----- Original Message -----
From: <Herald948@aol.com>
To: <fot@autox.team.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2003 9:53 AM
Subject: Re: Followup on Tow Vehicle Tire Failure
> In a message dated 11/29/2003 9:00:11 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> billsohl@mindspring.com writes:
>
> > Interesting point about Firestone ot recommending using any
> > tire for towing or heavy truck use if it is over 5 years
> > old....
> >
> > Is there a similar age limit recommendation for performance
> > tires...street and/or track types??
>
> There was a network television news story a few weeks ago, basically
quoting
> the "five year" rule for pretty much any tire. Sorry I don't have any
> citations or details.
> --Andy Mace
Interesting point. As a reader of various collector car publications for
many years (e.g. Old Cars Weekly, Hemmings Motor News, etc)
I have no specific recollection of anything like a 5 year rule. I believe
the
issue comes down far more to a basic question of highspeed
driving vs just general local driving...even at moderate
highway speeds.
Heck,
I just put new tires on my TR-3 last year after the ones that were on
it had gotten to the very worn catagory. They were on the car when I bought
it in 1986 and probably were already a couple of years old then. That's
damn near 20 years without an incident or even a flat. Now the car
wasn't driven at 70+ speeds either.
No one likes "blow-outs" but they aren't the worst thing either (IMHO)
until you get to fairly high speeds (70+). Trouble is the average
driver today has just never experienced the situation...whereas given
some of the past junk and low income of youth days in my past I
had my share of blowouts on several different vehicles.
If I bought into the 5 year rule, I'd have to change tires again in 2007
when the tires would likly have less than 10,000 miles on them. Has
anyone checked with Coker tires...they are a major supplier of
tires for collector cars.
Cheers,
Bill Sohl
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