[barrierblue66]

I've been running redlines on my GTO since 1991, just bought my third set. After 10 years I get a little concerned and stop driving any real distance or on the highway, which bites as I like to use my cars. Always garage kept and inflated correctly. So at 13 years old I replaced. 1000 bux is a big number but it's one less thing to worry about running down the highway at 70, knowing I have good rubber.

Speaking of tire replacement, I dread the day that I need to replace them on our class A motorhome (which is now). 5-7 years recommended for a change but I go 8, that's all. Sadly we haven't used it much recently until I can go the $3K for 6. Like Michelin says, "Because so much is riding on your tires."

[GTOWAGON]

I bought my 2000 ws6 TA in 2007 it had 15k miles on it and was a 1 owner car that spent its entire life in a climate controlled garage tires on it looked like new.as they were 7 years old I replaced them when we were changing them one had the bead come apart and after closer inspection 3 of 4 tires you could poke through the sidewall with your finger. When buying new tires I will not accept Anything with a DOT code that is not the current year I have found tires sold as new with dates 3 years old

[JLHarper]

Originally Posted by GTOWAGON

I bought my 2000 ws6 TA in 2007 it had 15k miles on it and was a 1 owner car that spent its entire life in a climate controlled garage tires on it looked like new.as they were 7 years old I replaced them when we were changing them one had the bead come apart and after closer inspection 3 of 4 tires you could poke through the sidewall with your finger. When buying new tires I will not accept Anything with a DOT code that is not the current year I have found tires sold as new with dates 3 years old

You are right...I see a fair amount of media coverage on tire date codes, even in car mags.

Detailed how tires get moved around distribution/warehouses, and also may be inside the "sale" window of the law, but go out of date in short time you are using them.

Chemical breakdown is the culprit.

I cant understand how used tire shops can get away with selling used tires...a big business in many areas.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by buds56

Here's my opinion,

I have a 64 gto that got 4 new t-a radials in 05, the rear tires are 255-70-15, kinda of an odd size with a 2001 date code, they were 4 yrs old when I got them
They have less than 1500 miles on them, the car is always garaged,
They still look new, even upon close inspection on my hoist, so I'm not going to worry about them.

My truck sits outside, has 8 year old Michelins on it and you can see the suttle aging in the tires, they are getting replaced.
I believe in careful observation of what i have.

Something most people don't do any more with cars and trucks, so the tire companies have to protect themselves

If i were you I wouldn't worry about it especially as meticulous as you are with the car.
Again, just my observations and opinion
Bud

Back before 2003, I would have agreed with you 100%. I had purchased5 "brand new" Uniroyal redline radials in 1995 from my local Uniroyal dealer for my '64 GTO. These tires went out of production in 1991 and I bought the last set remaining in the state of Wisconsin.

In 1995, you no one was making radial redlines. So I was tickled to death to find these.

My car was always stored inside and only driven in the relatively short driving season that we have up north.

Fast forward to 2003. I'm cruising down I94 at 70 MPH when I start to feel a slight vibration. I slow up, the vibration starts to get worse, so I pull over on the shoulder.

After looking at both rear tires (it felt like the whole rear end was about to come out of the car) I finally discover steel belts sticking out of the tread surface of the left rear tire.

I figured I had a freak failure - as the tires still looked like new - so I just mounted up my "brand" new matching spare tire.

Fast forward another 500 miles. I feel a slight vibration as I pull onto the street I live on. Feels similar to what had happened previously - but I'm only doing about 20 MPH.

Pull the car into the garage and look at all four tires closely. Can't see anything wrong. Go out and driver around the block - slowly. Vibration is still there.

Mount up a spare set of rims/tires I had in the garage. Driver around the block - no vibration.

I'm confused...

Go to roll one of the redlines back to the GTO to put it back on again. I notice a slight shimmy as it rolls. Roll it again - slowly. It once again shimmies. Look at the tire tread closely where it shimmies and noticed a small "bump".

Repeated the process on all 3 remaining tires.

3 of the four have the same smal "bumb" in the tread surface.

Bottom line - 4 of 4 tires that had been driven about 15,000 miles and still looked "perfect" had failed.

