RO Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 Never had the problem before, but yesterday I went to a Pep Boys to get a flat tire off my '56 Nash fixed but they would not repair it citing some "older than six years" magical mystical number and my tires were 8+ years. True, this tire has some aging/cracking but even my modern daily drivers have tires older than 6 years. Is this is some sort of law or rule in effect now? This is a big $ impact to anyone with several antique cars that are not driven more than a few hundred miles a year.. I have not tried any other tire place to see if this is a universal thing or just this one company. Are the old car enthusiasts now going to have to acquire the equipment to do home repair? Anyone have insight into this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimy Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 I'm unaware of an *law* to that effect, but it is indeed a policy of major tire chain stores, including Big O. So I take my tires to the neighborhood two-bubba tire guy, although I did have to teach him about tubes and talc..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 They have to sell tyres by any means. Company policy and all that. Our Warrant of Fitness (government mandated safety inspection) will reject a tyre if it is too badly cracked from age. Cracked tyres are also harder than they should be and become brittle. They can tear or split on an unusual stress, like a bump or edge of a hole. I have just taken >30 year old tyres off my Dodge Brothers for a wheel overhaul. They are not cracked and there is plenty of tread, but too wide for the locking ring rims. They are incredibly stiff and getting the valve out of the hole was very hard work. It would be far harder to get it back in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1912Staver Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 As often as not they won't even have tires in sizes suitable for old cars. They will offer to order them from what is usually the same place we all order from and tack on a big mark up. Sometimes learning how to do your own tire work is a time and money saver. Depends on how "hands on " a person is. If you have non drop center rims often doing them yourself is the only practical alternative. Nearly all 1920's and earlier car owners did their own tire work {or had the chauffeur do it }. Greg in Canada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandy Dave Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 I do all my own tire work unless it is time to buy new for one of my modern cars. Then I just go to one of the tire dealers and have them mounted and balanced and all of that. Dandy Dave! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexRiv_63 Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 I had this same problem a couple years ago with Discount Tire. I went to a local independent tire store that does a lot of truck and agricultural work, they had no problem doing the work and also knew all about tubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Walling Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 A friend of mine went to Walmart and bought 2 tires for his 4 wheel drive jeep. They refused to mount them on the car because he did not buy 4. They sited the danger of two different size tires although they were the same size and brand, only different wear amounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Skyking Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 Last year I bought three used tires for my Dodge Ram and brought them to Discount Tire to have mounted. The first thing the guy did was look at the DOT date on the tires. He said if they were over 6 years old he wouldn't be allowed to mount them. They just came under the 6 years. But the funny thing was I wanted the original spare which was never used to be mounted on the Dodge chrome wheel. It was under the truck mounted on a regular steel wheel. The tire was 15 years old and he never said anything. I got them all mounted. Go figure.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Dobbin Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 On the 2104 Sentimental Tour in New Hampshire, I had a blow out on our 1934 Ford. (New tire and tube that had been pinched when mounted) Pep Boys said it was illegal to put a tube in a tire in New Hampshire, and didn't sell any for that reason.. Two other tire places told me the same thing, so I drove to Maine and two great hobbyists helped me patch the tube. Then I was able to buy a new tube but not get it installed. I carried it with me to Wolfesboro NH where a we had the old tube blow out again. Same story about the "law", but a $25.00 bribe got my tube installed. Graft & corruption still works! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 From NHTSA; At this time, the agency does not believe it is necessary for motor vehicle safety to add a tire-aging requirement to its light vehicle tire standard,” NHTSA said in the executive summary of its report, “Tire Aging: A Summary of NHTSA's Work.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RO Posted April 16, 2016 Author Share Posted April 16, 2016 Thanks for the comments that confirm it is universally getting difficult to get older tires repaired, which while there may be some conceived "safety" issues, I see it as predominantly greed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captndan Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Sounds to me like a bunch of sales BS. Take your tire to an Ag tire place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Laws usually get passed based on the poor judgement of those whom came before. Make it a point to use your own best judgement and help friends do the same. Lawmakers are reactionaries. Don't give them a chance. Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R W Burgess Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 15 minutes ago, 60FlatTop said: Laws usually get passed based on the poor judgement of those whom came before. Make it a point to use your own best judgement and help friends do the same. Lawmakers are reactionaries. Don't give them a chance. Bernie Bernie, can we get them for "free" too? Oh sorry, wrong Bernie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Roth Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 My experience with modern radial tires tells me that after about 5 to 7 years, radial tires tend to be more likely to experience steel belt separation. This is initially felt as a vibration, and if you can get to a safe place to change the tire soon enough, you can get off the road before the belt breaks completely, causing not only the tire to go flat , but hopefully before the belt and/or tread comes loose from the tire, causing body damage to your car, and possibly others driving near you. I know this from personal experience. We plan to drive our 1988 Corvette