RE: Old Rubber isn't Safe
Tuesday 9th September 2003
Old Rubber isn't Safe
Past the sell by date? Don't take any risks
Discussion
I saw firsthand what problems old tires can cause... My Pantera GT5-S takes 15" tires that are no longer manufactured, so I have a small stash of both front (285/40/15) and rear (345/35/15) tires to keep me going. When I run out and there are no more stashed in people's closets that I can convince them to sell me, I don't know what I'll do...
Anyway, I put on a set of "new" 345/35/15's last summer. Fortunately I was driving at perhaps 20mph when I heard a huge "BANG!" Alarmed, I pulled over, trying to figure out where the noise came from. It came from my "brand new", 8 year old rear tire. The tread was perfect, as it had perhaps 50 miles on it, but it had split right between the tread.
Had I been going with more enthusiasm, the result could have been ugly. I since learned how to read date codes and put on some brand new 345's.
This can be a problem if you can't find any new rubber to fit your car... I've got some of the last tires made that fit my car, but they are going to be old some day...:-(
Anyway, I put on a set of "new" 345/35/15's last summer. Fortunately I was driving at perhaps 20mph when I heard a huge "BANG!" Alarmed, I pulled over, trying to figure out where the noise came from. It came from my "brand new", 8 year old rear tire. The tread was perfect, as it had perhaps 50 miles on it, but it had split right between the tread.
Had I been going with more enthusiasm, the result could have been ugly. I since learned how to read date codes and put on some brand new 345's.
This can be a problem if you can't find any new rubber to fit your car... I've got some of the last tires made that fit my car, but they are going to be old some day...:-(
edited to add, not particularly aimed at anyone.....
This happens a lot on old MGs and other classics, these idiots keeping "the original tyres" for posterity and the fact their cars only do a handful of miles a year.... One idiot even owned up to using tyres 25 years old, and should he change them because they were so brittle they were affecting his handling!
get the hell away from me on the road, you fool!
On the back of a (recent) DETR leaflet i have, its states that the maximum fine per tyre defect is 3-6points and £1000. So 2 defects = 2 fines, that could be your bank manager fecked off and your licence gone.
Coupled to tyres affecting wet weather performance, braking, handling, how much load you can carry etc, for goodness sake make sure you buy decent ones and change them regularly - even if you don't do many miles a year. If your car stands on them for a period of time too, then you are also potentially flat-spotting them, which can cause bulging etc......
Bit of a pet rant of mine
>> Edited by Buffalo on Wednesday 10th September 18:51
This happens a lot on old MGs and other classics, these idiots keeping "the original tyres" for posterity and the fact their cars only do a handful of miles a year.... One idiot even owned up to using tyres 25 years old, and should he change them because they were so brittle they were affecting his handling!
get the hell away from me on the road, you fool! On the back of a (recent) DETR leaflet i have, its states that the maximum fine per tyre defect is 3-6points and £1000. So 2 defects = 2 fines, that could be your bank manager fecked off and your licence gone.
Coupled to tyres affecting wet weather performance, braking, handling, how much load you can carry etc, for goodness sake make sure you buy decent ones and change them regularly - even if you don't do many miles a year. If your car stands on them for a period of time too, then you are also potentially flat-spotting them, which can cause bulging etc......
Bit of a pet rant of mine
>> Edited by Buffalo on Wednesday 10th September 18:51
i can see point but by same token i've known a few who have had blowouts with new tyres, one wrote his car off! Look at what happened with NEW Firestones in the USA!! I used to participate in autotests where 'old' tyres were used and the bashing they took had to be seen to be believed, smoking, burning, skidding, high revs, handbrake turns by the hundreds - can't recall even one tyre going pop.
in my book rather than keep giving more dosh to Kwik-fit and the like, is to change tyres well before they reach legal limit and MOST IMPORTANTLY check your tyres WEEKLY or even more often AND that pressures are CORRECT. THIS is what causes the problems - 90 per cent of motorists never look at their tyres let alone check pressures.
in my book rather than keep giving more dosh to Kwik-fit and the like, is to change tyres well before they reach legal limit and MOST IMPORTANTLY check your tyres WEEKLY or even more often AND that pressures are CORRECT. THIS is what causes the problems - 90 per cent of motorists never look at their tyres let alone check pressures.
i can see point but by same token i've known a few who have had blowouts with new tyres, one wrote his car off! Look at what happened with NEW Firestones in the USA!! I used to participate in autotests where 'old' tyres were used and the bashing they took had to be seen to be believed, smoking, burning, skidding, high revs, handbrake turns by the hundreds - can't recall even one tyre going pop.
in my book rather than keep giving more dosh to Kwik-fit and the like, is to change tyres well before they reach legal limit and MOST IMPORTANTLY check your tyres WEEKLY or even more often AND that pressures are CORRECT. THIS is what causes the problems - 90 per cent of motorists never look at their tyres let alone check pressures.
in my book rather than keep giving more dosh to Kwik-fit and the like, is to change tyres well before they reach legal limit and MOST IMPORTANTLY check your tyres WEEKLY or even more often AND that pressures are CORRECT. THIS is what causes the problems - 90 per cent of motorists never look at their tyres let alone check pressures.
I once did some work on an old 1950 Riley which had been in a barn for at least 20 years and the tyres would have been older than that. I then took it on a quick lap of a small race circuit and it was like driving on ice! I didn't expect it to have much grip on its skinny old crossplies but even allowing for that they were impressively bad! A new set of tyres (same size as a London taxi as luck would have it) made a big difference soI can only assume that the rubber had gone more like Bakelite than rubber!
When my father died at a fairly advanced age we found a packet of a well known product of the London Rubber Company in his wallet which were 22 or so years past their use by date.
They didn't seem to be brittle but as they were not mentioned in his will we donated them to the family water bomb cache. They didn't burst or break any sooner than the new Strawberry flavoured ones we purchased, for research purposes, from the machine in the local pub.
Perhaps Durex should have tyred the Surtees Cars rather than sponsored them.
>> Edited by gnomesmith on Friday 12th September 22:57
They didn't seem to be brittle but as they were not mentioned in his will we donated them to the family water bomb cache. They didn't burst or break any sooner than the new Strawberry flavoured ones we purchased, for research purposes, from the machine in the local pub.
Perhaps Durex should have tyred the Surtees Cars rather than sponsored them.
>> Edited by gnomesmith on Friday 12th September 22:57
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