Oppo PSA: Replace your tires when they get old!

"AMGtech - now with more recalls!" (amgtech)
02/05/2018 at 16:18 • Filed to: Oppo, please don't die because of old tires

I’ve got a unicorn in the shop (pics later maybe) with 8 year old tires. But they still have 10/32” tread remaining. This resulted in me learning that a scary amount of people haven’t heard of tire ageing. At the very least, inspect and consider replacement at 6 years. NTSB link for funsies.

Tire Aging and Service Life - NTSB

PDF !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! › news › Documents

If the link doesn’t work, try this one, or search “NTSB tire age”, should be first or one of the first:

https://www.google.com/search?q=ntsb+tire+age&oq=ntsb&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j35i39j5j69i60j0.3713j0j7&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

DISCUSSION (43)

AestheticsInMotion > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 16:27

No pics needed. I figured it out from your description

Kinja'd!!!

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 16:32

Speaking of tires, I need to put more air in mine again. This cold effectively deletes the air from my tires.

Also makes it a pain to put air back in said tires because it’s too cold.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > AestheticsInMotion
02/05/2018 at 16:32

You win

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > winterlegacy, here 'till the end
02/05/2018 at 16:35

Just overfill them! That way when it’s cold outside the pressure should be right on!

His Stigness > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 16:36

If they were Michelin, though, they still have two years left on them. But I think Michelin also recommends them at 6 years because that’s when their warranty expires.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > His Stigness
02/05/2018 at 16:42

And Pirelli doesn’t really publish an age recommendation. There’s definitely a huge grey area here. But that’s why knowledge and inspection are so important.

Klaus Schmoll > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 16:46

Kinja'd!!!

I’ll never cheap out on tires again, I swear! This is what happened after the tread of an old winter tire (was from a car I had before, don’t ask me how old it was but the tread was still good enough to legally last through winter) decided it didn’t want to stay on the carcass anymore. Pic taken after it got towed and the spare put on.

It happened on the Autobahn of all places, luckily in a restricted section while I was in the right lane in a curve to the left. So I managed to slide to the shoulder and stop there. Code brown moment!

See what’s stuck where the indicator once was?

Ash78, voting early and often > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 16:47

I just keep a close eye on them. A lot of factors can go into the age-based wear (parking outside — UV is a big one). The bottom line is that most people pay no attention to stuff like this. We don’t even walk all the way around our cars to look at them before driving away. It’s nuts if you think about it. I try not to.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Klaus Schmoll
02/05/2018 at 16:50

Scary! Winter tires are often affected because they’re only used for a couple months, then stored. Often age out before wear out.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Ash78, voting early and often
02/05/2018 at 16:51

Certainly. That’s all I ask, be aware, and inspect.

His Stigness > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 16:59

I would never buy nor recommend a Pirelli so long as Michelin and Continental exist. But it’s interesting they have no age recommendation.

But you’re absolutely right. I plan on parking my Mercedes when I get an e-Golf, so I may very well test the age limit on Michelin’s. But I will also try and extend them by treating them with anything that might help. And also storing the car in a garage in Southern California certainly won’t hurt.

crowmolly > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 17:00

Yup, I posted something up a while back- this is rampant in the muscle car crowd. Tires last forever if you do less than 500 miles a year.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > His Stigness
02/05/2018 at 17:05

Same. Usually. I bought Scorpion Verdes for the R when I first got it. Based on ratings and reviews, largely snow performance. They were great for the price. Lasted over 30k, which isn’t bad at all for that car.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > crowmolly
02/05/2018 at 17:06

Or in this unicorn’s case, probably had something performance oriented or aftermarket wheels and these just sat in a garage.

shop-teacher > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 17:10

When my last set of winters hit their age limit, I left them on in the spring to wear the treads out too. They were six years old, and I knew I didn’t want to do a 7th winter on them. I got my moneys worth out of them :)

shop-teacher > crowmolly
02/05/2018 at 17:12

I was guilty of this when I had my ‘74 Apollo. I had it for 8-years on the same tires. No idea how long they were on there before I got it. I did have somebody inquire about the possibility of flying out from Colorado and driving it back, and I did tell them they should get new tires first if they were going to try that. Never heard from him again. I think it could’ve made the trip just fine with new tires.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 17:22

I’ve always changed my tires before they turned 20.

Kiltedpadre > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 17:28

My work has a trailer that I finally convinced them needs new tires. The current ones are clearly dry rotted and 15 years old. Even better; it’s an asphalt trailer that is routinely filled with 2 tons of material.

I’ve convinced my boss that in the spring we need to go through all the equipment and check the ages of the tires.

cmill189 - sans Volvo > crowmolly
02/05/2018 at 17:40

Hold up. You tellin’ me that my Cooper Cobras that started out hard a rocks won’t last forever?

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 17:43

I had some road bicycle tires in a box for 4 years or so, went to use them and they had dried out to the point of being unusable. They were Michelin tires!

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
02/05/2018 at 17:46

Definitely don’t want them turning 21 and driving drunk!

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Kiltedpadre
02/05/2018 at 17:46

Trailer blowouts can be really bad news!

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
02/05/2018 at 17:48

Oh wow! I hadn’t even thought about bike tires. That’s pretty scary too. Those could fail at some really bad times, and be made worse considering the lack of safety gear cyclists typically wear. A slide at 30mph in spandex sounds like a good ol’ time!

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 17:53

Kinja'd!!!

Replaced these last spring. I didn’t buy or install them and didn’t realize how old they were. Ordered replacements as soon as I realized they were almost as old as the car.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 18:07

I was bummed, they were expensive tires. I don’t save tires anymore, I just ride them until failure.

And yes I have slid out on pavement at 30 mph, it hurt for a very long time.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 18:10

Soooo if you knew a guy with Hankooks that still have 75% tread but may be perhaps 7 years old, what would your reply to this person be?

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
02/05/2018 at 18:31

I’ve had that slide too. Albeit wearing jeans and a jacket and on a wet leaf covered road, so not the worst, but still not fun.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 18:32

I sat in a bathtub crying while I scrubbed road rash off my body.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
02/05/2018 at 18:34

That he should only drive 30+ year old Toyotas because they don’t go fast enough for it to matter when they fail. Or, if he really feels the need to drive some bourgeois new car, then he should get new tires, or at least have a real good look at the ones he’s got.

What size?

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
02/05/2018 at 18:35

Thanks for the image!

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 18:52

People always get huffy when I recommend tires on their car based on age instead of wear. And it happens a lot working at a Buick dealer where 2003 LaSabres and the like come in all the time with under 50,000 miles on them.

The tires on my Silverado still had 7/32 on them when I traded it in but come spring they were getting replaced because they were turning 6. Tires are one area too many people cheap out in.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
02/05/2018 at 18:54

75/15/195... uhh... but assembled in the correct sequence. They’re on my— HIS pickup.

Those are the sizes he just texted me. Yeah.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
02/05/2018 at 19:02

Same. And having worked at an indie in a small town in the middle of nowhere in the midwest with lots of little old ladies with Buicks, yeeeaaahhh. There was one like Fargo generation century, or maybe olds ciera, with like 20k on it, in the late 00's. I doubt that car ever hit more than 30mph. Original tires at that time. Finally replaced them when they started to bulge.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
02/05/2018 at 19:05

If they were assembled in that order would basically be rubber bands in the world’s largest wheels.

At least those should be cheap. If they were for, just throwing this out as an example, an altezza or something like that, we might occasionally have ok used ones in the correct size laying around. Maybe. Sometimes.