Check your tire dates!!

[Steve Shauger]

I recently purchased a 69 Z28 and had not checked all the tire dates. I had both rear tires off (checking an emergency brake issue) and they were dated 2019. The car drove like a dream, no vibrations and handles fantastic.

I was away for a couple of weeks and upon return drove it to a local cruise night, and noticed a vibration and thought I lost a wheel weight the vibration increased and stopped to check for a loose wheel. I turned around and headed home and found the belts had separated.

The drivers front was dated 2010 and the passenger tire that failed was 1995 (28 years old). It was my fault for not checking all the tires and a lesson learned. Well new sneakers have been installed and a pleasure to thrash on it again... See pic

[Lynn]

Similar situation for me about 10 years ago Steve. Sherri and I are tooling down the road in a F150 and the RF tire just comes apart. At least you got a vibration before it imploded.

[SuperNovaSS]

Whew! Dodged that bullet. I have a 62 Caddy convertible I am getting ready to sell. It had been in storage a long time and I’ve been putting a good bit of miles on it. I took it out today to take pictures to list it for sale and it started pulling hard to the right and vibrating pretty heavily. I too stopped checking for a loose wheel and found nothing. Made it home and found a bulging side wall on the passenger front and this separating tread on the drivers front. I have put a lot of mileage on old tires in the past but I’m second guessing that now. Needless to say, new shoes are on the way prior to the sale.

Jason

[MosportGreen66]

Very good PSA gents! We had a radial shift in the Radial TA’s on our 69 Z28. Replaced with a new set of four. Also, check your trailer tires and spares! Our mechanic who does a lot of drag racing and heavier trailering than we do said they’re good for a max of 5 years regardless of mileage. Can never be too safe when on the road.

[scuncio]

Radial T/As can mislead you because the tread wear is typically quite robust...but age is the real factor here.

[plumL78]

same thing happened on my car last year. Coming back from a show felt a little vibration then within a mile or two it got worse. Got out and looked but couldn't see anything. I limped back to the shop and i must say if it had got any worse I was going to have it towed. They were 22 year old TA radials and the tire looked just like Steve's tire.

[napa68]

It's a great point that cannot be reiterated enough.

In the name of safety, perhaps you should send that old turd Camaro back to Wisconsin? Who knows what other problems lurk in that car:wink:

[dustinm]

My trailer tires will start to do as Steve has shown after 5 years. Ive always known they were a maintenance item due to age partially due to outdoor storage with zero UV protection.

Now I do have darn near 30 year old BFG TAs on the front of my 68 that I better get replaced.... Its always out of the sun and are in moderate midwest summer temps (I also know the heat of the south is another tire enemy) so I hadnt worried too much about them.

[RALLY]

All great points. I did the same with my drag car racing trailer tires and my Suburban tires and went way over the limit for safe conditions. Yes 5 years on tires is spot on.

[Big Block Bill]

I am a firm believer in notifying customers of the tire dates on all vehicle inspections we do, and make it a part of EVERY oil and filter service as well. We just had a motorhome in last month with 28 year old tires. When I told the owner she needed (6) tires, she asked if she could just make it to Florida as she was going to park it in a park and not drive it from then on. I told her I would not drive it to Florida Lane in town here. Her response was " But the tread looks like they have a lot of life left in them"
People. Bill

[Formula455SD]

Whew! Dodged that bullet. I have a 62 Caddy convertible I am getting ready to sell. It had been in storage a long time and I’ve been putting a good bit of miles on it. I took it out today to take pictures to list it for sale and it started pulling hard to the right and vibrating pretty heavily. I too stopped checking for a loose wheel and found nothing. Made it home and found a bulging side wall on the passenger front and this separating tread on the drivers front. I have put a lot of mileage on old tires in the past but I’m second guessing that now. Needless to say, new shoes are on the way prior to the sale.

Jason

Those Goodyears are probably 40 years old.

[SuperNovaSS]

Those Goodyears are probably 40 years old.


I bet you are right. I should check the dates on them. The car came out of an estate and was last registered in early 2000’s and wasn’t driven much then.


Jason

[GotGrunt]

When I bought my current Chevelle, it had some ancient BFG radial T/As on the rear, dated 1982. They had a completely different tread pattern than the current ones. The fronts were newer but still old @ 2007. The first thing I did was replace the tires.

[dustinm]

When I bought my current Chevelle, it had some ancient BFG radial T/As on the rear, dated 1982. They had a completely different tread pattern than the current ones. The fronts were newer but still old @ 2007. The first thing I did was replace the tires.

