Old tyres?

[badger]

Hello all,

I had a puncture over the weekend and on taking it to be repaired I was advised that my tyres were dated 1989 and therefore were much more than the reccomended 10 years maximum age, and should be changed. I know that the good chap at the tyre place may have been trying to make a sale as my tyres are Goodyears in seemingly very good nick and the car was garaged for 20 years, but could I have a problem with deterioration of the rubber? Does anyone have any experience of problems, or otherwise with old tyres, or know there expected lifetime?

Thanks

[cadetchris]

i think it very much depends on the use the tyre has had. Primrose is currently running on a set of tyres from 1995 made in Yugoslavia. they havent deteriorated at all and are as good as the day they where made. so, it must depend on the tyres storage and use.

[beero]

1989!!! I would change them if I were you. Rubber deteriorates with age, especially if exposed to the elements. I have read that 7 years is a maximum but I suppose you could extend that if the car spends most the time in the garage.

You may find this useful to date your other tyres as well.
http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html

[hotrodder13]

my old tyres was about 9 years old and full of cracks, when doin 70 on the motorway in the second lane, it exploaded, made a mess of the paint on the wing,

not worth it for the price of 4 new tyres

[charlie_morris_minor]

change them, not worth the risk

[bmcecosse]

My tyres are much older than that! Yes - the tread rubber can go a bit 'hard' on the surface and not grip so well - a few blasts round some round-abouts soon scuffs them up nicely. As long as there is no sign of any sidewall cracking - they will be fine ! Polish them up with some black boot polish and they will look very smart.

[Dryad]

Sorry but old tyres ARE dangerous! Even when stored indoors. The rubber degrades even if it still looks new. There was an item in Practicle Classics a couple of years ago about someone who bought and fitted a set of NOS tyres for his MGB and was killed when one of them blew out on a motorway. A quick Google also turned up this; http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style ... 21709.html

[IaininTenbury]

At the moment there's no law about tyre age as far as I know, it is just advise. Normally actively promoted by the tyre manufacturers (funny that), but it is good advise. Many older and little used cars can have really old tyres on but a lot does depend on age and storage. I've seen 30 plus year old tyres, that have been in very usable condition and in use, whilst a >5year old cheapy from a national tyre supplier (the one who can't spell their name properly) start to break up and bulge...
Theres no substitute for regular checks - jack the wheels up and check the inner side wall too. Very fine light surface cracks seem to be acceptable, at least according to a local MOT tester, though anything remotly deep, or in the grooves of the tread should sound alarm bells.
I suspect the quality of the tyre makes a big difference too, though I've never seen any proof of this. i use Michelins on my daily driver, and have done for about 8 years. Not sure when Michelin stopped making Minor sized tyres, but it was a while back. Only failure i've had was a split and a bulge (spotted when having a look round one day) but it was soon after a puncture and it had run flat a little way before I stopped which may well have precipitated this failure. I did go through a phase of using up NOS crossplys on the van - some lasted a remarkably short time, others for ages but it felt a lot safer when on tyres younger than me! Anything going to a customer however gets new. Its not really worth the risk.Having said that on your own car its really up to you at the moment, till it becomes law which in todays society I expect it will regardless of statistics showing how many accidents are caused by a failure of an old tyre V how many caused by driver error(idiocy) etc...
Sorry rant over....

[chickenjohn]

Use common sense here and inspect your tyres regularly. If any start to crack and show sign of age on the sidewall then replace them.

[RogerRust]

When I Got my MGB it has old but very good condition tyres. Because it is a bit faster than a MM I decided to change them.

They looked perfect and were polished with boot poish.

When the guy tried to get one of the tyres off the rim the rubber gave way leaving the bead on the rim.
I think that says it all - that could have been me going over a speed bump.

Change your tyres don't take the risk.

[ASL642]

Or down a motorway! not worth the risk.

[kjm]

We have Michelin zx tyres on the back of our Minor that came on her at purchase , these dont show any signs of cracking , does anyone know when Michelin stopped making these , I think I remember my dads mk 2 Escort having them in the seventies , would they have a date on them somewhere ?

[charlie_morris_minor]

this web page probably tells you all you need to know..

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/ ... ?techid=11

[bmcecosse]

They all have a date code. The main thing is to NOT underinflate them! At least 30 psi on a Minor.

[millerman]

Bring the car up and let's have a look

Which tyre fitting co gave the advice?

[Dryad]

Here's another interesting article, particularly the paragraph titled Tyre Construction. http://www.ammonslaw.com/publications/d ... ging-tires

[rayofleamington]

I've had 2 old tyres fail on me over the last 20 years and no longer take the risk!
One set was totally unused and had sat on a project car for 15 years. I had the tyres off, painted the wheels and refitted the tyres at a tyre place. On the way home from first outing (London to Brighton) one of the tyres failed on the M40 after developing a big lump/ I felt a vibration, but the car behind saw the tyre 'looking odd' and flagged me over.
The braiding had given up causing the tyre to come apart.

This was most likely caused by the cracked rubber allowing water to corrode the braiding (the braiding was rusty!).
I used to ignore cracked rubber, but am lucky to have lived to tell the tale.

Even without visible cracks, rubber will suffer from aging. On my Trabi I replaced the tyres simply because they had no grip in the dry and were even worse in the wet.

It's not worthwhile to try and blame a tyre fitting chain as they all sell the same tyres - if a tyre started bulging before 5 years old then most likely it had been driven into a kerb causing internal damage, but also possible that the tyre itself was faulty when new.

[badger]

Checked them out today and discovered the following:

two are stamped 059 meaning week 5 of 1989
twa are stamped NCJV JD2030 which I cannot work out a date on from what I have read. any ideas?
and the spare is stamped 478 meaning week 47 of 1988

Having researched this a bit and read all your thoughts I think that although they all appear to be in good condition they are well overdue for a change. The car is my daily drive to and from work so it is not worth the risk.

The tyre co said that they carry Toyo tyres in the correct size (£31 each), any thoughts on these before I get my credit card out?

Thanks

[beero]

Pre 2000 tyres were assumed to last less than 10 years so 059 means 5th week of year 9 of that decade, so could be 1959-69-79-89 or 99. Dates are only stamped on one sidewall, have you checked the other side?
Wise choice to change them!

[kjm]

Cheers boys , will have a look for a date on them , the tiretech site timed out , is it a code then on the tyre rather than the year?