convertible (an AACA First Junior) from New Orleans to Arizona and back after the Auburn, Indiana AACA MEET. Our tires in the 'Vette look perfect, and appear to have approximately 90-95% of their original tread. They are expensive - BF GOODRICH G-FORCE COMP-2 255/50ZR16. This is a One-family car, and I'm the 3rd owner. The current tires were installed approximately 8 years ago, and we've made trips from Raleigh, NC to New Orleans, and then round trips to Wisconsin and northern Ohio, both of which were to drive week-long tours. Thus far we've had no problems with the tires, but this Corvette convertible carries only a tiny "temporary" spare tire. There is no room to carry a failed tire and rim if one should go bad. While on a cross-country trip we would likely be delayed several days to a week wailing for a replacement tire if one should be needed. For the above reasons, I elected to order a new set of the same tires, to be installed prior to the upcoming trip. It may be a waste of money, but my experience with aging radial tires tells me to spend the bucks on replacing 5 - 7 year old radials before they come apart and damage the vehicle in the process Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JACK M Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Many years ago when I had a not so modern motor home I blew out an inside tire on the rear duals. I pulled in to a Les Schwab tire center to have my spare put on. They had me up on the jack and the rear tires pulled when they said that the only way I could move again would be after I bought tires from them as my spare was junk and my tires were to old. Well I told them I was broke and I would just have to camp here until I could move again and I would not let them hold me hostage for a sale. Several hours later they put my spare on to get rid of me. It didn't make it home...... That prompted my to buy a different motor home with better tires., saved a bunch of money. HA ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty Roth Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 2 hours ago, JACK M said: Many years ago when I had a not so modern motor home I blew out an inside tire on the rear duals. I pulled in to a Les Schwab tire center to have my spare put on. They had me up on the jack and the rear tires pulled when they said that the only way I could move again would be after I bought tires from them as my spare was junk and my tires were to old. Well I told them I was broke and I would just have to camp here until I could move again and I would not let them hold me hostage for a sale. Several hours later they put my spare on to get rid of me. It didn't make it home...... That prompted my to buy a different motor home with better tires., saved a bunch of money. HA ! Sometimes the tires cost more than the Motorhome. We were looking at buying an inexpensive Class "A" motorhome a few years back so we could spend mor time on the road between AACA events and pull the trailer with a Driver/Show car. The search quickly went from a $4,995 1996 Holiday Rambler Tag Axle Chevy 454-powered single slide-out with ten (10) tires (each tire original and 27 years old) to looking at 1996-2002 400-600 HP Tag-Axle Monaco Signature Diesel Pushers at more than $100,000. What did they all have in common? It seems that folks in the know decide to trade in their rig, rather than buy new tires at $800 each (ten new tires comes to $around $9,500 by the time you factor in tax, installation, warranty, additional ad-ons, etc. The dealer offered lower cost alternatives, such as the kind of Chinese tires that blew out on my trailer when new -- NO THANK YOU. I know lots of folks use Goodyear, and my preference is Michelin. A few bucks more can mean more safety and less time on the side of the road - or worse! The same applies to our old cars which we don't drive as much. Just because the tread looks good, check the Date-Code as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 On 4/16/2016 at 10:27 AM, R W Burgess said: Bernie, can we get them for "free" too? Oh sorry, wrong Bernie! Bernie Madoff and Bernie Sanders have both destroyed my online presence. One used to be able to type in Bernie Daily and come up with all my car stuff. Now those two are in the "Daily" news all the time and I am lost in the meta statements. I bought a T shirt from that "Robin Hood" Bernie but no one gets the joke about the names and I won't wear it in public. And, for sure, I'm the farthest you'll get from a Robin Hood complex. Tires! I have one local shop where I have purchased 44 WinterForce snow tires since Firestone dropped the Town & Country's. That's just snows; doesn't count the old cars. I like the story about a blow out on an inner dual and thinking the other three were all good. I'm going to get the tire guy to let me put in a lottery ticket machine. Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JACK M Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 The coach I have now had Michelins on it, these are 22.5 inch semi tires. When it got to be ten years old I could see some weathering so went to the truck shop and spent out $4000 for some tires that were ' just as good as Michelins' That's been a few years ago and I probably wont wait the ten years to replace them as the coach doesn't drive the same. I suppose I will have to step up a couple more thousand to get a quality tire but I look forward to the handling to come back. I was the fool thinking that I would save a few bucks with less expensive tires. At least the take offs are easy to sell to the gypo truckers, they will put them on their trailers and suppose these are what leaves the alligators on the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 I work for a company with a fleet of limos and hearses. We have dealt with a local tire company for over thirty years. They also do truck split rims. I have bought three sets of tires from them for my Vintage Pontiac. The last time I asked if I could demount and mount my new tires on the corner of their lot rather than take the tires home and bring the old ones back for recycling. He said he was sorry but due to their new liability insurance It didn't matter who did the work. If it was done on their property and if there was any kind of problem relating to these new tires, other than the manufacturers liability, they would legally be responsible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 Ten or so years ago we blew 2 tires on our car trailer on a Sunday afternoon in rural Indiana. We limped into a Walmart. They refused to help us since they had no trailer tires for sale. We parked the trailer down the street, took off the wheels and rolled them into the WalMart. They were happy to put regular car tires on the rims as long as they couldn't see the trailer we were putting them on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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