Old tires: Do you trust them?

Kurt Halverson

Kurt Halverson

PCS Northland Chapter President
Hello Everyone!
My 1977 Lifeliner came with some Michelin radial white wall tires. There is minimal tread wear on the tires, and no weather checking on the sidewalls. The thing is that the car has been sitting for 12 years or so, so that give us some idea as to the age of the tires. I don't want to have to buy a set of new tires if i don't have to, but I don't know if it will be safe to drive this car long distances on the tires it has.
What are your opinions? Do I just "roll" with the old tires, or is it time to be in the market for a new set of treads?
Thank you,
Kurt
 
Well, here is my experience. When I bought my '68 Cadillac Fleetwood 75, I was told the tires were 15 years old--with only about 3,000 miles on them. I took the car to the tire shop and had them check them over. No cracks, no visible signs of deterioration at all.

I decided to leave them on the car and have around 2,000 miles on them now. They have been driven on at highway speeds many times and ride just fine. I am not saying that they will not fail in the future, but so far, so good.

I guess I should say that even though there are no visible signs of any problems, that does not guarantee that something will not happen. Of course, that can be said for a new tire as well. Just :my2cents:

I am sure there will be many who will disagree with using tires this old, but as I said, this is MY experience with them, yours may differ.
 
Invest the money you save in a life insurance policy. Your rollin the dice on old tires. Please - O- please get new tires. Vulcanized rubber deteriorates with age.
 
I agree with Russ. We had 10+ year old tires on our coach with less that 5k on them. One blew out late at night on the way to a call. I can only say that I wish I had known that older tires could go bad. I would have bought new ones sooner.
 
I don't trust a radial tire old or new. they come apart to often to trust. but me if ain't broke tell it's in two pieces. so look then over on the face if they are dried out and cracked around the tread and you going to be doing a long highway run change the tires. cruising around town I would not. but me driving down the road I would take the skirts off no matter how new the tires were.
 
On a heavy ambulance, no way. If you did manage not to wreck when you have a blow out the body damage will really bite you. I have tires on a truck that I drive only twice a month that are almost 25 years old. I drive around town with no worries but would not take off down the interstate in hot weather any distance.:thankyou2:
 
Some of you may remember the 1969 Superior Ambulance that I had at Albany.We drove that car down from London,Ontario to Albany ans then on to New Jersey without any problems.I have just returned from a Cadillac Rally in Toowoomba, Queensland and had tread seperation on 2 tyres. It turns out that the tires were over 30 years old.I now have 4 brand new tires on.If I had done this before I went it would of saved me alot of trouble.I consider myself very lucky that I am still here to tell the story.......
 
I would say "change the tires" and you will be glad you did.

500.00-600.00 now is a lot better than a blowout with possible accident, ditch or guard rail later.

A once of prevention is worth a pound of cure as they say.

The piece of mind would be worth it alone.

Better safe than sorry is another thing to think about.


They are trying to pass a law that tires be changed every 6 years if you drive the car or not. Lots of thread with low miles on them as well. They do rot sitting too.


:clubem: :badbad: :stars: :smiley_w_ballbat: :whip: :pat:



....oh, by the way, lube and double check your hood latch too !!!!!

:thumb:


Darren
 
Agreed. Don't trust old tires. I bought a low mileage 74 Cadillac Calais sedan with like new tires on it. I drove it leisurely for a few hundred miles. Then one day when on a sunday drive I noticed that both front tire sidewalls were coming apart! That was a long, slow drive home!

I know some guys feel ok driving on old tires to and from local shows, but why take the risk? I've heard of some rear tires letting go and taking out the rear fender skirts doing expensive damage.

Nowadays if I even question the age of the tires I replace them.
 
the funny this is I have a set of 700 15 tires that were on the 53 when I got it. they hold air but are bold and badly weather check. I put new tires on it and we looked in the casing the inside looked like new. I have them mounted on a set of wheels now to move a car with if needed. the set I had on the Limo were not that old when we got the car but lost one of them on the last trip we took.

so what has happen to tires?? 20 years ago it was nothing to see old tires on a rig that would last forever. oh we got flat tires but not that many blow outs. bet last meet there were at least 10 people that had tire separation problems going to the meet. then a few on the way home. at around a grand a set the price keeps going up the quality going down. I'm sorry I left that new spare in my 72 when I sold it. that 40 year old us royal is a much better tire then any steel belted on out there.
 
