When to replace tires.

[HerbWessel]

When should I replace tires on a low mileage car I plan to drive? Twenty years old, still lots of tread, starting to see some age cracks. (1938 Dodge)

Herb Wessel

[Clipper47]

I have a set on my Packard that are now 29 years old with about 90% tread and no sidewall cracks but they seem to ride very harsh so I suspect that the rubber gets hard after so many years. I am planning on replacing them this winter since at this age they are probably very unsafe. You should do the same.

[Dave@Moon]

Most tire manufacturers' literature I've read reccommend a tire be used for no more than 10 years. If cracks are visible in the tire then failure is likely imminent, especially in a tubeless tire.

Personally I would never ride in a car with visible tire cracks.

The Number of Tire Age Reccommendations Grows: Bridgestone-Firestone is the Latest Entry

Safetyresearch.net's tire safety page

[stock_steve]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

Personally I would never ride in a car with visible tire cracks.

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Ditto Dave--it's not worth the risk, IMHO. Maybe you could source yourself another set of wheels for the car, onto which you could mount some fresh, supple tires, and keep the oldies set "for display" or something?

[R W Burgess]

Depends on how fast you drive, in my opinion. Regardless of sidewall cracks, slow speeds will prevent damage to your vehicle when they blow out, and they will eventually. If you start to hear or feel a bumping/thumbing in your tires, it's about to separate.

A good spare is imperative in this case. "I just hate not getting full wear out of my tires!" <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Wayne

[RocketDude]

The tires on my car were put on in 1975, and then parked until January '06. The never lost a drop of air, and look like new. Not even any sidewall cracking, which I found amazing. I have driven it around the neighborhood, probably never over 20 MPH, but I would be hesitant to go much over 40, and certainly never would take it on the hi way. When the car is finished, that will be the last thing I change before driving it on a regular basis..

I deal with trucks at work, and the re-caper looks for date stamps on the tire. They refuse to cap any tire five years or older, for safety reasons. I realize trucks are far different than a car, but it kind tells you something about safety and the life expectancy of tire construction. If they won't put their butt on the line for a tire over five years old, I sure won't gamble with mine.

[R W Burgess]

Hey Rocket, where's your love of excitement? <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Nothing like blowing out a tire at about 55mph to make you change those underwears your wife keeps telling you that you wear too long! <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

My son, Mike, just went through that two weeks ago. I had put on some tires that came off a beater I bought about ten years ago. They were Goodyears. I never could get the tires to balance. We finally found out two months ago that they were "out-of-round". He was trucking along at about 57 mph when the car started shaking, and he didn't know what to do.

"Slow down son!,I say!

"DON"T HIT THE BRAKES!", Mom screams from the rear seat( She won't ride with him in the front, yet. She says he isn't that good yet. <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />)

Anyway, we caught a ride and I changed it the next morning. We never drive too far away from home on bad tires like these.

Wayne

[novaman]

In 2001 I was on the Founders Tourin upstate NY. I think it was the 3rd full day of the tour and I was driving back to the hotel from where we parked to catch the buses to Niagara Falls. Anyways, toolin' on down the hiway all of a sudden it felt like someone crammed on my right front brake. Pulled over and with the bumper jack changed the tire and was down and way in less than five minutes. Mom and Dad were ahead of me and by the time they doubled back to where I was, I was gone. Dad and I were like, those tires aren't that old and got to figuring it out. It was 2001 and I bought the car in 1988. Oops, they're 12 years old. As it turned out, right after that I found they were part of a class action law suit and got just about all of my money back since it was based on tire wear and there was only about 3,000 miles on them.

Maybe we could have a new event at national meets. Pit stop compititon with stock factory jacks and spares.... <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[UVT_Mike]

We have found the average safe life of a tire to be anywhere from 7 - 12 years. As Dave mentioned, visible cracks are far from safe. I have seen and heard of folks driving on old tires only to have them blow out or seperate causing thousands of dollars of body or mechanical damage to their vehicles.

The tread depth really doesn't come into play on many of the vintage/antique vehicles due to the fact that many are not driven more then a couple of hundred miles per year. At many meets I have seen tires that haven't been manufactured since the 70's still on cars being driven not just in the show field but also to and from the hotels.

I think in reality, replacing tires is a very minimal investment when it comes to the piece of mind in knowing that you are riding on a safe tire. They are one of the most important, not to mention overlooked, safety invest you can make.