The age of your car tires - it matters!

[Biker Jo]

I saw this 20/20 report thanks to a thread on another forum. It was very informative and scary at the same time.

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

[pll]

This is scary. One I will check tomorrow in my car!

Update: Tires checked, all from 3605... end of August 2005. Bought the car new in December 05. Good thing I will know that I need to change the tires even if I don't drive much.

[KnottedYet]

Wow! That looks like exactly what happened to MelissaM in her "Funny thing happened to me on the way to my bike ride" thread! http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=24916

And yeah, I'm gonna check my tires, too.

[singletrackmind]

I sold (fresh) tires and the common mantra back then was to generally replace tires more than 4 years old. It's really hard to convince a lot of people they don't want to drive on really old tires especially if the tread is still decent. Same with a tire that's been run low. After they've been re-aired they look just fine but run 'em low enough or low long enough and inside you'll find a mess of finely shredded rubber.


This guy's tires where, as far as he knew, 5 years old. Tire replacement should have already been brought up. A 9 year old tire, even one that's been on a van for 5 years, should have shown degradation to the point of replacement recommendation.

Condolences to his family and good thread, Biker Jo.

Ok, I just checked the "Funny Thing" thread and while both are maintenance issues, except in the case of a more sudden leak than normal tire pressure loss such as a puncture as is very likely in Melissa's case, Melissa's not a tread separation but a tire that was run flat. At highway speeds it doesn't take long for a low tire to do that. She may have noticed sluggish handling and a pull while driving when it was low since it was in front, but often people don't realize what's up until it's too late.

[Tuckervill]

Who can keep the same tires for more than a year?

My tires don't last more than a year, because we drive too many gosh-darn miles!

Karen

[Tri Girl]

That scared the beejeebers out of me, seeing as how I drive on the highway for work. I went and checked my tires and they were 1-2 years old. Whew! DH was hurt that I didn't check his, so I went and checked his and they were newer than mine.

Ok, so what do you do when you go to get new tires on the car? Do you go to the stock room and check the dates before they get put on your car (most won't let you for liability reasons I'm sure), or do you just look at the dates when they've put them on and if it's old ask for a newer tire?

[KnottedYet]

My tires are Bridgestones made in "3904" (so, by the info in that video, made in the 39th week of 2004) Bought the car new in 2005, so that makes sense. I've got a couple years (don't drive much).

Yeah, how do we buy new tires and make sure we get NEW tires put on the car? I'm guessing high-volume tire stores are more likely to have "fresher" stock?

[Biker Jo]

That scared the beejeebers out of me, seeing as how I drive on the highway for work. I went and checked my tires and they were 1-2 years old. Whew! DH was hurt that I didn't check his, so I went and checked his and they were newer than mine.

Ok, so what do you do when you go to get new tires on the car? Do you go to the stock room and check the dates before they get put on your car (most won't let you for liability reasons I'm sure), or do you just look at the dates when they've put them on and if it's old ask for a newer tire?

I had normal maintenance done this week on my '98 Civic (which only has 51,000 miles on it - yes, I don't drive very much!), and I told the mechanic to check the date on my tires, since I was pretty sure that at least two of them were original. Well, it turned out that three of them were original, manufactured in 1997, and the third was from 2002! And the three originals still had sufficient tread on them.

I went to get new tires Thursday, and I told them that I wanted to see the tires they were going to put on the car, and they had no problem with that. (I went to Just Tires, by the way.) The guy first brought out one manufactured in 2007, and I asked if they had anything newer. He went back and found four that were manufactured this year.

So I would suggest that you ask to see the tires, and tell them why if they want to know, and if they say no, go someplace else.

[singletrackmind]

So I would suggest that you ask to see the tires, and tell them why if they want to know, and if they say no, go someplace else.

It's that simple.

[wackyjacky1]

Holy @#%#! I had NO idea about this. That scares the you-know-what outta me. I bought my tires about 3 1/2 years ago, but I have no idea how old they were when I got 'em. Wow...

Thanks for posting this.

[singletrackmind]

It's a good thing to keep up on your tires, their condition, age, proper air pressure (also good for gas mileage), and to replace when they need it. But keep in mind a car with worn suspension/steering components, etc, can cause premature tire failure. Just because your tires are within an acceptable age range doesn't mean you are off the hook. Just be reasonable and diligent about your car maintenance overall.

Around here about 7 years or so ago a cyclist died when a pickup truck tire blew and the truck swerved into him.