[ssj71]

Well, the 'old tire' scenario bit me in the ass yesterday as I was headed home form a show in Auburndale, FL.

My old (dated 2000, yes 16 years old) Radial T/As finally gave out on me as I was heading back to Tampa. What started as a light shake, like an out-of-balance wheel, progressively got worse in a 2-mile span as the ol' SSJ was shaking very badly.

Another driver in a truck rode past me as I was down to about 45mph and yelled for me to pull off the road as he saw my RR tire violently shaking the entire rear axle. During that same small strecth of road, my steering wheel started wobbling violently and I knew the car was in trouble.

Turns out my RF and my RR tires bulged, cupped and had a few contortions I've never seen a tire do before. With 2 tires down, mounting the spare was pointless.

Got the car flatbedded home by AAA from about 20 miles away. Thank goodness for AAA!

Just this week as I was prepping the car for the show, I told my brother about the worries I had over those tires, and sure enough, the 2 failed.

Now, between the 2 of us, we're changing out 12 of our T/As this week. His are 2004/2005 vintage on his SSJs, and now he's really uncomfortable with his old tires after what he witnessed yesterday.

Watch those old tires!

Harvey

[400 4spd.]

Good advise, Harvey. It happens too often and can have some serious consequences.
My '72 Model J has mostly sat the past 3 years, with older T/A's on it. The rears are about 9 years old and I don't trust them either.

[Lightfoot]

The tires on my daily driver are 2008 vintage (Goodyear) so I'm always on the wary for any potential suspicious vibration. And I visually inspect them about once a week. I worked at a Firestone dealer in the 70s 80s so I have a good eye for spotting broken belts. I'm of the opinion that a tire will submit a 'warning vibration' before it totally sh!ts the bed.
I also think tire brand/quality plays a significant role on how long a tire's integrity lasts. And if the summer sun isn't beating on one side of the car for days on end while it's parked.
On my vehicles, I've only had one get bad enough to start transmitting a wobble to the seat of the pants and that was twelve years ago on my '78 Grand Am. Coincidently, it was on the RR. It was a Firestone Supreme that was one of a set of 4 that I had purchased new in 1994. So it was basically 10 years old when the belt pulled apart. That car sat in my driveway for months with the passenger side facing the southeast. Then it sat in storage for at least two years with the air leaked completely out of that tire for a good portion of the time. I think that was likely a contributing factor to it's eventual demise.

My sister had a Taurus wagon that had some Douglas all seasons on it when she got it in 2009. within a year, she had three of them go bad. The third one happened a few weeks before I was going to pay her a visit. I didn't know she had replaced two already. As soon as I rode with her in the car I could feel the whole front end vibrating. I had her let me drive it to better acess the problem, and holy cripe, the steering wheel wobbled a good two inches. When I pulled over and looked, the LF had a monstrous broken belt.
We limped it over to her daughter's house and put the doughnut spare on until she could get another new one.
She told me it had been vibrating (at least) a couple weeks before that day and had been getting progressively worse. I guess the first two tires that went bad were on the rear so she didn't put 2 & 2 together when the front started vibrating, because it felt different.

[Hikin Mike]

Good to hear nothing happened to you or the car.

I recently got my Firebird on the road again after being garaged for 10 years. This summer I took my daughter to the movies and the home my RF tire came apart. Thankfully it was in town doing around 25MPH. Bought 4 new tires.

[1965gp]

This happened to me on Friday in my Grand National. RR tire ballooned out.

I seem to see a lot of these BFG Radial TA's separating. Probably just the fact that they are very popular and readily available for our 14" and 15" wheels.

[Heybuck]

We have friends who live out in the country. The wife drives a Hyundai Accent which I guess today is about 2006 vintage. Every working day, she drives to the station, parks it all day, rides the train to and from her job and drives home.

So one night, she is on the way home and the car didn't feel "right". At that stage it was about 2 or 3 years old. Very shortly thereafter. it had a blowout and she ran off the road. Fortunately through a wire fence and into field. No other damage.

Some a-hole had swapped her wheels while it was parked. Put absolute rubbish wheels on it which were apparently lucky to be holding air.

The upside was a day or so later, she had a call from the cops. Someone had seen this snoozer swapping wheels, noted his details and reported him.

Could have all ended very badly though. Lucky it didn't

Ian

[Hikin Mike]

I should add that I wasn't running BFG tires.

[1965gp]

I wasn't trying to say anything negative about BFG's - I have them on a few of my cars. I think it's more of the fact that a large portion of bfg's are installed on cars that don't get driven often- therefore they are forced into a longer life.

