My wife's Taurus recently suffered a tire failure. Continentals: a rear
tire wore down to the wires on the inside due to a misalignment. Failed
in the driveway rather than on the freeway (dodged bullet).
I seldom drove the car but periodically inspected for tread wear. There
was at least two years worth left. When I checked my records I was
amazed to find the tires were eight years old- they must have had around
90,000 miles on them.
Only upon the failure did my wife somehow recall that the car had seemed
to be steering "a little" funny recently. Then she noted that for the
past couple of years the traction control light had been coming on
around corners and when crossing railroad tracks. (Sort of in the line
of those "funny little" messages that had been popping up on her
computer screen for a few days before she presents me with the bollixed
machine....) I take the slipping tires to have been an indication of
how hard the rubber had become by their sixth year.
So I'm adopting the six year rule for our cars. (And yes, in the future
I'll do more thorough inspections plus make certain I drive the car
periodically.)
Cheers,
Pete Pollock
BJ7
N. California
John Loftus wrote:
> Dave Russell ... (miss you buddy .. rip) ... used to pipe in about
> tire rubber getting harder with age, even if they are kept in storage.
> He recommended borrowing or having a tire durometer tester to check
> the values when new and over time to know when the rubber is getting
> too hard. Lots of good info if one searches for 'tire durometer' in
> the archives.
>
> I'm running Kumho's on the BJ7 that had excellent road feel when first
> bought but now have about 6 years of storage on them and they are
> noticeable harder (although don't have a durometer tester to prove it
> ;) )
>
> Cheers,
> John
>
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