Aged Tires: A driving Hazzard? (Worth Watching)

[FMGT1999]

I was sent an email on this and wow great information on something I never thought about. I hope you find this as interesting as I did.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897

Kyle

[Ryan218]

wow. now im going to go check my tires on the mustang....

[Ryan218]

31st week of 2001 lol.

[Black Horse]

After the Firestone/Explorer debacle, Ford has been promoting tire safety and age limits. All Dealerships have strict guidelines with the tires they sell.

I would still think if you had 12 year old tires and kept them properly inflated, didn't overload them or overheat them they would be quite safe. I think most everyone on this site has old front tires and recent rear tires....go figure ;)

[wht_stang]

That sickens me seriously.

[thecollector]

Wow a war overseas, a new president entering office and an economic crisis and this is all 20/20 can report on.... To create hysteria about tire failure.

The social climate in Britain is so litagiously happy that they have started to wrap light posts with foam because A$$holes talking on their cell phones ran into them and hurt themselves- resulting in lawsuits.

The story failed to mention One key point- The Leading cause (90+%) of tire failure is underinflation- not age. The majority of the exploders in the warehouse in corpus christi needed to have there tires replaced for wear not age. Yes the natarual oils in rubber compounds do decompose with age and UV light exposure however they show this destabilization with Dry rotting and cracking. The story acted as if tire date codes were purposefully decieving consumers with some type of encrypted code you need a laptop and PHD to decipher. In actuallity a 5th grader can easily read them. Your chances of getting killed by a male driver between the ages of 16-24 are many many many times higher than suffering tread seperation on a properly inflated tire that has no dry-rot and good tread wear.

The government should probably step up and impose a time restriction for "new" tire sales but it is sad to see such a gratuitus attempt to incite fear into the public for viewer ratings. The media will eventually have us all walking around in bubbles wearing biohazard suits and constantly watching over our shoulders...

I saw a pickup truck loaded down with 50 skids stacked 10 ft over the cab this afternoon in Fairfield. The rat driving it apparently started using them as currency. He was driving an 81 Ford pickup with the front wheels shimmying and the back bumper 4 inches off the ground with 2 pieces of rope over the skids to hold the trucks bedsides together, and yes his tires were low/bald. These are the vehicles I fear- not soccer moms who just bought 6 year old "new" tires from sears to put on their Oddysey. I doubt John Stossel will be interviewing scrap collectors or skid pickers however because that would not have enough power to create hysteria panic and worry.

Sorry for the rant if you were patient enough to read this far.

[mustangjon]

the funny thing is as usual the media blows things out of proportion ect. Just like the most recent "recall of valve stems" that were made in china that fail. Well the problem is there was say 100,000 valve stems recalled... people think OMG that number is huge. Well in reality compared to vehicles on the road... 4 valve stems per car, how many of those stems that were made 2 years ago ect havent been replaced by now... compared to the ratio of vehicles owned in america... some ungodly billion number im sure.

The tire industry actually has one of the lowest failure rates of any product, yet people are paranoid. The "true manufacture defect" failure rate of tires is somthing like .1 %. The problem is america always wants to blame someone other than themselves...

my tires were underinflated by 10lbs i had 30 clowns in my car... trying to make it look like a shriner ride... and i was doing 120 down I75, and my tire just blew out! for no reason, with no warning.

Or the person that comes in with a shredded tire and says it just blew out... yet you look find a nail... and as usual it was deflating as they were driving... got low on air.. started sounding like a 747 roaring along to give warning, but the just talked louder on their god damn cell phone, or turned the radio.

I have actually heard a persons flat tire going down on the road.... caught up to them to point it out.. they looked at me like i was crazy then half mile later it went boom


Yes tire aging is an issue, but there are too many factors that play roles in how a tire ages. I have seen trailer tires that get used once a year by a farmer.. who stores it in the barn rest of year.. on blocks.. 20 years old look better than half the car tires i see in my store. Would i personally trust that tires glues and internal chemicals to hold up for a long trip with a load... no but they did appear by anything other than a microscope to be in excellent shape... ok so now i'll get off the collectors soapbox lol.

[wht_stang]

I still believe that the consumers should be informed of the age of the tires they get. I wouldn't buy a set knowing they've been sitting 4 years or so and I doubt anyone else would either.

[mustangjon]

i agree that consumers have the right, hell if i use an outside vendor and the tire is more than 2 years old I wont even accept it... but thats me, not everyone.

[thecollector]

Tires are not the same as a pack of bud light. The tire code can be read by the consumer and I have never heard of a retailer refusing to decode a date for a customer. The story is edited to cast a dark spooky shadow on the American tire manufacturing industry and it does an excellent job of villifying the representative interviewed, all while hooking the audience to tune in so that they can discover the danger lurking in their driveways...


I know I just ate pumpkin pie that was made from canned pumpkin that was at least 5 years old, So did hundreds of thousands of other people, Yet the largest health concern from Thanksgiving is obesity- not rancid canned goods. People know the food is old and they still injest it so I don't think they would have to much of a problem with 4 year old tires. This is because when tires, like canned goods, are propperly stored shelf life is an unmeasurable aspect of overall product performance (no scientific information was able to link tire age to failure otherwise the amount this family settled out of court for would have come from a tire maker not a retailer)

I say John Stossel should do a story on those chincy El-cheapo made in god only knows where front end parts. The fact of the matter is that tires are the most heavily regulated service part that will ever be put on your vehicle yet we share expressways everyday surrounded by 10.00 brake pads and other garbage suspension parts. At least if a tire fails you have a good possibility of steering thru it and getting to the shoulder, If the pitman Arm on your explorer breaks you dont have a chance ( I know only first gen exploders had pitman arms but you get the point).

There is a such thing as consumer over-information. Tire legislation overseas was the result of civil litigation not scientific evidence. If the City of Cincinnati starts wrapping it's light posts and parking meters with foam Im moving......

[cstreu1026]

Was Michael Moore the director and editor of that piece? Would I be concerned if a store tried to sell me a tire that was 12 years old, yeah maybe a little and I would probably go some place else, but blackhorse hit the nail on the head. If you take proper care of your tires you have little to worry about. And the idea that cars wreck when tires blow is ridiculous. I would guess that there are thousands of blowouts every day and yet some how not everyone is killed then they happen. Maybe if the person driving didn't have a cup of starbucks in 1 hand and cell phone in the other they would be able to keep it under control.

[k062693w]

Was Michael Moore the director and editor of that piece? Would I be concerned if a store tried to sell me a tire that was 12 years old, yeah maybe a little and I would probably go some place else, but blackhorse hit the nail on the head. If you take proper care of your tires you have little to worry about. And the idea that cars wreck when tires blow is ridiculous. I would guess that there are thousands of blowouts every day and yet some how not everyone is killed then they happen. Maybe if the person driving didn't have a cup of starbucks in 1 hand and cell phone in the other they would be able to keep it under control.

DAMN !!!! Preach on Brother !! Do you carry that Soap Box around with you everywhere ???? :flipoff:

[cstreu1026]

DAMN !!!! Preach on Brother !! Do you carry that Soap Box around with you everywhere ???? :flipoff:

Its collapsable so it fits in my trunk.

[k062693w]

:bigthumb :lol: :bigthumb

I was wondering !!!!! :lol:

[IWRBB]

I'd never trust a 12 year old tire for high speeds and loads. Putting around town in a car, sure. Pulling a heavy trailer 10 states away and back with a truck, no way in hell.

The easy thing to do is buy a new model tire. If you buy something that has been released in the last year or two, you know you are getting new tires.