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Old tyres - How safe .

deMort

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21 Mar 2015
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Interesting thread in the 993 section about tyre ages , how safe and when they should be changed .

Not everyone reads the 993 posts so i thought i would start one here as i feel its kind of important .

This is an interesting link but obviously only one point of view with some facts , im sure we could find others that counter act this but either way its worth a read i feel .


http://www.edmunds.com/car-care/how-old-and-dangerous-are-your-tires.html
 
ever heard of paul walker? am sure you have.

the bloke driving the Carrera gt did not help nor did 11 year old Michelin tyres was the report findings.

its your call at the end of the day but rubber does get old, brittle and degrades. I would never run anything past 5-6 years.

why do you think F1 teams love fresh new tyres....extremes I know but even after a few very hard miles that rubber 'is going off'

factor in winter as well when summer tyres start to tail off below 7 degrees....if you have old summer tyres then its even worse

why risk it? you have 4 small contact points on the road to keep your car on the road so why bother running 10 year old shagged tyres? its not just the tread or the depth...its the age, how they have been run, how many heat cycles etc etc.

surely people's live are worth more than £1k for a set of new boots?

there are many other factors other than age.....speed rating, weight ratings etc. loads of cars out there with the wrong ones on!
 
Out here, it's 3 years. My Pirelli P Zeros are cracked, and they're still so unworn, they still have the whiskers on.
 
MaxA said:
Out here, it's 3 years. My Pirelli P Zeros are cracked, and they're still so unworn, they still have the whiskers on.

The P Zero's are known for this (apparently), as I was advised by my local OPC.
 
Mine came with 10 year old tyres. An afternoon session at Oulton Park saw them ready for a decent burial, I was glad I hadn't done that to a new set.
 
On a performance car, I change mine after 5 years.

On my dog-wagon (Merc estate) I'd leave them for probably 7 or 8, but I don't go fast round the bends because the dog hangs on for dear life in the boot. Fun to watch though.

I had oldish tyres on my Subaru WRX (one of the grippiest cars in the world) and in the cold, they spun me in circles on a roundabout, despite all the nanny aids.

New tyres are good. There's nothing like fresh rubber. I change my toothbrush regularly too.
 
There's some cheap 20" Bridgstones on tyre leader for my Boxster fronts but they are Dot2012 so already 4 years old. Probably OK if you are doing 15k a year as you will be through them in little over a year, but otherwise maybe not!
 
I just bought a set of used bridgestones for the back of my 996T off eBay, 7mm tread, no worries I thought.

Date code on them? 2003!! :eek: I am wrapping them to send them back to the seller as we speak. My stupid fault for not checking first, but..be careful out there..
 
Are there rules on how old a tyre can be at the point of fitment to be marketed as a 'new' tyre?

I've just been out to check on my X5 daily, the 'new' tyres that were fitted earlier this year by a local tyre shop seem, unless I'm mistaken, to have been manufactured in March '11! The code in the little window after the DOT marker is BJN1111

A year or so, fine, but 5???

Should I have been informed or is it buyer beware...?

Funnily enough I am going in tomorrow to have some identical rears fitted to the same car, so will pick a bone with them then.
 
jpsh120 said:
MaxA said:
Out here, it's 3 years. My Pirelli P Zeros are cracked, and they're still so unworn, they still have the whiskers on.

The P Zero's are known for this (apparently), as I was advised by my local OPC.

I'm aware of this. They cracked over the summer. I've seen P Zeros that were only a few weeks old that had cracked. And they were supplied direct by Pirelli...

I'm switching to Michelin but I'm not expecting them to last any more than 3 years.
 
If you have summer/track tyres Ive had good use out of this stuff
http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/motorsport/tyre-treatments/demon-tweeks-grip-tyre-softener

Before wrapping in a dustbin bag and stucking in the shed a coat of this seems to keep them a lot happier.

Its mainly about keeping them out of uv light and uber frosty temps as a second.

I have mpss i put on mine last year and I'm wondering about changing them for next years ring trips
 
Johnny Graham said:
I just bought a set of used bridgestones for the back of my 996T off eBay, 7mm tread, no worries I thought.

Date code on them? 2003!! :eek: I am wrapping them to send them back to the seller as we speak. My stupid fault for not checking first, but..be careful out there..

Did exactly the same thing for my track day bike. Thought I'd got a bargain but it was shagged after 1 day. And no, I'm not Rossi.
When I checked the date stamp it was 6 years old. Surprisingly the grip level was ok....
 
My classic car rides on very old tyres, as do many classic cars but that is a different ball game to 180mph+ sports cars!

One of the best things for preventing tyres from cracking is good old shoe polish.
 
Would you / is it safe to buy, new tyres with a manufactured date 5 years on the past?

Was just about to purchase some tyres for my Mini and noticed DOT date of mid 2012 !!

All the big players Black Circle , Tyre leader seem to offer significant discounts on these 'older' tyres.

But are they safe? are they going to go off (sidewalls crack) faster once they are out in the sun being used, assuming that is they are truly as new and not exhibiting and age related cracks when delivered ?

Such an important component don't want to compromise for the sake of few (quite a lot actually) £'s
 
My understanding is that if they are stored correctly and not expose to UV light and temp variation their life is extended beyond the recommended discard times. Trouble is provenancinig this.

If you are buying 'new' despite older DOT and can see where they are stored plus if it smells like the internals of a rubber gimp mask it might be a safe bet :thumb:
 

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