Tire Life expedency

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by DanEC

This is an interesting subject. I have a 427 Corvette with 18 year old tires, 67 GTX with 12 year old tires and a Ford Lightning with 11 year old OEM tires. All look brand new, have very few miles and except for the Lightning, have never spent any appreciable time outside other than for drives. I've heard of the 10 year old standard also and most stories of old tire failures say there was usually no outward signs of age before they failed. A fair number of old tire failures on classics actually happen while they are parked in the garage. So, I don't know - I probably should be getting some new tires on the Corvette as they do worry me.

A few months ago while in my shop piddling around,I heard a "boom" from the area where my 65 fastback is parked......ran over there and looked under the hood and everywhere,couldn't find anything,then looked in the trunk and the spare tire blew out sitting in the trunk.....it was an old tire,how old,not sure,guess about 10 to 15 years old.......same thing happened on the spare for my trailer about a year ago......so far, knock on wood,never had a blow out while on the road.......

David

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by DAVID GAGNARD

A few months ago while in my shop piddling around,I heard a "boom" from the area where my 65 fastback is parked......ran over there and looked under the hood and everywhere,couldn't find anything,then looked in the trunk and the spare tire blew out sitting in the trunk.....it was an old tire,how old,not sure,guess about 10 to 15 years old.......same thing happened on the spare for my trailer about a year ago......so far, knock on wood,never had a blow out while on the road.......

David

6 years ago my wife and I drove ERA188 to a Washingtons Crossing car show. Mostly highway, 65-75mph 90% of the way there. We pull in, park, get out, and start talking with someone parked next to me. As I lean on the front left fender of the car, all of a sudden I hear a WOOSH and the car drops several inches. Turns out the valve stem was dry rotted and had let go at that moment. After it was repaired, I pulled the other three wheels and tires off the car to replace the valve stems. What I found was a set of tires that were rotting from the inside out, they were 9 years old, but had less than 4,000 miles on them. Based on that experience, I always check my tires once a year, inside and out. The couple of hours it takes to pull the rims off the car and take them down for a look see at the local tire distributor gives me piece of mind while I am out with my wife in the Cobra.

Being pro-active is the name of the game.

Bill S.

[Jaydee]

Would filling them with nitrogen make them last longer, as there would be no moisture in the tyre? I have used it before and the tyres seemed to hold pressure longer as well.
JD