I was lucky that the I caught the first one before it blew at 70 MPH on the interstate.

I now replace tires every 7 years. I have too much time, sweat, appreciation and money in my toy cars to worry about the relatively minor expense of replacing tires every 7 years to risk having that happen to me again.

I don't care to risk my life or anyone else's life either.

[Dick Boneske]

FYI, ALL tires, radial or bias ply, have steel bands inside the bead area. It makes sense that the steel is prone to corrosion if any moisture gets through the thin layer of rubber at the bead area. Even more likely with radials that have steel belts throughout the tire body.

I think it's amazing how few tires fail while driving on the highway, especially at freeway speeds. Temperatures exceed 150 degrees during summer, and, in Wisconsin, sometimes are at -30 degrees in winter.

Many thousands of tires are on the road that are more than 7 years old. The K-Mart G78-14's on my wife's '64 GTO have a date code of 1981 on them (32 years old). I wouldn't drive more than 30 mph on those tires--many cracks in the sidewall--even though they've been protected by in-garage storage all that time.

She would be eager to tell you that I took the set of redline radials that I gave her as a birthday present for her '64 GTO and put them on my '64. It's kind of a touchy subject in our house!!

[gtohurstjudge]

I have personally seen 8 year old goodrich radial t/a's that had never been outdoors ever, mounted on a collector car that wasn't finished for eight years, then removed
and mounted on a Toyota Previa fail at 70 miles per hour two weeks later,causing a serious
accident with injuries and totaling the car. Replace them.....your car and your life are worth more than the price of a set of tires.

[Firedup6975]

WOW! some good info here I love learning new things, and am not really that knowledgeable about tires, but want to be safe when driving this car. as mentioned I'm very meticulous and protective of this one I'd hate to be driving un safe and have something happen to someone else, me, or the car.


Thank you guys I'll keep an eye on them if they feel funny or look funny I'll have a tire pro check them. For now I'm not investing in new ones.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by Firedup6975

Thank you guys I'll keep an eye on them if they feel funny or look funny I'll have a tire pro check them. For now I'm not investing in new ones.

Maryann

You can't look at a tire and tell if it's going to go bad due to age. The problem is inside the rubber.

And external inspection can only determine obvious problems such as weather checking, uneven treadwear, flat spots or worn tread.

The problems that occurred on 4 out of my 5 "LIKE NEW" redlines happened regardless of the fact they had no weather checking, perfectly even treadwear, no flat spots and over 80% of their original tread.

If you love your car like I love mine - you'll spend the money on new tires.

[necdb3]

The only reason I would replace them if they pass the visual inspection would be if in the past, you had a tire plugged or repaired and the inside of the tire MAY be compromised.

[red1975pacer]

Was racing a 2013 Grand Sport Vette in my 75 AMC Pacer down the Ohio turnpike at speeds up to 90-95 mile per hour, on 13 year old Goodyear tires. Forgot how dangerous it was. Thanks for the "fresh warning. By the way the Pacer still has its original 258 motor

[Old Blue 66]

Lots of different directions to go here. If there's no visual deterioration anywhere and given the age, Id give them another couple of years.

If it were me, Id take all four off and inspect the backside of the tires and take a close look around the rims. JMO.

[Tunas73TA]

Just my .02c
I bought these brand new back in 1987 and they still look great. I've probably only put about 10,000 miles on them in 25 years.
The tread surface has become so hard that they could spin under the slightest of throttle application
The last time I ran these (several years ago) I couldn't get the thought of tire failure out of my mind.
They have now been replaced and I can sleep easier with the safety of modern rubber.

[Alvin]

Valve Stems!

Was cleaning wheels and tires and while hand polishing the set of factory 8" Snowflakes bumped against the valve stem which began leaking right away. Valve stem looked normal, tires looked great...but age also deteriorated the valve stems. Two out of four valve stems began leaking after a minor bump against them.

Translation - brittle rubber results in failure and rapid air loss.

Mentioning it here as the focus so far has ONLY been about tires and nothing about the Valve Stems.

[The Champ]

Alvin

How old are your tires if your valve stems were brittle?

