Tire safety!! Watch this

[Guest]

Guys - My pal Pete Yuen sent me this:

I had never heard of this before. This ABC News report is worth watching. I'm going to read the code on my tires now. http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897

For your family's safety, watch this.

Western Washington, USA

[DEEPNHOCK]

Serious issue...
Do you remember the Firestone 500 debacle occured?
(admittedly, that was a steel belt issue, but it killed a lot of people)
I know of one worldwide molder of nitrile rubber that says the shelf life of nitrile rubber is 5 years.
So, if 6 years old is the max life number...
Then a huge percentage of anyone that has tires on whatever they have are in big trouble.
So....
I just went out and looked at the ties I just bought last month...
Guess what?
After trying to make any sense out of five vehicles out there, I was blind, numb, and dizzy from trying to decipher anything printed on the tires.
I need to look further...
But not this afternoon
Jeff[8D]

quote:Originally posted by tomnoller

Guys - My pal Pete Yuen sent me this:
I had never heard of this before. This ABC News report is worth watching. I'm going to read the code on my tires now. http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897
For your family's safety, watch this.
Western Washington, USA

http://community.webshots.com/user/deepnhock

[BobPalma]

Unfortunately, I had this happen to me personally. While towing my 1964 Daytona sedan home from Troy MI in 2002, one of the excellent (but 10 years old) rear tires on my then tow vehicle (1979 Caprice Estate) started to wiggle and threw its tread a couple miles later.

The tread depth was about 10/32 (12/32 is considered new), but the tire was 10 years old. The wiggle warned me that it was weakening, so I had slowed to 40 MPH with flashers on when it let go, hoping to make it to the next exit...which was not to be. No damage done, but changing a rear tire on a tow vehicle with a loaded car trailer behind it on an extremely hot day on I-69 near Ft. Wayne IN is no fun![xx(] BP

[shewolf]

Knock wood but it has been a while since I lost a tire in transit.I checked all three of our driven vehicles tires and they were all 2003 or 2004.Jeff,I had to go to the inside of the tire on two sets to find the date code but did find it on all three sets.If you have a white letter tire it seems to be on the inside every time.Steve

Can't wait to drive my V-8!
'63 Lark

[Chris Pile]

Somewhere in my extensive automotive past, I remember someone with authority told me that tire rubber begins to degrade around 5 years.
I believed him.

But I still haven't gotten rid of some old tires in my shed I was saving to use on another vehicles.

Chris Pile
Midway Chapter SDC
The Studebaker Special

[289stude]

I just bought 4 new Michelins this spring from Sam's Club, I have 3 45th week 2007's & 1 32nd week 2007 thinkin about going back to see if they will pro-rate a refund on that older tire.[}]

[55s]

For those of us on Dial up (no choice), please explain how to read the date codes on tires.

I've got 40-50 year old bias ply tires still holding air, but I would never drive over 5 mph on them.

Paul R

[BobPalma]

quote:Originally posted by 55s

For those of us on Dial up (no choice), please explain how to read the date codes on tires.

Paul R

Find the whole series of miscellaneous numbers molded into the sidewall right along the edge of the tire, near the bead, but still visible with the tire mounted on a wheel.

The last group of numbers will be the week and year in which the tire was made.

Examples: 0901 means the tire was made in the 9th week of 2001.
176 means the tire was made in the 17th week of 1996.
4907 means the tire was made in the 49th week of 2007.

BP

[bondobilly]

I have a question, how do we address this to a company such as Diamindback. Their numbers are located basically where viewing these number rquires heavy jacking and searching? I know my Diamondbacks are overfour years old.

[Silent Bob]

This is a critical issue for car owners no matter what type or year vehicle.

It is important to understand that cured rubber products age on the shelf as well as in use.

The link below is from the rubber manufactures association. All the major tire manufactures belong to it. They are an excellent source of info on this subject.

http://www.rma.org/tire_safety/

Don't forget to keep checking your tire pressure. Low tire pressure will increase the heat build up in the tire and reduce tire life and cause deterioration to the overall strength of the tire. This was a contributing factor to the Firestone problem a few years ago. Also, low tire pressure reduces gas mileage.

Lastly don't forget to check your radiator and heater hoses as they see high temps also.

[Swifster]

quote:Originally posted by bondobilly

I have a question, how do we address this to a company such as Diamindback. Their numbers are located basically where viewing these number rquires heavy jacking and searching? I know my Diamondbacks are overfour years old.

They are all located on that side of the tire. Another thing that's a dead giveaway that the tires need to be replaced is cracking on the sidewalls, usually near the rim. I see a lot of vintage cars with dry rot cracking. I had one Corvette that showed this cracking and he felt the tires were still good. This caused a $9000 loss with the left rear tire blew, taking out the left quarter panel with it it.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tom - Mulberry, FL

1964 Studebaker Daytona - 289 4V, 4-Speed (Cost To Date: $2125.60)

[buddymander]

I've found that tires dry rot at different rates in different climates. In colder more humid climates they deteriorate very slowly, whereas in hot dry climates, they crack a lot sooner. But I've also experienced two different types of tire failure; one based on age and the other based on poor construction. If the belts come apart, you've had it, but if they're quality steel belts, then the cracks will lose air and eventually you will lose the entire road surface tread. I was on a 2,000 mile trip one time and my tires started losing their tread until eventually all four tires did this and ballooned up. I was running on visible steel belts. I kept it under 40 mph to the next town and replaced them, but it was about 15 miles of very nervous driving. The funny thing was, tho, is that even tho the tires were dry enough to disintegrate the tread, the never lost any air. I think a lot of fear about dry rot is from the old days when tires were made with cotton cord that actually would fall apart from rotting, creating a very dangerous situation. Tires would split and the tube would pop out becoming vulnerable. Then it's all out of control.

[Carl Purdy]

On my 51 I had a set of tires that was just 5 years old. We were coming back from Kansas I was doing about 70 mph [which is normal for me] the front tire on the pass. side came loose. A third of the tire stayed on the tire and the rest wiped out the front fender head light bucket down. Then came around and hit the door. My wife thought she was a goner.


7G-Q1 49 2R12 10G-F5 56B-D4 56B-F2
As soon as you find a product you like they will stop making it.

[buddymander]

Ye Gads!! You guys got me paranoid; now I gotta go check all my date codes.

[Commander51]

I wouldn't for a moment minimize anyone's personal experience with faulty tires, and the point that tires age and become unstable with age makes sense. But I also understand the tire manufacturer spokesman when he says that there's no statistical basis to stale date tires. I suspect (but am not sure) that he can say that because the tire failure rate for older tires is not statistically significantly different from the failure rate for newer tires. To me the issue is use, maintenance and care by the individual motorist. If this were a 'real' story, cars would be crashing by the thousands every day due to old tire failure, and I don't think that's the case. What 'facts' were mentioned in the article were anecdotal, hardly the result of statistical analysis.

The other thing for me is that I have personal, direct experience with John Stossel and Brian Ross on another of their stories, and the hack job they pulled was borderline criminal. I wouldn't trust them to tell the whole story, or even a balanced portion of it. I'm not going to chuck my 7-8 year old tires because of anything they say, nor the word of self-serving British tire makers, nor liability lawyers trying to make a point.


51 Commander State Sedan
Butler PA