Just got some tires delivered from Tire Rack. Date stamps are 3423 and 4223, almost a year old. Should I be concerned? I won’t be driving the car much so they will “age“ out before they wear out…
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Old new tires
- Thread starter J. M. van Swaay
- Start date
Zero issues / concerns. It's not uncommon to buy new tires and find they are dated 1-2 years old per the DOT date codes. That said, I'd be a little grumpy if "new" tires were 3-4 years old, or older. It's also not common to get super-fresh new tires, if they are 6 months old or newer, that's great - but I don't expect this.
Although some tires stores run around like a headless Chicken Little once tires hit 6 years from the DOT date code (and, some shops refuse to service tires more than 10 years old)... IME the actual condition of the tire is far more important than the date code. I've seen tires 5-6 years old with drastic cracks over the entire sidewall. Date code says they are good, eyeballs say otherwise!
OTOH, I've got some 10-12 year old tires mounted on the cars we currently drag race... these "old", "unserviceable" tires still have sidewalls that look new and have 50% tread remaining. I probably wouldn't spend excessive time above 130-150mph on old tires, but I have no concerns at USA-legal speeds.
Although some tires stores run around like a headless Chicken Little once tires hit 6 years from the DOT date code (and, some shops refuse to service tires more than 10 years old)... IME the actual condition of the tire is far more important than the date code. I've seen tires 5-6 years old with drastic cracks over the entire sidewall. Date code says they are good, eyeballs say otherwise!
OTOH, I've got some 10-12 year old tires mounted on the cars we currently drag race... these "old", "unserviceable" tires still have sidewalls that look new and have 50% tread remaining. I probably wouldn't spend excessive time above 130-150mph on old tires, but I have no concerns at USA-legal speeds.
Dave is spot on imo. Storage is the most important factor in my eye with tire ageing. If they’re kept out of sunlight and heat and heat cycles, they keep their properties a really long time.
I just removed the spare tire from my car to clean the wheel, it’s the original Pirelli on it, well over 30 years old, and has been u sed at some point too.
No cracks, still soft. It’s been stored in a cool climate for the last 20 years, out of sight.
Would I go 200 km/h on autobahn on it? Probably not. But it’ll do fine as a spare to get home still, so I decided not to replace it.
I just removed the spare tire from my car to clean the wheel, it’s the original Pirelli on it, well over 30 years old, and has been u sed at some point too.
No cracks, still soft. It’s been stored in a cool climate for the last 20 years, out of sight.
Would I go 200 km/h on autobahn on it? Probably not. But it’ll do fine as a spare to get home still, so I decided not to replace it.
Thanks for the replies, I’m having them mounted tomorrow.
J.
J.
Yea well the question is 100% valid. There's a lot of talk online about tire age and getting "fresh tires" and nothing else from the tire shop. I understand OP all too well.
Ari Henning is a well known motorcycle profile, and he's got a lot of motorcycle and roadracing experience, so he actually did a test with what's widely considered old tires vs. new ones to find out if the older tires were as dangerous and useless as they are portrayed, or not.
In the motorcycle community it is more of a big deal, with good reason since we only have two small patches of tire on a vehicle that won't balance on its own, AND leans on the side of the tire.
But it is still well worth checking out even though it is motorcycle specific since the aging process is more or less the same between motorcycle and car tires.
Oh and there's a 500eboard Easter Egg in that video too.
Great video. Comments were interesting as well. The point about storage is critical.
Would love to see this test repeated with some 15 year olds! Let's see how old they can go before slippin' & slidin'.
