Best guess on tire life remaining?

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This is one of the tires off of the back of my '79 Ford. They came with the truck and until now, I haven't seen fit to replace them... Not sure how old it is, but I'd say at least 20 years. Truck did a lot of sitting prior to me owning it- not that I drive it that much...

Anyway, I took it to work on the other day to fix the electric choke which wasn't heating up. I found the problem, then went to lunch. Coming back, I made a turn off of a side street through a water puddle that had a bunch of leaves in it and decided to punch it and spin the tires thoroughly (relax- I checked and there wasn't anybody else on the road). Anyway, just as it was getting a good head of steam up BANG! Thwack thwack thwack...

Got out and found this:
20141105_110417_zpsibo51qv3.jpg


It still held air too. I was thinking about ripping the tread off and limping the last couple miles back to the shop so I could use regular tools and a jack, that wasn't happening.

The tire had been complaining for some time now with a pronounced wobble- but I just kept ignoring it. Went to put the spare on- an even older Goodyear H78 and surprisingly it still had air in it! I know I checked it last year but at that tire's age, I didn't expect much.

I now have 4 Firestone Destination At's on the way now, that way I don't have to worry If my wife wants or needs to take it out of town.
 
That's just a directional tread now. Drive it so it runs over its own gator skin.
 
Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
You have a couple blocks left on that one. You should have left it on. As long as it stays round, its good to go.


If I could have gotten away with it, I would have. That darn tread section was thrashing about pretty good! Already bent the exhaust pipe, tore off a brace and bent the rear quarter a bit.


Originally Posted By: eljefino
That's just a directional tread now. Drive it so it runs over its own gator skin.


That could make a heck of a snow tire!



Originally Posted By: Kira
So glad that didn't happen at speed. Kira


No doubt! I just had it out on the highway, going out of town to pick up some winter insulating supplies the day before!

Like I said, I really didn't want my wife to have to deal with it- she's no dummy or wimp and can change her own tire, but I'd just rather not cross that bridge- especially like you said, at speed and on the front!
 
Not an original- those were a G or H rated 78. These are p-metrics. Firestone Town and Countries... The spare is closer to being an original and very well could be? It's an old H78.
 
I am extremely jealous of your life insurance beneficiary :) Seriously, you are taking your (and probably other peoples) life in hand every time you drive with these kind of tires.
 
No more so than anyone else that suffers a catastrophic tire failure on the road.
 
Unfortunately, that's how many Firestone tires have ended their miserable existence over the years...
 
That doesn't seem to be an issue now a days, does it? I don't remember hearing about it anytime in the last several years...
 
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