This is what happens with out dated tires

[Carl Purdy]

The tires were about 8 years old. I was doing about 70 mph and the front end started to shake then about 2/3rds of the cap came off.


7G-Q1 49 2R12 10G-F5 56B-D4 56B-F2

http://ozarktrails.tripod.com/

[tutone63]

I had that happen to me once...in a 75 olds. Only I was doing about 95. I did not realize what was happening at the time, and it took my dad to point out that my tire had lost most of its tread. I had driven on it for about two days since it came off. (the car was a piece of junk and rusted to the core, so any damage done was unnoticed)

That is a real bummer, man. This is inspiring me to get new tires for my lark this spring...




1963 Lark, 259 V8, two-tone paint, Twin Traction. Driven often, always noticed!

[Swifster]

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him check the date on his tires and get him to buy new ones if they are over 5 years old.

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

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

1964 Studebaker Commander 170-1V, 3-speed w/OD (Cost to Date: $623.67)

[Andy R.]

Oh my. 8 years seems awfully short.
Radial or bias ply?

One Hawk I have survived 24 years with the same set of bias plys. Granted, they only traveled about 10,000 miles in that period. Guess what Santa's bringing for it this year?

Andy
62 GT

[Milaca]

Not all 8 year old tires were created equal. There may have been a manufacturing flaw in the tire or the air pressure may have been low or it may have ran over something on the road that caused it to seperate or it was made of Chinese rubber.


Brent's rootbeer racer.
MN iron ore...it does your body good.

[ozarkman]

Were you able to find the headlight bezel, or is it gone?

From deep in the Ozarks...

Fred

[doug]

I just replaced all four tires on my daughters car yesterday because of age. I've had too many tire failures because of old tires coming apart to drive on anything over 5 years old. Sorry for your loss.

[Carl Purdy]

The headlight ring was holding on with 1 screw not hurt at all. The tires were Cooper and the air pressure was right. I always check them when we make a trip. I found a front half of a 51 fender at Vern Edegar's place and welded it on. Didn't even take it off the car.

7G-Q1 49 2R12 10G-F5 56B-D4 56B-F2

http://ozarktrails.tripod.com/

[Lark Hunter]

I had a similar occurrence this summer on my annual trip to Montana. The tires I was travelling on were only four years old, per the date codes. They were originally mounted on a car that was never driven, but had been parked out in the brutal Arizona sun the entire time. I decided to mount them on my daily driver to use them up, even though the brand new tread was the consistency of hard plastic. After about 1300 miles of 75-95 mph freeway driving, one let go at 90 mph, just south of Dillon, Montana. Pieces of tire were flying everywhere as I tried to safely bring the car to a stop. All that was left was something that once resembled a wheel and a frayed mess of rubber coated steel belts. The inner fender (plastic) was broken, trim torn off, and remains of the tire wapped the crap out of the outer fender, leaving an impressive number of black marks and plenty of paint damage. After digging out and installing the trusty pizza cutter spare (which entailed emptying the contents of the full trunk on the side of the freeway to gain access to it), I continued on at a more sedate 75 mph, as the temporary spare is only rated to 81 mph, tops. It turns out the spare was not what I needed to be worrying about. About 90 miles further down the road, the other front tire blew, though this one was much less dramatic, and no other damage was incurred. At this point, I had to call a tow truck, buy a used tire, and pray for the best. I drove the last 300 miles on edge, waiting for the next KA-POW.

The moral of this long winded story is: Don't be a chintz when it comes to tires. Buy the best you can afford. My Scottish excursion with those crusty tires ended up costing me heavily, and I ended up buying new ones anyway. Luckily, the only injuries were to the car, and the wallet. Lesson learned... LH

Straight from the horse's mouth

[Son O Lark]

Bob Palma has the code to check on the side of the tire to find it's date of manufacture. I had it written down but can't seem to find it.

[Roscomacaw]

That's why Pete's right rear fender is all mucked up. 8-year old Cooper tire - blew it's treads off at about 70MPH. I drove on home on the carcass.


1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1963 Cruiser
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President two door

[scott.rodgers]

Thanks for the warning. I have a ten year old set of Pirellis that I hate to not use - they're essentially new. Luckily, I'm not so cheap that I want this to happen to me at 70+ mph. Now I'm not even sure if I want to use them to get me to the tire shop!

Scott Rodgers
Los Angeles
SDC Member since 1989
'60 Lark HT
'63 Wagonaire
'66 Frankenbaker

[Retired]

Back when. Had a set of the best Firestones put on my '55 President State. Within a few mounths the right front tire lost a major portion of it's thread, hit the headlight bucket and knocked it part way out of the fender. After much "todo" Firestone agreed to repair the fender and replaced the tire.

Richard

[JBOYLE]

When I bought by Avanti it had ancient tires on it. In fact the guy who inspected it for me Mike Baker (the president of the AOAI...to drop a name ) said he'd be willing to drive the car across the country if the tires were newer.

I drove them locally (not on the interstate) for a couple of years while I was waiting to begin the restoration. One day the car wouldn't hold a straight line hands off and was otherwise driving very weird. I wasn't sure what it was but I guessed correctly.
The right front tire had developed a bulge and had gone out of round.
I bought some cheap used tires to replace both fronts...and drove on them until it went to the shop. As part of the restoration, I'll fit new Coopers...

63 Avanti R1 2788
1914 Stutz Bearcat
(George Barris replica)

Washington State

[rockinhawk]

I have had lots of Steel belted radials come apart at the belt line. I have much better luck with bias ply when they get a little age on them. Remember the old glass belted tires? They were great! I still have some of those from the 80's still holding air. NT


Neil Thornton
Hazlehurst, GA
'57 Silver Hawk
'56 Sky Hawk
'51 2R16 dump truck
Many others.