 years with small cracks, what prompted change out was when cracks showed up in the tread suddenly.

 

[daves87rs]

Better replace. Better safe than dead....

 

[gfh77665]

Its got to the point here that ANYTHING short of a brand new tire, with 100% full tread depth is a "DEATH TRAP" that will soon kill you.

That tire is probabaly better that half the tires in use nationwide right now. Lets get a grip, folks.