<VV> Old tires

[Bob Tarpenning]

I was on an old car tour a couple of weeks ago in my '84 Cadillac Eldorado
Convertible that I have owned about 3 years.  The tires were on the car when
I bought it and looked good.  They had about half the tread left.  I was
driving 65 to 70 MPH on the way to the start of the tour.  On the second day
of the tour the tread came off the right front at about 30 MPH and it went
flat.  Walmart was the only place open to get a new tire.  I looked at the
bad tire when they got it off.  The tire was made in 1985.  27 years old.  I
drove the 150 miles to get home very carefully.  While at Walmart I was
looking at a couple of stacks of new tires.  One stack was made in 2012 the
other stack was made in 2009.  That second stack had used up half of its
life span sitting on their shelf.  A lot of places won't fix a flat on tires
over 6 years old.  White walls are hard to find now.  I found that Hankook
still makes them at least in the 225/70/15 size.
Bob T

-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Nick Elzinga
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2012 4:41 PM
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> Old tires

Three years ago I went to look at a set of six tires that were advertised on
Gumtree.  The ad said "Tires - like new!!!!". They comprised four Goodyear
GT2s and two Continentals CR21s. After consulting with a friend as to what
constituted the term "new" I headed off to the sellers farm where I was
shown the tires.  They didn't look so new to me, but the seller insisted
that the Goodyears had only been used to the shop and back for 5 weeks and
the Continentals had just been used as spares when going on camping trips.
On inspecting the tires, I saw two of the Goodyears had been manufactured in
week 22 of 2003.  The other two had been manufactured in 2006 and the two
Continentals had been manufactured in 2003 as well.  That meant that four
tyres were at the end of their useful life by 2009 and the remaining two
were halfway through their useful life.  When I pointed out the facts to the
seller, he was somewhat taken aback.  I told him that the Continental CR21s
were already being referred to as vintage tyres on the net and made a
suggestion as to what I believed the tires to be worth (not much) and what I
could buy them for brand new and that his local dealer was obviously ripping
him off as he suggested that he was paying 50% more than the price I had
been quoted.  I was quite blunt and said the tyres were most definitely not
like new and that I would be better off buying genuine new tyres and that
the tyres he was selling could no longer be regarded as safe.

He probably had no idea how old the tires were until I pointed it out, but I
wasn't going to waste my money on time-expired rubber. 

Nick


-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Grant Young
Sent: 27 October 2012 19:26
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> Old tires

Just read in the AAA travel magazine that the safe life on tires, regardless
of mileage, is about 6 years. 

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