Tires like new but 10-20 years old. Replace?

[seanf]

Originally Posted By: HemiHawk
Originally Posted By: eljefino


If you buy new tires, your old tires will be "recycled" (resold) in your town and put on someone else's truck... someone who likely knows less about tires and vehicles in general. So the safety of your town's the relative same.


That would be a pretty shady shop that would resell tires that old.

I would get them changed. If the tire manufacturer says a tire should not be used after a certain date, I'd listen to that. Tires are one of the most important pieces of a vehicle, connection to the road. Skimping on that is down right silly.


iIt's not so much the shop that would resell the tires, its the employees loading the tires into their car at the end of the day and listing them on craigslist for a few hundred $$$ at least thats what happens here.

Around here no one replaces tires at 10 years, they get replaced at signs of excessive cracking or worn out. Personally I don't think I've ever had a set of tires last me 10 years and if I did I'd push it maybe an extra year or two.

OP beautiful truck, you don't see too many examples of that around here, most of them have biodegraded back into the earth already.

 

[Silverado12]

Have some fun and do a burnout with them. Put some bleach-water on your driveway (super slick) and light 'em up! Then rotate front to back and repeat.

 

[supton]

I have to wonder if newer rubber mixtures age worse (or better?) than older rubber chemistries. The notion of aging out may change as the years roll by.

 

[Chris B.]

Lots of good points here gentlemen! I think I'm going to finish out the year and then replace them.

 

[Sayjac]

^^^^ Sounds like a plan.

In the mean time, as noted you may want to keep an eye out for the DT/DTD promo sales between now and then. Last one Memorial Day was pretty good. Next one will likely be Labor Day then, Black Friday and Christmas/New Years iirc. Between manufacturers rebates, DT/DTD rebates and DT/DTD credit card rebate, you can do quite well on a new set.

 

[Traction]

Someday they will recommend replacing every 36 months, 36,000 miles. There are way to many variables for all tires.
I am still running 12 year old tires on my 2000 BMW M-roadster. About 5kmi, and outside for maybe a total of 10 days.
Sure I worry, but until I notice a loss in grip, or something in the feel, I'll run them a couple more years yet.
And these like all my tires, and everyones I install are N2 filled. A lot of people manage to destroy a brand new tire!

 

[wally6934]

I have had more flat tires on the freeway than i can remember. It has never been a problem.

I currently have tires that are very old 15 years? and i make sure i have a good spare up to pressure if i get a flat.

 

[fdcg27]

Nice looking old truck and obviously well looked after.
Those are P tires on it, no?
They don't look like LT tires.
If this is a half ton and came on P tires, these are a whole lot cheaper to replace than LT tires, although on vehicles without TPMS, P tires can be a viable alternative to LT tires as long as they have an adequate load capacity, as such large tires typically do.
Should you replace these skins?
IDK, OTOH, they look good while OTOH they are old.
I will tell you that I've never had a tire fail, a rare event, without warning.
You'll notice the building vibration well before the tire actually fails, at least in my experience.
Also, a blowout is not an unmanageable event and is even pretty benign on some vehicles.
What are you comfortable with?

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: supton
I have to wonder if newer rubber mixtures age worse (or better?) than older rubber chemistries. The notion of aging out may change as the years roll by.


They say the cheaper rubber has less preservative mixed in. However we also see a few expensive tires suffer.

It seems as they have tighter control of the manufacturing process they're better able to build-in "planned obsolescence."

 

[HemiHawk]

Originally Posted By: Traction
Someday they will recommend replacing every 36 months, 36,000 miles. There are way to many variables for all tires.
I am still running 12 year old tires on my 2000 BMW M-roadster. About 5kmi, and outside for maybe a total of 10 days.
Sure I worry, but until I notice a loss in grip, or something in the feel, I'll run them a couple more years yet.
And these like all my tires, and everyones I install are N2 filled. A lot of people manage to destroy a brand new tire!


I have seen performance tires loose their traction after about 5 years, Its crazy that yours are 12 years old! What brand/model are they? I saw a set of eagle F1s get pretty slippery after about 5 years, and a set of Michelin Pilot super sports get REAL slippery when they were old. It was as if they were cold, but they could never get the traction they would normally when warm. Of course the OPs use is a bit different but I would think the same principles of grip would apply.

 

[bunnspecial]

As a bit of an anecdote, I'm active in British car collecting circles, and specifically MGs.

There are a LOT of MGs out there that are running on very old tires with probably 70% or more tread on them. The cars are often garage kept and might even be put on blocks a few months of the year.

I can't begin to count the number of tire failures I saw at MG2016 this year. To be fair, many of them are wrapped around an inner tube that's likely just as old and of course is a weak link in most any tire. Still, though, I saw some nasty looking tires that had disintegrated when the tube let go and the tire was run flat long enough to get the car stopped.

When I bought my MG, the tires on it were at about 75% tread and the date code indicated that they were at least 20 years old. As mentioned, rubber also hardens with age, and I managed to turn the car sideways(admittedly in the rain) on the way home going the "yellow sign" speed on a sharp curve. A new set of tires was one of the first things I bought for it, despite the old ones looking almost new. I actually kept them-one of them replaced the spare that shed rubber when you handled it. I ended up giving the rest away at MG2016(with the full disclaimer of their condition) because the local tire shops kept running out of 185/70R14s and there was more than one person who had used their spare to get there and wanted a replacement spare.

 

[zzyzzx]

Am I missing something here?
The pictures that the OP posted show the truck more than the tires???

 

[Colt45ws]

The garage kept is the important part. That will net you a few more years. I wouldn't use past 6 normally, but out of the sun, I might be willing to talk about going to 10 years or so.

 

[Excel]

IMO as long as they are not cracked id run em..UV Rays kill tires more than anything


tire mfgs and shops will always advise to BUY NEW ONES.....SPEND BABY SPEND

My 2006 F350 tires are mint,truck has 35K on it Im confident shes fine

 

[dnastrau]

Originally Posted By: Silverado12
Have some fun and do a burnout with them. Put some bleach-water on your driveway (super slick) and light 'em up! Then rotate front to back and repeat.


If that Sierra has the original unrebuilt 4L60E I would skip the burnouts... You might break the weak stock sun shell and then you are looking at a tranny rebuild.


Andrew S.

 

[dishdude]

1. That truck is too nice to beat on by doing a smokey burnout

2. Here in Phoenix, those tires would be shot if they sat out in the sun baking all day. In Colorado, a close inspection will give a much better indication of the condition

3. If they have tread, they'll end up on the used rack of an indy tire dealer for someone else to come around and

around on

 

[Traction]

One thing I've concluded is on vehicles that just turn on the required light, there are many people that have no idea what the funny looking light even means. And, those are the same drivers that drive merrily down the road with a low/flat tire, TPMS or not! Oops, this was supposed to be in the TPMS thread!

 

[Ken2]

Chris, what are the risks vs. rewards?

Risk--sudden tire failure on I-25 or another road and a catastrophic wreck. Or poor traction due to the old, hard rubber and a wreck. Or just a very inconvenient stop due to the tire failure. Or failure of the old, cracked valve stem leading to a flat tire.

Reward--save a little money for a short time.

I'd renew all five. It'd be OK to get the cheapest new tire for a spare.


A 17 year old neighbor was just given a car that had been parked in a garage, dead, for 15 years. The dates on the tires are 2700, 16 years old. They hold air. I very strongly recommended five new tires. The guy in the local Les Schwab tire store said that these are still OK as long as he doesn't go on the highway! Terrible advice.