The most common cause of tire failure is under inflation. A tire that is under inflated runs hotter and is more likely to fail. Check your tire pressure frequently. I see people weekly with flat tires on the freeway that are shredded & i hear them on their cell phones while in the tow truck telling somene "I had a blow out". No, you idiot, you didnt have a "blow out"...you ran your tires too low or you picked up a nail and the tire lost pressure and you kept on driving and the tire self destructed. As far as driving on a tire that is more than 6 years old or whatever, you have to consider how the car will be driven. If youre staying close to home without extended freeway driving, i would say dont worry about it.
 
I can't agree more. that was more likely the problem on the limo. I had not read the side wall. the recommended psi on the tire was 44 for the load rating. heat build up on the steel belts are a killer
 
Kurt, when I got my 77 Lifeliner in 99 it had tires with good tread, but had some checking on the sidewall. I never did check the date codes. I got from an ambulance service but don't think it had been used much. Anyway after spending money on getting the car, getting it registered and addressing other issues I decided to table new tires. Returning from the Lancaster meet the right rear tire seperated and failed at highway speed. Fortunately the car more or less sat down and stayed straight. I then had the pleasure of discovering what I thought was the lug wrench only fit the scissors jack and not the lug nuts. More than one lesson learned that day. Buy some new tires, double check your spare, jack, wrench etc.
 
Prior to leaving for Hudson last summer, I checked the pressure on my trailer tires, they were up to the pressure they should have been. And yet, I had a couple blowouts on the trailer tires (and one last year as well). I've had the trailer for about 8 years, and the tires were the tires that came with it. The trailer only gets used a couple times a year, it sits mostly. My diagnosis? Old tires.

They've all been replaced.

The blowouts did some minor damage to the trailer. I'm glad they didn't do the same damage to the ambulance.

I now have a "plan" for regular tire replacement on my vehicles. Seems like a wise investment.
 
now me I would go back to bias ply tires on one I'm not using that often. I really think they will last a lot longer uer those conditions. you put 50,000 miles on in and year your good but you put 3,000 the car just sits in the garage and your not in 3 to 5 years. with inside storage air in them bias plys would go 20 years. some times I think newer is not really better.
 
I just put 4 new tires on my Ford Explorer. I was going to use the spare which has never been on the car, but after getting it dismounted and ready to put on the aluminum rim, it was discovered that even though it looks like the other 4 that came on the car, it wasn't. It was a cheaper version of the 4 OEM tires. Almost makes you wonder why they install a spare tire at all, since it is only a "temporary" tire on a steel wheel.
I worry less about old tires on the road, than I do old drivers on the road... :071:
 
I have a bunch of cars which means the tires get old before they get worn out. I inspect for dry rot cracks anywhere on the tire, especially between the treads. If you see them between the treads you can count on a separation problem in the future. I have had no issues with older tires with no cracks. I also keep the cars inside and out of the sun for storage, sunlight will dry out the tires faster.
 
I agree, change them unless you just plan to drive around town at low speeds. I used to work for Ford, and dealerships had to change tires on cars that sat more than a year due to "lot rot" on the tires, not only does the rubber deterorate but they also get out of round too.

Abe
 
tire failure

so right about replacing tires. yesterday i took the old motorhome out for a spin and went 45 miles and was going to turnaround and come home when rt. side inner blew. and i mean blew. took out mudflap and possibly damaged leveling hyd. tires had 3000 miles on them and had correct pressure. 6 year old tires and still had the tits on them. waited for tire truck to come and mount my spare only to discover my michelin spare was checked and cracked. made it back on a wing and a prayer. 2800 dollars later i had 6 new tires. steel belted tires with a lot of weight [coach ambulance?] set and become imprinted with the way they are sitting. balance becomes off and its all downhill from there. i always replaced the tires on my wreckers with a complete set if it only neede 2 as a safety measure. my wifes grandmother passed away last year [97 long life] and i went to el paso to bring back her 6000 mile 96 fleetwood and got 145 miles before tire seperation on rt rear. discount tire and a set of tires later we were back on the rode. tires looked perfect but still were bad. replace replace replace!!!!
 
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