Tire checking/safety

B

BlueSunoco

Well-known member
Not to hijack RHD's thread------------------ I was talking to a tire technician at the Goodyear shop last week and asked him about my 20 year old Goodrich tires on another older Ford we have. Tires look like new, car always garaged. No cracks of any kind anywhere. Less than 3,000 miles on the tires. Always kept fully inflated.

He told me, if they are in that good of shape don't worry about it keep running them! You read about the horror stories of guys w/ tires separating, etc. Articles from the tire mfg. tell you to 'change them out for new at least every 6-7 years' that sort of thing.

Tires on our '30 Ford are ugly Garfields, over 30 years old, and look like new. Very little wear car really not driven that much. Again, no cracks at all.

Guess I'll take that guy's advice!!
 
The Firestone's on mine were installed in the late 80's, some checking but hold air fine and no fear traveling 50-55.
Paul in CT
 
look very carefully with a flashlight in between the treads, around where the rim meets the tire and on the entire sidewall on both sides .. if there is no cracking ///dry rot you should be fine IMO.
 
i talked to the Firestone research department and the Polysar research department and I was told the exact opposite. I was told that the cracking wad a breakdown in the rubbers molecular stability and the tire was unsafe. It was suggested that for parades the risk was not great but for higher speeds above 25 miles an hour there was a significant risk. The Firestone person might be considered to be prejudiced but the Polysar chemist had no vested interest. I personally choose to accept the opinion of a chemist over the opinion of a tire installer. I don't want to take a chance of a blowout, losing control and causing a serious accident and possibly killing someone to save a few dollars. To each his own but the risk is far too great for me.
Wayne
 
Lots of people run old tires with no problems, but I am sure there is a risk, especially in warmer weather.

There is a recent thread on the V8 forum where a guy in New Zealand took his 38 on a tour. Beautiful photos and a nice story, but he had two tire failures on that trip: a sidewall blowout and a tire tread separation. To this casual observer, both of those appear to be failures due to age of the tires.

That said, my 30 Town Sedan has Firestones that are probably at least ten years old and I just bought a 28 roadster whose tires are probably close to 20 years old. I will keep a close eye on the latter, as they seem the most vulnerable. I just did a tour of about 4 hrs on my TS and the tire performance has been good. Cracking of the rubber is not a good sign and surely indicates a breakdown in the rubber. Just my opinion, of course, not backed up by any empirical data.
 
What does it take to become a tire technician? Does it require a degree or is being able to walk and chew gum enough?

Charlie Stephens
BlueSunoco said:
Not to hijack RHD's thread------------------ I was talking to a tire technician at the Goodyear shop last week and asked him about my 20 year old Goodrich tires on another older Ford we have. Tires look like new, car always garaged. No cracks of any kind anywhere. Less than 3,000 miles on the tires. Always kept fully inflated.

He told me, if they are in that good of shape don't worry about it keep running them! You read about the horror stories of guys w/ tires separating, etc. Articles from the tire mfg. tell you to 'change them out for new at least every 6-7 years' that sort of thing.

Tires on our '30 Ford are ugly Garfields, over 30 years old, and look like new. Very little wear car really not driven that much. Again, no cracks at all.

Guess I'll take that guy's advice!!
Click to expand...
 
Charlie Stephens said:
What does it take to become a tire technician? Does it require a degree or is being able to walk and chew gum enough?

Charlie Stephens
Click to expand...
yea the chew gum thing...

i dont buy into the change tires every 6 years crud. Do you guys change your oil every 3 months? Air filter in your new cars every 30k? rearend fluid in your modern trucks/cars every 50K? 99.9% likely you dont.

yes outside factors can prematurely deteriorate tires dont get me wrong, sitting in water, mud, sunlight, extreme heat etc can all weather tires and can make them unsafe so its very important to check your tires over real good at least once a year. If i find cracks starting around the bead but their horizontal to the rim edge i dont worry about them. If i start seeing vertical cracks or the cracks get big enough to feel squishier than the rest of the sidewall then yes i replace them.
 
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