When should I buy new tires?

[Guest ChaplainLar]

What is the rule of thumb about replacing tires on a antique car? I will never wear them out, so is it "go 'till they blow" - or every few years or what?

[Guest aussie610]

drive it more often and you will wear them out (We need a toungue stinking out smilie)

use em til you wear em out or the sidwalls start to crack is what I have been taught, and that reminds me I should have replaced the fronts before the last rally (x00Kms, oops)

[Mark Shaw]

Unless you only have trailer queens, you should be wearing out your tires before they crack or separate due to old age. Frankly, I think keeping your car exercised will help preserve it.

I put at least 1000 miles on my 13 Buick every year. I put new Lester tires on it last year. The old ones lasted about 15 years being stored indoors, properly inflated, rotated front to back and off the floor six months of each year. The had very little tread left, but there were no signs of cracking or separation.

[Guest leadsled1953]

when i got my 1950 DeSoto in 2004 it still had the atlas tires put on in 1955...still held air .i replaced them with new cokers.i will replace the new ones as soon as they get any sign of cracks.

[old gto]

Burn them

[Steve Braverman]

The Custom Classics on my Franklin are almost worn out with 8k miles on them. I will run them this summer, then replace. Apparently even the new production tires based on the old designs are only good for 10k. BTW, Custom Classics suck. They cup and are noisy.

[Bhigdog]

I have a set of Michlins on my 69 Vette. Must be about 20 years old with about 20K on them. Still look good with lots of tread. Always stored inside but not so careful with pressures. Tire makers say replace after 8 years. Of course they would.........Bob

[Guest ACD34]

A set of wide WW 6.50-16 Firestones were put on my '34 in 1988 when it was restored. They had 6000 miles on them this year when I noticed a lot of small parallel cracks in the inside, sidewall casing when I pulled them off to re-pack the front wheel bearings. I don't know if the cracks were there last year because you can't see them unless you pull the wheels—which I hadn't done for a couple of years.

Although they had 3/4 of the tread left and had even wear, I replaced all of the tires. I never should have let them go 20 years on the car even though it gets only 400-500 miles a year on it these days and spends the rest of its time in a museum. I do an annual maintenance that includes oil change, lubing, and a tune-up and fluid checks, and bi-annually do things like flushing the cooling system and bleeding and adjusting the brakes, but I never paid much attention to the tires other than getting the whitewalls clean and filling them with air. Tires and brakes are basic safety items on an old car and are nothing to take a chance with. I should have known better.

[R W Burgess]

gto, will I need a couple extra carburetors to make my '32 4 cylinder do that?

Wayne

[old gto]

<span style="color: #3333FF">Yes....a couple BIG ones! It`s getting close to twenty bucks to take that car to the store and back.

The store is 4 blocks away, LOL! </span>

[Airy Cat]

Drive them till they blow!

[Willy]

I learned something interesting about tires - most have a short shelf life - turns out, the rubber starts rotting from the inside out. Many tire companies - or at least, tire stores, are selling tires that are too old, and many accidents are being caused by it. The way to check - there is an oval somewhere on the tire with a date on it (might not be on antique style tires). The last two numbers show the year it was made. Ask your tire dealer - he should give you the right scoop. When you buy new tires, and have someone put them on, check the date before they install them, and refuse if they're more than a year or two old. I'm not positive about this - I heard it second hand, but it is worth checking out with your tire dealer.

[UVT_Mike]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Willy</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The way to check - there is an oval somewhere on the tire with a date on it (might not be on antique style tires). The last two numbers show the year it was made. Ask your tire dealer - he should give you the right scoop. When you buy new tires, and have someone put them on, check the date before they install them, and refuse if they're more than a year or two old. I'm not positive about this - I heard it second hand, but it is worth checking out with your tire dealer. </div></div>

All tires manufactured today are required to have a DOT code that includes the manufacturing date. This code is found on the sidewall. It is listed after the "DOT" stamp. Since 2000, the last four numbers are the production dates. The first two numbers indicate the week of manufacturer, the second two digits are the year. For instance, 4108 would be the 41st week of 2008.

Previously the date of manufacturer was listed as the last three numbers only. First two were the week and the last number was the year. Unfortunately it is harder to determine the age of a tire made before 2000 as the last number which could read "9" would of been made in 99 or 89.

Tires manufactured for the antique and collector market all have this code on them.

[Barry Wolk]

My tire guy, who, BTW, would love to sell me new tires for my '77 Town Car, says that there's nothing wrong with the original Michelin X tires that now have just under 20,000 miles and 31 years on them. That, and the fact that the car's never been used in the winter and is always parked indoors.

Apparently, newer tires have much more synthetic Latex in them where older tires have much more natural rubber. That's apparently what accounts for a shorter life, or so says my tire guy.

I've read, and been told by tire experts, that running nitrogen makes the tires run cooler thus holding a proper tire pressure, even after long runs. Nitrogen also doesn't attack the rubber from the inside the way that compressed air does.

[Dave@Moon]

As I understand it nitrogen has 2 real advantages in automotive use. First there is a slight advantage in that pure nitrogen is more consistent in pressure over a given temperature range, which is to say that when you tires heat up on the highway they don't build quite as much pressure as tires inflated with air will. The tires don't run "cooler", they just act as if they are. This allows for more precise manipulation of pressures, which for most passenger cars is not something highly sought after.

The other advantage is more tangible. Pure nitrogen is (by definition) desiccated. There is no water vapor (or oxygen for that matter) to promote rust on the exposed portions of the wheels or degradation of the tires internally. For tires that are to be mounted for long lives (e.g. antique car tires) this may be a big advantage.

[Dynaflash8]

If you have radials, every 5 years whether you think you need them or not. For bias ply tires, I've run them for thirty years with no problem, or until I wore them bald (which I often did in my youth). One set, 35 years old, which were double white wall 6.50x16 still had some fairly good tread, but I replaced them for a long tour and sold them to a museum. They were 25 years old when I drove the car across the mountains from Akron, Ohio to eastern Virginia. As you can tell, I'm not a fan of radial tires. I never in all my life had a ply separation with a bias tire, and only one blowout in 54 years, but I've had lot of dangerous and scary blowouts with radial tires.

[Reatta Man]

Barry,

Your tire guy gave an answer that Michelin wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole. Michelin now definitely recommends time as well as mileage replacement intervals:

http://www.safetyresearch.net/Library/SRS046.pdf

Whether to replace tires to me depends a lot on what you are going to do with them. If you are going to keep a car in your garage, take it out every few weeks to drive down to the show-and-shine and never get over 35-40 MPH going from stop light to stop light, they will probably be OK. But, if you are EVER going to hit 50-60 MPH, they need to be replaced every few years. At those speeds, there is no way that anyone can tell what those tires will do.

Remember, what you value most (your family) is riding on those tires. How much risk are you willing to assume on their behalf????

[Matt Harwood]

Tires are the last place I'd want to take chances. There isn't a single safety device more important.

The only place I might consider treadlife vs. age is on an old car tire that uses innertubes, such as on our Model A. Even then, I replace the innertubes regularly (say, every 5 years). At least a failure in a setup like this won't result in a sudden flat at speed. But tubeless? No way. Why take a chance over a few hundred dollars?

If your car has original tires and is well preserved, I'd take them off and save them and put replacements on. The original tires certainly have value to a nice all-original car, but they don't belong on the road.

[Guest ChaplainLar]

Well, I checked for cracks (none). Tread is still almost new. I rarely drive above 30mph.

I put nitrogen in yesterday. (Cost $21 for 5 tires.) Guess I'll keep them for another year or so. Thank You for the info.