Tires are made from many organic compounds. Remember that many things from food to drugs have expiration dates because they degrade over time. Take a bottle of cooking oil that has been stored in the window exposed to sun. It will degrade quite quickly and get that rancid/stale smell. You can slow it down but storing in a cool dark location but it will still proceed at a slower rate.
Hot sunny locations just speed up the process. Take a look at road signs in the south. They always seem to look faded far before those in the northern states because of this.
I have too many cars/trucks myself so the tires tend to age out on the ones I donāt drive often before they wear out. I try to buy moderately priced tires that get good ratings such as General or Falken, knowing that they will likely age out before they wear out. The shop I have been using lately keeps suggesting Falkens for various cars and I have been happy with them. They say they hang right in with the top priced tires for about half the money. They said you can go cheaper and get brands like Westlake but didnāt suggest that for me as I can afford a better tire.
Just to put a cap on this thread, I bought a set of Michelin CrossClimate2 tires from Costco to replace the set of Bridgestone Serenity Plus tires that were 10 years old a couple of weeks ago and what a difference it made! Driving back to my home is about 75 miles and the last 30 mile is going from 6,500ā elevation to sea level and so it is quite steep and curvy. I noticed a great improvement in handling! Normally I would have to downshift or use the brakes a lot to slow down to 65 mph to feel safe but this time, I did little of each and going up to 80 mph there was no feeling of losing control of the vehicle. So, besides the softer ride, there was a big improvement in steering. A few months ago, I measured the steering force required to turn the steering wheel and it was within specs. I did this because the steering seemed very heavy these past few years and I thought I had a hardware problem but no more,I would guess that it requires about half the force to turn the steering wheel now. I can see that the new tires are directional and I would guess that that means the tread pattern assists in the turning of the tires and that would explain the improvement in steering.
So anyway, thanks again folks for explaining why I should replace an aging set of tires even though it was not worn out.
Glad you got it taken care of, but it is hard to compare a 10yo hardened tire to a brand new tireā¦ Reverse the roles and you would have been talking about how good the other brand was doing on the ride home and how soft the ride wasā¦Any 10yo automotive regular tire is unsafe and should be replacedā¦ lol
Though the tires are past their age limit, with such low mileage I would rotate the tires and continue using them at lower speeds. 35>
Using them may wear off the hardend outer layers.
Keep them athe proper pressure for the vehicle. 35 psi?
Monitor the pressures if you have a TPMS readout
Before departing walk around and look athe tires. (I do this withew tires.)
Check the spare to see if there is any pressure.
Yep, TERRIBLE advice, unsafe, inviting a blowout and accident. The entire tread hardens, not just the outer surface. And hardened tread is only one of the issues with 10+ year old tires.
Agree 100% with the 2 above, a 10yo tire can blow out at anytime!!! I have given customers one FREE tire cause their tire was not repairable and the full size spare was 10 years old (and couldnāt afford a new one) and not safe to use as a spare anymore, well we could not put it on the vehicle even as a spareā¦ It is a safety issueā¦
If you could run dry rotted rubber to knock the outer hardened layers off then fan belts would never break from dry rotā¦
Just to be clear, the advise Robert-Gift gave you about rotating and using 10yo tires is BAD/UNSAFE adviseā¦ Period!
ā¦ as is his practice of placing an old electric frypan underneath his engine, plugging it in, and then placing a blanket on top of the engine.
In case the esteemed Mr. Gift is not aware of it, motor oil can ignite at temperatures as low as 300 degrees, and even if his vehicle doesnāt currently leak any oil, he will find out about a new oil leak on the same night that he has a fire in his garage.
You got me beat! Iāve got an old '69 vette in suspended restoration for 25 years that has the same tires I bought it with in 1980. They are supporting the car on wheel caster assy and are all still inflated.
I have another '71 Chevelle with the same tires I bought it with back in 1996? and they needed replacement back then 600hp I roasted some rubber off those ancient hides a couple years back. But itās been mostly unused in the last 20 years. It certainly needs new tires and will get some if I resurrect it againā¦
Not sure wever got above 35 mph in Hawaii.
On the farm we had old tires on the station wagon. Used until worn out.
(Theyvere taller than the frontires,o we also got better gas mileage always rolling downhill!)
In the garage I.nstalled a First Alertā¢ oileak detector. Also interconnected to the house smoke alarms!
OK, shall sethe patented skilletransmission/block heater to Medium = 250Āŗ F.
I have a 1967 Honda CB450 motorcycle project in my garage. The rear tire is at least 30 years old, maybe 40. It holds air pressure well so it stays there until the project is close enough to done that I need to ride it around the neighborhood, but then itās history. What the OP (hardt) experienced is exactly what Iāve had happen and why would I even test ride the thing with those hard, Maypop tires? Iāll learn nothing good about the bike, if Iām lucky.
I donāt remember anything unusual driving in Hawaii except that one long curvy road. I could have driven faster but my wife gets car sick.
Now I have two bikes hanging in the garage that Iām sure have 40 year old tires and tubes. I used to use it to commute in 1973 until I bought a second car. Iāve thought about replacing them but then wonder whatās the point?
600hp I roasted some rubber off those ancient hides a couple years back. But itās been mostly unused in the last 20 years. It certainly needs new tires and will get some if I resurrect it againā¦