On my 71 GTO they looked brand new on a car that was stored indoors since they were put on- the tread just stripped off one day driving through a parking lot. They were probably 10-12 years old at the time.

[necdb3]

Harvey,

I think about a few of my cars. One has tires around 15 years old.

The best part is, No one got hurt and no damage done to you car. You got lucky.

Dave

[Teej]

With size 15 feet, I buy multiple pairs of shoes when I find some that fit well. So this weekend I dug out a "new" pair of sneakers that had been sitting in a dark closet for a number of years. A couple hours of hitting tennis balls back and forth with my boy and I started hearing this flap-flap sound every time I stepped. Then a funny lump. All the glue had deteriorated and the tread came off. Fortunately I was moving at a slow rate of speed and was able to get to the grass before a serious accident.

[mrrat1]

Glad all is OK Harvey........that's a chunk of change and lot of work to do all at one time. Might be better to spread it out if you don't drive them all regularly. They will all get old again at the same time.

Teej............thats some funny chit there man!!LOL

I wonder if my Chevelle's rubber is good........2002 Vintage Michelin X's.
No miles and stored indoors. I'm gonna remove & inspect each one very closely.

On my 86' 2+2 I put the V-rated T/A's on it in the mid 90's. Overkill yes......but I think they use much better Quality rubber on that type tire. They need replaced now as they are worn & has sat outside.

[red1975pacer]

Was doing 90-95 mph in my 15 year old Goodyears on the Ohio Turnpike in my AMC Pacer this summer and the tires felt fine. Of course they only have about 10k miles on them. Car has always been garaged and tires have never been exposed to the elements.I guess it may make a difference on how the tires have been maintained.

[ssj71]

Tires were visibly in great shape with low mileage, so no outward warning signs. I was on the verge off getting off the highway right when the passerby yelled at me to get off the road. He could apparently see what the car was doing....and I could surely feel it.

Very unpleasant hanging on the side of a very busy interstate, and very difficult to hear anything the AAA lady was saying on the phone. I swear, those interstate drivers are on suicide/homicide missions...not to mention all of the 18-wheelers buzzing by....

[bird72]

Just replaced my 11 year old BF's that had 90% tread and were always garaged. Tire catastrophes are a bad memory from youth and running garbage old tires....

[360Rocket]

Damn, now I gotta go check the date codes on my ole Tampa T/A's. Glad it worked out OK for you sir. Got the whole family on AAA.

[69Farburd]

I read somewhere that you should change your tires every eight years no matter how much tread is left on them. My company makes us do that with all our company cars.

[Heybuck]

Originally Posted by Garry Sr

When I say them I'm referring to the crooks. I don't want anyone to think I'm condoning the narcs. I personally would rather catch them red handed and bypass the whole legal system.

Thinking about all this prompted me to call my friends last night. Apparently the snoozer swapping the wheels had targeted several cars that day and he had performed the same operation on previous occasions in the same car park.

Well thought out in that he had a utility vehicle with several lots of wheels in the back. Picked up junk wheels from somewhere, swapped out the tyres and sold them on. I guess with all the wheels and jacking equipment in the bed of his vehicle he looked legitimate enough for people NOT to notice exactly what he was up to.

Fortunately an observant woman in a nearby building decided to write down some details that day.

And you can't blame the car owners for not noticing. Get off the train in the evening, thinking about the day and getting home, unless the car had pink wheels on it, would my wife notice??? No way she would.

[Neil E]

Glad to hear you and the car are Ok.

Replacing my tires are on my list of things to do this winter. If my memory is correct the Cooper Cobras on my car are from somewhere in the mid-nineties, but they probably only have a few thousand miles on them.

Harvey what are you going to replace them with BF Goodrich Radial TAs?

Neil

[Half-Inch Stud]

Originally Posted by 1965gp

............seem to see a lot of these BFG Radial TA's separating. Probably just the fact that they are very popular and readily available for our 14" and 15" wheels.

Soooo, I gots new ( 11 years old now) BFG Radial TAs on the 68 GTO, with 24,000, and the ride is not smooth.

What is a good affordable 245/60 or similar size 15" tire these days for a 68 GTO that sees Street/Strip?

[Jerry H.]

When we cleaned out my step dad's barn we found a set of ORIGINAL redlines that we about half worn out. These had been stored all these years. So when I put my 65 back to stock I decided to use them for show. The guy who installed them told me that whatever I did not to build up any heat and/or speed in these tires. So I now only drive short distances around town or up and off the trailer with these tires. Definitely for show only!