Copper Cobras Tires life expectancy
 

I don’t think there is a conclusive way to factually answer that question. A car garaged most of the time should help protect the tires from some degradation on the exterior side, but it’s hard to tell what’s going on inside or even internally to the tire carcass. I’ve had 20 - 25 year old tires on some of my old cars and a set of Coker red lines on my GTX are pushing 20 years right now which most critics of their tires will tell you, would seem impossible. But I seldom drive the car and when I do I don’t push it hard and I don’t drive any sustained highway speeds in the car - I just amble down to the local cruise night in it every couple of months and get on it in first and second a little when the mood strikes. But, if you intend to really drive your car and sometimes dip fully into its performance potential, then I would say you should retire those tires for safety reasons. I think. 5 years life is normally discussed for daily driver cars. IMO, ten years for a weekend cruiser, otherwise garage queen is reasonable (some will disagree and some tires will develop thread separation due to poor quality earlier). After that I would keep a close eye on them and don’t push them at all if you decide to postpone replacement.

BA,

This has been answered here many times. 6 years.

Here's one reference: https://www.discounttire.com/learn/tire-aging

If your tires get you to the tire store safely, buy a lottery ticket!

On the other hand, if you have a terminal illness that you can't live with any more, go out and stand on the throttle...

Sorry for the "forceful" answer; I was a tire engineer in another lifetime and often find folks who think that aged and decrepit tires "look" OK, so they must be good :mad:

Tires are made of rubber. Rubber ages inside the tire plies also - where it can't be seen. If you cut the tire apart you'll see slightly delaminating plies. Failure points that can't be seen from outside the tire.

Not sure why folks are reluctant to spend a few bucks on a new set of tires. Often they'll spend lots more on the car for other reasons without much hesitation. Tire reluctance? Who knows?

Good luck,

Tom

I just coded my tires and they were made on the 4th week of 2006, I think 15 years is more than enough playing with my life, The new MTs are in the garage already for the spring. Tks for your insight.
Lou

Having been one to experience the sudden loss of a "seasoned" tire on ERA188 when I first retrieved it from it's dry storage in Florida, I can tell you, anything over 8-10 years old, gets immediately replaced on any car I plan to drive.

As for the "they look fine crowd", I just replaced a set of 24 year old BFG's with less than 5,500 miles on them. They looked new, even had some of the "tits" still showing. Looked great with the 8-16psi they were stored with when found. However, as an experiment, we added the suggested 32 PSI and allowed the tire to sit out in the sun for 6 hours this past week. Amazing how cracks started to show, not on the sidewall, but within the base of the tread pattern itself. Those tires are now gone, donated as wall art for a good friend. Again, as someone who almost got stranded due to sudden loss of air (think less than 30 seconds to go from fully inflated to dead flat), for me at least, it was a true learning experience. Imagine if I was at highway speeds, instead of sitting in a parking lot on the Delaware River with fellow Cobra owners......The scary part, my wife and I had just driven at those same speeds for over an hour and a half, on roads with 6-8 foot high concrete barriers on both sides, with plenty of traffic around us....
The life you save by replacing them, might not just be your own. I'll leave it at that.

Bill S.

If your tires "age out" rather than "wear out" you're not having nearly enough fun.
Get out and drive.
Jim

I have driven my car for many years; I know it very, very well. I know when it sticks, and I know when it doesn't. My previous set of tires were Yokohama Avids and were pretty good tires when they were young. But as they crested the six to seven year mark I could feel them get noticeably harder than when they were two years old. What finally got me off my ass to order new Mickey Thompsons was when I had to get on the brakes for a pretty hard stop, but not at high speed mind you, and all four wheels locked up as we slid to a stop. When I took the tires to a custom shop to be mounted and balanced the tire guy said "wow, these tires look new -- why are you replacing them?" And yes, they did look new. But they weren't, and even an experienced pro couldn't tell by just looking at them. Replace your tires every five years... seven at the latest, and even that's not a good idea.:cool:

The tires on my truck are about 15 years old. They refuse to wear down. I have no intent on replacing them because they are "old". There is no sign of any aging in the sidewalls. And this is including almost 8 years in the Nevada desert heat.

On the other hand the tires on my daughter's car got heat rot after 3 years down here (total, maybe 7 years old). Sidewall checking, etc.

On my Ford GT the tires were original Goodyears and 5 years old when I got them. I knew spirited driving and at least one trip to the track were in the lineup, so I changed them before I took delivery of the car.

For your case, it depends on what you plan on doing with the car. If you're just driving it in town and don't get wild, they'll be OK. Oh, that's provided they're modern steel belted radials. If you've got bias ply tires change them before you drive it anywhere.

Tony,

Fifteen year old tires.

Nice death wish/denial/hesitancy!

Hope it doesn't rub off on anyone you care about...

Just sayin',

Tom

I have a Class A diesel motorhome. In the motorhome community this is a very common topic, as tires on motorhomes almost never wear out, they age out. Tires are a huge concern because they're so darned expensive. A replacement set on my motorhome is north of $5000. The commonly used age to replace motorhome tires is 7 years. That's a figure that is pretty much universally accepted in that world. I imagine the same would carry through to our Cobra's as well. Sidewall degredation is easy to see, it's delamination in the tread area that can't be seen that would worry me about using old tires. I wouldn't run any tires on any vehicle I own that are over 7 years old.

Changing Tires is a PITA
 

We all know it's a PITA to change your Cobra's tires. Especially if you have pin drives. Double especially if you have ERA's big brake option up front and anything but thin weights whacks the caliper. It's a PITA to have to haul four wheels with tires, and four new tires, to a high performance tire guy and screw around with it all. If you could just stroke a check for a grand or so and have fairies do it for you in the garage I think we'd all replace them sooner. :cool:

The last dude who changed tires on my car spoke in a high, nasal voice and had earrings in both ears. Not sure it'd be right to call him a fairy though. %/

:lol::lol:

I have a friend who picked up a really nice late 80s BMW R100RS with the single sided swing arm a couple of years back. He replaced all the fluids, including the front forks, torqued down everything, but didn't replace the 15 year old tires. Long story short, the bike went out from under him, (ironically, right in front of a state trooper.) Broken collarbone, broke ribs, punctured lungs, and a broken wrist. He wasn't even going fast, no speeding ticket. Needless to say, the whole ordeal, cost him a lot more then even the best tires would have set him back!

I had 15 year old tyres on my cobra which looked fine from the outside but when I changed them the bead and some of the sidewall was left behind on the rims, showing just how rotten they were. I changed them because the rubber had hardened giving minimal traction. After seeing that I was very pleased I had changed them.

:eek::eek: