Which makes it waaay too old to use. 10 years is a maximum recommended life for a tire no matter how it looks. A 19 year old tire should not be used.
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It worked fine a couple of years ago. I should check the air pressure again.
Until it doesnât⊠and the tire blows out spectacularly. I am not willing to risk my life, my wifeâs or anyone around me on the road. Rubber degrades from the moment it leaves the mold until it crumbles away. And the strings that hold it together do, too.
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Then donât drive 85 MPH on the Interstate. Someone changing in to your lane and hitting the back of your vehicle can send you off the road to your death new tires or not.
A tire blowout is not a dangerous event at safe driving speeds. Remember those signs that say ramp speed 35 MPH?
An unexpected blowout on a curve at legal speeds could easily prove fatal.
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How many drivers were speeding when the blowouts happened? Around here itâs hard to find a car going under 60 in a 55 zone âŠ
Most of those crashes are probably due to a rear tire failing. So if you have a weak tire put it in the front!
So 200 deaths. Thatâs about 2 days of crashes. What caused the deaths for the remaining 363 days of the year?
What happens if you hit a sharp piece of metal on the freeway when youâre speeding doing 85 MPH with new tires? I wonder if that statistic includes new tires that failed due to road debris.
As opposed to replacing the weak tire ? 
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Driving with tires more than 10 years old is foolhardy. Period.
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Maybe or maybe not. Can the person afford it? Driving 5 MPH slower than average with a weak tire in the front will be safer than driving the average speed with all new tires. Speed kills. A 5 MPH increase in speed from 55 to 60 can nearly double the fatality rate on a highway.
I wish the same attitude would exist toward speeding. If similar vehicles hit head on at 40 MPH, everyone survives. At 70 MPH, everyone dies. The speed window from survival to death is only about 30 MPH. A 55 MPH speed limit (110 combined) is right in the middle. Assuming you can slow down 10 MPH before impact, thatâs 100 combined or 50 MPH. Itâs close enough to 40 MPH where you still have a chance. When people drive 65 MPH that chance is mostly gone.
And we still have tire shops putting new tires in the front and leaving nearly worn out tires in the back. Thatâs a huge hazard. I witnessed a vehicle in this condition outside the junk yard getting a new front end for it. It was a young uninformed driver who had no idea why he suddenly went sideways off the road in to a ditch in slushy snow.
It looks like that 200 deaths from tires statistic is including everything from hydroplaning, incorrectly mounted tires, overloading, under inflation, worn out tires, and blown out tires either due to age, defects, or hitting debris.
If you want me to stop thinking about safety and just buy new tires all the time then you can pay for them.
Once every 10 years = all the time?
Okey-dokie
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The bottom line is that any and all 10 year old tires will have degraded. Reduced tred, reduced traction due to hardening, cracking of the sidewall and possible separation of the tred.
A 20 year old spare, assuming it still holds air and is fully inflated, full size or donut, may be just be good enough to get you to the next Beltway exit.
Having several cars at or near 20 years old, I find that saving the best tire from my last tire change in my trunk, having the cheap âfree towingâ in my insurance and the the cheap or free road hazard insurance is the best solution.
Got a flat? Instead of trying to change it in the rain, at night, on the edge of a highway call the insurance company for a tow to a repair shop. Replace it with the spare in the trunk and then replace it with the Hazard Insurance replacement.
.
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I love how a 12 year old thread on tires riles everyone up.
Welcome to my world!
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Not so much the old thread but more likely the Snowman with his nonsense .
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I donât.
Based on what information do you make this conclusion? Personal experience? Tons of data? And could you post a link to that data? And what speed do you consider âsafeâ? 35mph? 55 mph? 70 mph? All are within the speed limits for my state.
Can you really assure me YOU would NEVER drive on the highway with your 20 year old spare? You know, just for a little while to get across town to shop at that âspecialâ farmerâs market?
I know what the tire companies sayâŠ
âBridgestone recommends that its Bridgestone or Firestone brand tires be removed from service after ten years regardless of their remaining tread depth.â
And not just tire companiesâŠ
There are always times where we donât agree with someoneâs input.
But everyone on this site has equal rights to post here. If someone posts content that you believe is incorrect, then criticize the content, not the person.
That is one of the most ridiculous statements Iâve heard for awhile. I hope nobody takes it serious.
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Common sense and personal experience. Donât go faster than a semi truck goes when it goes around a corner. If youâre on a corner going fast enough that you feel like youâre being pulled over to the side then youâre probably going too fast. If you lose a tire you could lose traction and wipe out. If youâre in a car and it happens on an exit ramp youâll just skid in to the grass. If itâs an SUV you could roll it over so be careful even on lower speed corners with an SUV. If the ramp speed says 35 most will drive 45 and 45 is probably enough to cause loss of control if a tire blows out, especially if itâs a rear tire.
Is anyone surprised that a tire company recommends replacing tires at a certain age regardless of their condition? It seems every spare part supplier recommends replacing the spare part at the minimum interval. I just saw a youtube ad about lawn mower tune ups for spring and they recommend that the spark plug, oil, and air filter be replaced every spring regardless of use, and their company can do it for you. In the video they showed a foam type air filter which is supposed to be oiled periodically, not replaced, and they made no mention of that.
For crying out loud what a bunch of malarkey. Even our 2018 Ford Fiesta can take corners and off ramps faster than a Semi-truck . And our C4 Corvette definitely could .
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