I didn't mention valve stems because they should always be replaced at the same time as tires. If you replace your tires at the appropriate intervals, your valve stems won't have a chance to get brittle.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by Alvin

Valve Stems!

Was cleaning wheels and tires and while hand polishing the set of factory 8" Snowflakes bumped against the valve stem which began leaking right away. Valve stem looked normal, tires looked great...but age also deteriorated the valve stems. Two out of four valve stems began leaking after a minor bump against them.

Translation - brittle rubber results in failure and rapid air loss.

Mentioning it here as the focus so far has ONLY been about tires and nothing about the Valve Stems.

Yeah, I said valve stems...don't need input or mini-lecture as to "they should be replaced same time as tires" because they are indeed the same age as outwardly pristine appearing tires...so check them out too MA.

[Bob Hall]

Originally Posted by The Champ

Alvin

How old are your tires if your valve stems were brittle?

I didn't mention valve stems because they should always be replaced at the same time as tires. If you replace your tires at the appropriate intervals, your valve stems won't have a chance to get brittle.

The Right Front valve stem on my 47 Ford disagrees with you. New tires were put on the front mid October 2011. New valve stems as well. I had to replace the valve stem last month due to it decomposing and losing air causing the tire to go flat. The car has only spent 2 nights out of the garage (Dry-lock painting to the walls) since we brought it home and it doesn't get driven outside of my private development due the huge gap of vehicle legalities between Maryland (It's former home) and Pennsylvania.

[26667]

[QUOTE=The Champ;5053324]Maryann

You can't look at a tire and tell if it's going to go bad due to age. The problem is inside the rubber.

And external inspection can only determine obvious problems such as weather checking, uneven treadwear, flat spots or worn tread.

well put! can not add to this advice. joe

[REFORMULATED]

I had a stem leak on my 2011 E55 with just 2k miles on new tires, had them all replaced with metal stems. A good tire shop told me they have seen a lot of rubber stem failures on newer stems, many are made in china now days and they fail at the inner lip seal. They said the rubber is turning soft due to the incorrect compound.

Originally Posted by Bob Hall

The Right Front valve stem on my 47 Ford disagrees with you. New tires were put on the front mid October 2011. New valve stems as well. I had to replace the valve stem last month due to it decomposing and losing air causing the tire to go flat. The car has only spent 2 nights out of the garage (Dry-lock painting to the walls) since we brought it home and it doesn't get driven outside of my private development due the huge gap of vehicle legalities between Maryland (It's former home) and Pennsylvania.

[tigergto]

A few years ago I was putting air into a soft tire on my truck and the valve stem broke off in my hand. Never had that happen before. The tires were 3 or 4 years old but I can't say for certain if the valve stems also were replaced at that time. This thread comes down to either being pro-active and not using tires past the recommended time or taking a chance your tires will hold up longer which many do.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by Alvin

Yeah, I said valve stems...don't need input or mini-lecture as to "they should be replaced same time as tires" because they are indeed the same age as outwardly pristine appearing tires...so check them out too MA.

In other words - the tires were so old that the valve stems were brittle.

Are you suggesting breaking down an ancient (but "pristine" looking) tire to replace a valve stem instead of replacing the tire and valve stem?

I check my tire pressures regularly, so checking the valves stems is a routine procedure for me.

Originally Posted by Bob Hall

The Right Front valve stem on my 47 Ford disagrees with you. New tires were put on the front mid October 2011. New valve stems as well. I had to replace the valve stem last month due to it decomposing and losing air causing the tire to go flat. The car has only spent 2 nights out of the garage (Dry-lock painting to the walls) since we brought it home and it doesn't get driven outside of my private development due the huge gap of vehicle legalities between Maryland (It's former home) and Pennsylvania.

Bob

I can appreciate that there are exceptions to every rule. I don't know the original age of the "new" valve stem that was installed in your new tires back in 2011. I don't know the quality of the original "new" valve stem.

A quality made 2 year old valve stem should normally not have any issues after 2 years.

Brand new tires can fail due to a manufacturer's defect at any time. The same holds true for any other product.

Obviously your situation helps prove my point that being stored inside has little to do with an old tire (or valve stem) being safe.