Check your tires..
 

The other day I was looking at the tires on Ginny's Rodster and noticed they were starting to turn brown. I cleand them up and checked them over and found good tire depth and no cracks. I mentioned this to Jeff Classic. This AM he sends me an email about tire age. Upon further research the Hedgehog stays home this weekend. Ginny's tires are about 9 years old. Uncle Sam and most tirand auto makers strongly suggest replacing tires that are more than 6 years old.

Tire Aging
June 2, 2008 NHTSA Issues Consumer Advisory


SRS efforts lead to NHTSA Consumer Advisory warning that aged tires, regardless of tread, are subject to greater stress increasing the likelihood of catastrophic failure. SRS has called on the agency to issue an advisory since 2004. “While this doesn’t solve the tire aging problem, it is a significant step toward improving information available to consumers” said Sean Kane, president of SRS.

Tire tread separations took center stage in 2000 when the Firestone / Ford debacle surfaced. Investigations into this tragedy led to findings that all of the recalled tires met federal safety standards, which were originally written decades ago when radial tires were still a rarity. Following the recalls of millions of defective tires, Congress passed the TREAD Act, which required the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to promulgate new regulations in order to prevent another widespread tragedy.

In addition to tread separation defects, one of the areas of tire safety that is a particular interest to SRS is "aged" tire failures (see below).

As of June 2, 2008 SRS has documented 159 incidents in which tires older than six years experienced tread / belt separations—most resulting in loss-of-control crashes. These incidents were the cause of 128 fatalities and 168 injuries. We have also included an additional 10 cases involving tires older than five years at the time of failure (half of which were more than five-and-a-half years old at the time of failure). These 10 incidents account for an additional 14 fatalities and 24 injuries. This list represents incidents that SRS has identified primarily through a survey of litigation, which is one of the only publicly available sources of these incidents.

My Google search was: Tire age.

I also, found out that some retailers will sell a tire as new even if it has been in inventory for many years.

How do you tell the age of your tires?

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=11

Mike

1. Key findings of an NHTSA study on tire tread: Nine percent (9%) of passenger cars are being driven on at least one “bald” tire. (For purposes of this survey, a tire was considered bald if it had 1/16th of an inch or less of tread depth.)

2. According to NHTSA, 27 percent (27%) of passenger cars on U.S. roadways are driven with one or more substantially under-inflated tires.

3. Overall, there were an estimated 250,851,833 registered passenger vehicles in the United States according to a 2006 DOT study

Do the math on 159/250851833 = a fraction of a really, really small number
Do the math on 159/(.09*250851833) = a fraction of a really, really small number (though not as small as the first calc)
Do the math on 159/(.27*250851833) = a fraction of a really, really small number (though somewhere in between the first two calcs)

Statistically speaking, the numbers that the initial report indicate are insignificant and could have been caused by more common issues that occur with tires (i.e. bald, under-inflated, etc.).

I'd stop worrying, give all your tires a real good visual (for cracking), check the pressures, and enjoy the drive.

-Dean

Faulty Chinese Valve Stems
 

FYI- This problem has hit Ford as of today.

From: Consumer Reports
June 17, 2008

Warning issued on faulty tire valve stems following rollover death
The death of a Florida man in a rollover accident coupled with the recall of faulty tire valve stems made in China has prompted at least one safety expert to caution consumers to check vehicle wheels to make sure they don't contain the rubber replacement tire valve stems. The valves may crack prematurely and lead to serious crashes, says Sean Kane, president of Safety Research and Strategies in Rehoboth, Mass.

One U.S. distributor, Tech International, recently issued a recall of 6 million of the Chinese-made valve stems, which have been tentatively linked to the fatal rollover crash of an SUV in Orlando last year. The valve stems were made for Dill Air Control Products of Oxford, N.C. by Shanghai Baolong Industries Co. in China.

On May 15, the National Highway Traffic Safety administration opened an investigation of the valve stems.

Dill has told NHTSA that as many as 30 million of the suspected valve stems have been distributed in the North American market. The suspect valve stems identified by Dill include its TR-413, TR-413 chrome, TR-414 and TR-418 models, which were manufactured between August 2006 and November 2006. (The valve stem is a rubber tube with a metal valve used to inflate the tire with air.)


http://blogs.consumerreports.org/saf...alve-stem.html

Dean,
Tires that are 9 + years old are really pushing it. The damage to bodywork and paint from the tread coming loose from the carcase can be substantial.

Mike, I might be able to do the homie hook up on some shoes for your baby if that helps. Let me know

This is a related clip that anyone concerned about tires and how long they should last should watch....this includes those brand new Old stock tires on the dealers rack, like Sears.....then go out and check the date on the tires for all your vehicles in your driveway.

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

Clip is from July 2008, about 9 and half minutes from ABC, neither Obama or McCain are included.

Oh I would agree Jeff. I was just trying to make the point that numbers can be misconstrued and misinterpreted (and that xxx in a sea of xxx,xxx,xxx is extremely small).

It's less safe to cross the street than to drive ANY car. :eek:

Jeff...

We can talk in Laughlin.

Ginny was dissapointed when I suggested she leave the HedgeHog home.

Mike

I have a junker Escort wagon that I need to get towed away. It's been sitting in the driveway for a couple years now and I always keep the tires inflated to help cut down on the 'white trash' look. :LOL:
Anyway, I walked by it the other day and the right front tire, which has tons of tread left, had come completely apart. Sidewall blown out, de-capped, etc. And that was just sitting there!

I looked into this earlier this year, read alot of reports, and concluded it's just not worth the risk of keeping old tires, old being at least 8 years old IMHO. My SPF wasn't on the road until very late 2002 yet all Goodyear Eagle GTIIs on it were date coded Jan-Feb 2000 :(:( Some stores have "new" stock on the shelves that have 5 year old date codes in my area. I was unable to order new tires from Tire Rack or anywhere else where I could specify or confirm date codes prior to purchase. I found a local TiresPlus in my area that would order in a set of new Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s in the appropriate 15 inch sizes as were original to my car, and agreed that I would not purchase until dates confirmed. All were dated Mar-Apr 2008 :D:D I'd advise anybody unsure of the tire age to check the date codes ;);)

You really think that'll do it?

Don't you have some air to balance? :LOL:

Hey Mike and everyone else in the group, if I can offer any assistance with some tires (pricing and availability), I have family in the tire business and I can usually get some smokin deals.

I would be happy to help.

Mike, what are you gonna drive to Laughlin?

Jim

Jim

I'm driving the Cobra. Ginny will probably take her Mustang.

Mike