Old tires

[oldmisterbill]

I am a strong advocate of not using outdated tires.Once I had a camping trailer (in 1986).We went to florida on vacation the tires still had molding tips on them.On the way home a tire shredded into peices doing extensive damage to the trailer including tearing out a bunk and a cabinate full of food.
The damage to my fender in the other post was from a tire that looked new(like all 4 across the rear,on a truck that had sat for 2 years. (I replaced all 4)& put new ones on the front.
The tire in the pic was worn out but stuck in the truck as a spare in July 2005 (My last road trip) since then it has been sitting in the sun. I think its important to remember the rubber was live an healthy then -no seperations etc.I've been going to post a pic before this.Now I can deflate it and junk it -hoping to create awareness of old tires. Tires have a coded date on them -now I check the date and wont use them if they are over 5 years old. I have seen several people say the tires look new so "I'm not going to replace them".
By the way I am going to drill a small hole near the bead to deflate it-I don't trust it at all and don't want to disturb it tryin to roll it out to get at the valve core.I realize this tire has had the worst exposure it could get - sitting out in the OK sun un protected.

 

[nyteshades]

Tire date codes are weird. They are done by week and year. For example, a date code of 4308 means the tire was made the 43rd week in 2008.

 

[gonecrazyi]

I was out working on my truck in a field awhile back, the owner of the property had left a set of bfg's sitting by where I was working. They had been there for a couple of weeks and were only a few years old. Anyway, One decided to up and explode right in front of me, I about shat my pants.

 

[argve]

Bill,
You are correct that tires have a dated life span as well as tread life - which ever comes first is reason to replace.

For example this past weekend we had our youth group outing for the church and I brought our 5ver along as base camp and the tires on it looked new tread wise but the sidewalls were cracked and knew that I shouldn't be pulling it down the road with the tires because I knew that they would fail but with money being tight I said I'm gonna try it.... WRONG.... We did make it to church but had to limp in to the parking lot to change the offending tire. The tires are date coded for 1993 but the tread still "looked" new... I was lucky in that I only lost one tire and had a spare (which I did not check the date code but suspect the same manufacture date but still has the molding tips on it)...

I have also found that if you cover the tires from the sun they will last longer and not degrade so quickly from sun damage. On one of our TT I used the old awning and made covers to fit over the tires - still you don't want to push it but they won't die in a couple of years because of sun damage.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Although getting more rare all the time, there are still a few makes of trucks that still come equipped with a genuine real spare tire hanging underneath.

Almost without fail, whenever someone has us order three new tires identical to the "new" spare, within a month, that "new" spare will fail.

The old "out-dated" bias-ply tires could lay around for thirty years and still be put in use with no problems.

Not so with steel-belted radials; and, it seems that the useful life of radials becomes shorter all the time.


One more big issue with radials is that the old bias tires gave people the mentallity that safe tire life could be gauged by the tread depth, replacing the tires when they became "slick".


Not so for radials, as the tread depth will outlast the integrity of the casing.


More so with P-rated car tires, but also all too common in LT-rated truck tires, very few tires will actually wear down to the last 2/32s of tread, without first having failed due to tread separation, broken belts, etc.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

I have also found that if you cover the tires from the sun they will last longer and not degrade so quickly from sun damage. On one of our TT I used the old awning and made covers to fit over the tires - still you don't want to push it but they won't die in a couple of years because of sun damage.

It is good to protect tires from the sun; but, sitting on dirt is far more detrimental to them than direct sunlight.

For seldom-used trailers and the like, the best remedy is to have two sets of wheels, one set of "travelling" tires/wheels and another set of "setting around" wheels/tires.

Bolt on the good tires the day before a trip and take them back off as soon as the trip is over, putting the UN-INFLATED good tires in a cool dry dark building until the next trip.


Lacking a second set of wheels, park either on pavement or on sheets of plywood, anything to isolate the tires from the ground.

Put the axles up on jack-stands and DE-FLATE the tires.

Cover the tires in some manner to keep away the sunlight.



Being constantly inflated breaks down a tire's cord construction un-necessarily when it sits un-used for long periods of time.

So long as no weight is on the tire, a "flat" tire will outlast an inflated one.

 

[Fozz]

If you follow the RV forums at all, the general concensus is to replace the tires on the trailer every 4 - 5 years, regardless of the miles on them.

 

[timothyr1014]

keep in mind everything said here applies to all tires...about 2 weeks ago I pulled one of my caddies from storage (climate controlled, sitting on jack stands)...was bringing it to the house to do some work on it (tires included). Drove with no problem for 26 miles on the freeway on a plesant 105* AZ afternoon and got parked in the garage. I changed all of the fluids etc, and left it parked in the garage to go to the tire shop the next morning...that night at about 3AM we awoke to what sounded like a gunshot...the front left tire exploded and the sidewall/carcass was completely seperated (tire was an 04). The looked new, and had been well taken care of, but I am a firm believer that after 4 years you are on borrowed time for just about any tire

 

[burtcheca]

I have my farm truck, '86 F-350 parked under trees, same with our van, '86 E-350. They are parked in the shade but on dirt, all the time. Is that bad for the tires? Same thing for our travel camper and the tractor. They are parked in the shade but on dirt.

Should I put some kind of flat stones in all the area? I don't think concrete would be a good idea because of the trees. What about gravel? What's the problem with dirt? Maybe a chemical reaction or the microrganisms? Dirt here in Florida is mostly sand.

Thanks,
Burt.

 

[crashnzuk]

One of my guys at work had a front tire let go on his 02 F350 a while back. The truck has about 40k miles and the tires were originals. He was on his way to work and the tire let go with zero warning. It did $2500 in damage to the left front of his truck. He went and got a new set of 6 Michelins when the truck got out of the body shop.
Travis..

 

[jim x 3]

It is good to protect tires from the sun; but, sitting on dirt is far more detrimental to them than direct sunlight.

Midnight: I have long heard that UV radiation will break down rubber. What is it about dirt contact that causes tire failure?

Thanks,

 

[IDIDieselJohn]

I just replaced the 2 front Michelin tires on the motorhome.

Date code: 366 36th week of 1996. lol

Really cracked, no treads at all left, I think it was a good idea of replacing them before making our 13k mile California trip this year don't 'cha think? lol

Now the 4 back cheap Hercules tires are only 5 years old, and from the looks of 'em, they'll have nothing left of 'em either by the time we come back after summer. No cracks, just worn.

 

[timothyr1014]

keep in mind just cuz you dont see the cracks does not mean there is not internal wear....as was mentioned above, and as was the case with mine, when the tire sits inflated it still takes a toll on the inner belting. When we inspected mine from its "sitting blowout" you could see where the belt let go directly across the tread, and that caused full structure failure.....just saying sometimes its what you cant see that can hurt you, and if you are gonna do a long distance summer run make sure your tires are up for it...especially in a motorhome where you will be near capacity.

 

[IDIDieselJohn]

My motorhome is jacked up for winter..... wheels are still on the ground but close to nothing.

Other than having some fair feathering edges, they look pretty good.

There is one that's making me question me self, passenger side outer dually, one random place on the tire where the feathering is really bad, only on the outer side, about 4 inchs long.

 

[BrandonMag]

I've got a couple of stories concerning used tires:

Several years ago I owned a 1979 LTD station wagon (talk about a land yacht, that thing was as long as my truck). The left rear tire blew due to a piece of gravel stuck in between the treads. I pulled the covered spare out of the trunk and realized that this tire may be the original. But, at the time money was tight, so I slapped it on and drove it. Big mistake. After about 50 miles, IIRC, the tread seperated and took out my fuel filler neck.

This past December I had a Dodge Caravan that I wanted to take on a road trip to California and Nevada. I decided to run a set of studded tires in case I ran into snow. I found a set of studded tires on wheels for $160. Bought 'em and filled 'em with air and they leaked from around the rim. Took 'em to America's Tire to have cleaned. The guy came out to look at them and said, "We can't touch these tires because they're more than 10 years old." He showed me the date code which was '97. Bummer.
However, I had the tires cleaned at another local tire shop and ran those tires for 3800 miles around the Southwest with zero problems.

That being said, it wasn't the best decision I've ever made. If I had a problem, it would have been a minor disaster. From now on, unless I'm in an extreme $$ bind, I'll be buying new tires rather than running ones over a decade old.