Allstate tire help

[Chadwick]

Hello guys I’m new here and new to old cars !! I just got a 1950  Chevrolet deluxe !! I’ve been looking for some white wall tires !! I found a guy that has some for sale !!! I can’t  find much on them they look good in the picture he sent me I’m  wondering if they would be  safe to run on my car ? Not sure how old they are? 

[TerryB]

Sears Allstate has to be old, I don’t think anyone makes reproduction tires so I would not want to trust them on a driver car.

[Matt Harwood]

Decades old. Allstate seems to have been part of Sears and I think they were discontinued in the early '90s and bias-ply whitewalls are probably quite a bit older than that. They might be OK for show and low-speed stuff but I don't think I would be comfortable driving on them. Tires are the single most important safety feature of a car, especially an old car, so skimping on tires doesn't make sense. Buy quality new tires and have the peace of mind that comes with it. Old tires, even if they look good, are a ticking clock...

[Chadwick]

Thank you so much! 

[Chadwick]

That makes  sense he has tire and rims not bad price!! I all most jump on them !!! But I think I’m going to back off I want to be  safe !! 

[Rusty_OToole]

These days they recommend replacing tires that are 5 years old, as they have lost half their strength. I wouldn't use old tires for anything but display. If they are new reproductions they will have a date on them as all cars have had since the seventies. It may be in code.

 

The date of manufacture is the last four digits of the DOT code. The first two digits are the week of manufacture, and the last two digits are the year. For example, if the last four digits of the DOT code are 0203, that means that the tire was manufactured during the second week of the year 2003.

[60FlatTop]

When that little voice inside you speaks, and you ask others. The voice is usually right isn't it.

 

My standby is "When in doubt, throw it out". That's from the days when I lived alone. My girlfriend (Wife) put a note on the refrigerator showing how long things would keep. I didn't know when I put the stuff in there.

[28 Chrysler]

These old tires will not have a usable date code, if any. The cotton cords are the week point .

The modern tires have new compounds and recycled materials that limit the usable life of the tire. 

[c49er]

It seems now days don't expect your newly purchased vintage tires to last more than five years even if low low miles and kept out of the sun 90% of the time...

[Dave Henderson]

18 hours ago, Rusty_OToole said:

These days they recommend replacing tires that are 5 years old, as they have lost half their strength. I wouldn't use old tires for anything but display. If they are new reproductions they will have a date on them as all cars have had since the seventies. It may be in code.

 

The date of manufacture is the last four digits of the DOT code. The first two digits are the week of manufacture, and the last two digits are the year. For example, if the last four digits of the DOT code are 0203, that means that the tire was manufactured during the second week of the year 2003.

 

[Dave Henderson]

Prior to the year 2000 the DOT tire date code had just 3 digits, with only one for the year.  Thus, if the code ended with a 7 it was impossible to determine if it meant '87, '67, or what year.  That is why the code was changed to 4 digits. 
.  

[Dave Henderson]

8 hours ago, 28 Chrysler said:

These old tires will not have a usable date code, if any. The cotton cords are the week point .

The modern tires have new compounds and recycled materials that limit the usable life of the tire. 

Alllstate tires I bought in the '70's were from a line of tires offered in sizes for antique cars that Sears sold, and they had nylon cords.  In the day Allstate tires and Diehard batteries were very big on the aftermarket. Factors determining the deterioration of tires also include exposure to heat and uv rays, plus whether or not they were kept properly inflated.  Tires properly stored lying flat in a cool dark place could have an extended useful life.  If whitewalls, they should not be stacked white side to black. 

Edited May 7, 2019 by Dave Henderson (see edit history)

[JFranklin]

So who has those for sale, and what do the rims fit? My cars just sit around anyway!

[wayne sheldon]

This is an area where I tend to buck the "conventional wisdom".

However, if the casing is cotton cord? Definitely, do not trust old tires. Even the tiniest surface cracking can allow water to  invade the cotton cord. A fungus common to cotton can grow and (literally) eat the fibers of the cotton resulting in severe weakness. This is not unlike dry-rot in wood.

Nylon cord on the other hand, does NOT rot! It can deteriorate due to UV exposure (like most synthetic plastics and fibers). Unless the surface cracking gets so severe that the nylon fibers become visible to the naked eye? They can last many decades with only minor loss of strength. Most nylon cord tires (not otherwise physically damaged) as long as the rubber is somewhat pliable, can be safe to use even at fifty or sixty years old.

I have a few Sears Allstate  tires in model T/A 21 inch size that are known to be from the late 1960s. Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to head out on a coast to coast tour with them if I had a car that used that size. On the other hand, I have a 30X3.5 model T size clincher tire that was about fifteen years old when I got it about fifteen years ago. The silly thing looked new-old-stock. Nearly perfect. No visible cracking, checking, no obvious signs to be concerned about. When I went to mount it on a model T rim (about twelve years ago), the bead ripped. And again, and again, and again.  Finally accepting that it wouldn't work even as a shop roller (all that I wanted it for at the time), I took it off and looked it over carefully. Then I grabbed the tire with my bare hands and ripped the sidewall like a cheap catalog! 

I know a lot of people disagree with me. But for me (a broke cheapskate!), whether an old tire should be used or not depends mostly on what the casing is made of. As long as it hasn't sat in the sun too much or been damaged in other ways.

A lot of Allstate tires were nylon cord, many of them labeled as such. Unfortunately, many tires (Allstate and many other companies) are not labeled what material cord they used.  

[dalef62]

6 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

This is an area where I tend to buck the "conventional wisdom".

However, if the casing is cotton cord? Definitely, do not trust old tires. Even the tiniest surface cracking can allow water to  invade the cotton cord. A fungus common to cotton can grow and (literally) eat the fibers of the cotton resulting in severe weakness. This is not unlike dry-rot in wood.

Nylon cord on the other hand, does NOT rot! It can deteriorate due to UV exposure (like most synthetic plastics and fibers). Unless the surface cracking gets so severe that the nylon fibers become visible to the naked eye? They can last many decades with only minor loss of strength. Most nylon cord tires (not otherwise physically damaged) as long as the rubber is somewhat pliable, can be safe to use even at fifty or sixty years old.

I have a few Sears Allstate  tires in model T/A 21 inch size that are known to be from the late 1960s. Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to head out on a coast to coast tour with them if I had a car that used that size. On the other hand, I have a 30X3.5 model T size clincher tire that was about fifteen years old when I got it about fifteen years ago. The silly thing looked new-old-stock. Nearly perfect. No visible cracking, checking, no obvious signs to be concerned about. When I went to mount it on a model T rim (about twelve years ago), the bead ripped. And again, and again, and again.  Finally accepting that it wouldn't work even as a shop roller (all that I wanted it for at the time), I took it off and looked it over carefully. Then I grabbed the tire with my bare hands and ripped the sidewall like a cheap catalog! 

I know a lot of people disagree with me. But for me (a broke cheapskate!), whether an old tire should be used or not depends mostly on what the casing is made of. As long as it hasn't sat in the sun too much or been damaged in other ways.

A lot of Allstate tires were nylon cord, many of them labeled as such. Unfortunately, many tires (Allstate and many other companies) are not labeled what material cord they used.  

I agree with you.  Older tires were made from better material and as long as they are soft and pliable and not dry rotted, I think they are good to use.  New tires are junk!

[46 woodie]

I agree with Wayne and Dale, the only thing I would use those tires for is on a chassis, to roll around my shop!

[leon bee]

Would you get the wheels, too? Just can't have too many good wheels around. And I wouldn't be deathly afraid of those tires, either.