[Shotimes] (OT) Safety group seeks tire expiration date

[Donald Mallinson]

Ron,

I did acknowledge that old tires fail, but probably not at a 
rate a lot higher than new tires. I didn't read so well on 
another topic earlier (shims/valve stems clearance) and you 
missed this one....maybe us old farts just can't read anymore?

Being involved with the old car hobby like I am, old tires 
are just not a big concern of the group as a whole.  I think 
most people in the hobby understand that the older a tire 
gets, the less you should trust it, but I have had FAR more 
new or nearly new tires (about 3) fail on me than old tires 
(none).

I think replacing tires every two years is way too soon, but 
it is your money.

Heck, the RACE tires on my '89 are now getting to be about 
eight years old, and they see lots of high speed and stress. 
  I think I will retire them this winter though, may have 
pushed my luck enough, especially since one of them has a plug!

If those GTII's on the Fiero are still in good cosmetic 
shape, you might want to keep them and sell them on E-bay. 
Someone will want them for SHOW purposes I am sure!

:)

Don Mallinson

Ron Porter wrote:
> As with other consumer group concerns, I don't feel that 37 deaths over an
> unstated period of time (the oldest was in 199, but they never said the
> period....over 20 years???) is worth a mountain of regs (don't 5-6 people
> die every year from being crushed by vending machines?).
> 
> Making the "Born-On" or "Expiration" date on a tire more prominent would be
> good, though. There is a side benefit for the tire companies in that they
> could not be liable for accidents involving old tires.
> 
> Don, because you haven't had old tires go out on you doesn't mean the
> potential isn't there. I have tires on my motorcycle with about 3K miles on
> them that were installed in 1988 and will never see the road again. Same
> with the tires on my Fiero GT. They are under 10K Goodyear GT IIs that have
> had one year of inside and 5.5 years of outside storage. Those will be
> driven to the tire store for new shoes.
> 
> On my daily drivers, I don't even want tires to last over two years. Of
> course, the new silica compound tires may hold up better over time.
> 
> Ron Porter
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Donald Mallinson [mailto:dmall@mwonline.net] 
> Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 10:27 AM
> Cc: Shotimes; SHO Tech; V8List SHO
> Subject: Re: [Shotimes] (OT) Safety group seeks tire expiration date
> 
> 
> You can find the article by just entering "Tire expiration 
> date" in the search feature of the web site.
> 
> I think an "expiration" date might be a better idea than a 
> "born on" date, but either would be good.
> 
> If you take the amount of old tires out there, and compare 
> their failure rate to the failure rate of brand new tires, I 
> bet you see an almost identical failure rate.
> 
> As someone that has had old cars, I have had some cars with 
> 30 year old tires!  And I have had most of those tires over 
> 100 mph!.
> 
> Also trailer tires are notorious for "aging out" before you 
> get close to wearing them out.  Most people that know what 
> they are doing can see the signs of an old tire and know to 
> get new ones when it is important.
> 
> Old tires get little cracks in the sidewall, mainly from UV 
> deterioration (sun damage).
> 
> I have never heard directly of an NOS (new old stock) tire 
> failing on a collector car.  I suppose it has happened 
> though.  NOS tires are a big deal and worth a LOT of money. 
>   Even if a proper reproduction tire is available, NOS tires 
> are better for show purposes.   I have heard of more brand 
> new reproduction tires failing than the old tires!
> 
> We have a small trailer in our barn that we use a couple 
> times a year to go one mile to get a small load of oats for 
> Jan's horses.  The tires on it are from about 1960!
> 
> I just replaced the tires on my flatbed trailer after over 
> 15 years of use.
> 
> The 66 Grand Prix I recently sold still had tires on it that 
> were old and 1/2 worn when I bought the car in 1988.  They 
> are probably at least 20+ years old, and I gave the new 
> owner a set of "new" tires that I was saving that had to be 
> at least 18 years old, but still had new tread and had never 
> seen the sun (always stored properly inside).
> 
> Like most "safety" things, it is terrible when even one 
> person looses their life, but how in the world can anyone 
> know if the failures in the article are from "old" tires 
> failing just because they are old, or more likely, they are 
> tires that have been run too low on air, not maintained 
> properly or overloaded.  It is much more likely that these 
> are the reasons for the failure than just that the tire is old.
> 
> It would be a shame if an entire new round of costly 
> "safety" regs were created to try to solve a problem that 
> you can't EVER stop....the stupidity of some people.  Brand 
> new tires, that are underinflated and run at too high a load 
> will continue to fail no matter what rules.
> 
> We need to beware of Big Brother getting another foothold.
> 
> Don Mallinson
> 
> 
> 
> Ron Porter wrote:
> 
> 
>>Interesting article from yesterday's Detroit News. 
>>
>>http://tinyurl.com/47zn6
>>
>>The tire expiration date thing has been kicked around before. Although
> 
> it's
> 
>>too bad for the 37 people, these deaths go back at least through 1999, so
>>this isn't major death contributor, but I'll bet a lot of tires fail and
>>cause a lot of inconvenience for people.
>>
>>Ron Porter
> 
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