My friend still had those on his 69 Camaro until this spring. many 100mph runs with them, and I mean currently. Ive been telling him for 10 years to get rid of them.

I do believe the older tire compounds are better than any we have now, which have prevented some failures on older tires like these.

[Rsconv68]

Tire got air, tire still good.

[1967 4K]

I have a set of 14 inch 69 XT wheels I run on my car sometimes. Last year I put them on for a front end alignment because they had what I thought was a good set of BF Goodrich tires on them.
The technician noticed a separation starting in one of them. Needless to say I removed them when I got home and will get a new set of tires. Can’t remember exactly but they’re about 15 years old or so and always stored in dry n dark location.
Time passes and we’re all guilty of not paying attention to the age of the tires on our vintage cars.

[Northernforce]

Not only check your tires on your vintage rides but your everyday ride.There are no laws here pertaining to how old of tires vendors can sell as new.I expect when I buy new tires that they are 1 yr old or newer-shouldn't have to check date codes but learned my lesson.Two years ago in July 2021 I started searching for deals as I needed to replace my winter tires-better deals in the summer-I bought 4 brand new Goodyear Nordic tires that a big time tire place had a 50% sale-they work great-this past April when I removed them to put the summer tires back on I happened to look at the build date on the tires I bought new in 2021-they were stamped 2015=my bad for not noticing-lesson learned-
Keep on Cruising!!!
Dave

[EZ Nova]

When I bought my 1970 W30 clone, it came with a set of 12 yr old BFG T/As. still lots of treat and car runs up and down highway fine. I bought a 28ft boat and needed a trailer. Bought a trailer and the thing had standard "car" tire. When I put the 10 plys on, the guy said the tires were from the 80's. That was trailering over 10,000 that went 1hr each way to water, every weekend. Plus a couple 3+ hr highway runs. Did it ok with the the old car tire, but much more stable with the 10 plys at 70 mph.

When I had my 1961 Pontiac with a 575Hp 409 and 4 sp, I put my old McCreary dirt 60's on there. These were from the 90's. Ran it hard for 4 yrs with speed in excess of 100mph. ONLY tire the just "let go" was the new 2 yr old front, and only just driving at less the 30 mph. Only tire in 41 yrs of driving I ever had a tire just pop.

The Olds/BGF combo made 5 runs a rear from SW ont to Detroit. It's about 3.5hrs each way without an issue. I just don't see an issue really with these on "normal" drivers.

[black69]

I have to thank steve for this post. I am changing a few tires this weekend and on some of my cars. had some bad experiences, all while the cars were just stationary.

thanks for the post (wake up call)! Old tires/cracked tires are risky buisness.

[GM Powertrain]

Quick run to the store on old BFG's. Was waiting for new ones to arrive. Lesson learned!

[ryanchevelle]

Had a blowout on one of mine while just sitting in the garage. Turns out the tires were from at best 1992. Took almost 9 months for the back ordered tires to arrive but that’s another story entirely.

[plumL78]

how ironic is this.in my earlier post i was saying how i almost didn't get home . Well just saturday i too the car out for a saturday night cruze. As i pulled out on the road i got that same familiar wobble. well one of the TA radials in the rear took a crap. Lucky i just started out and only got a few hundred feet and turned around. So it seems like around 20 years is max on TA radials. Like the post says check your dates. I feel lucky as no damage both times

[Formula455SD]

Seems the majority of the tires that are coming apart are BFG Radial T/A's.

I used to be a big fan of BFG T/A's. Last 2 sets I bought were off brand.

[Big Block Bill]

It's NOT just T/A's. Everyone I have met in this disease I call collecting and restoring Muscle Cars are as guilty of not being realistic with tire life. We will spend STUPID Money to get and install the perfect PCV hose, but forget completely about the age of the tires our Pride and Joy is sitting on. If you're going to drive it, and its over 7-10 years old, throw it away (Besides, Rusty needs the Money!

Unless of course you are showing a car for judging and you need the points. I have been there, and done that for sure. When I was actively showing my Corvettes I was a Hoarder of NOS tires, but I never drove on them except on and off the Judging field, repairing original fiber glass is too expensive, an it also diminishes the originality 10 fold. I will get off my Soap Box now and have a Bourbon , it is Sunday night after all. Bill

[Lynn]

Doing some work on the 04 Denali today. Don't have to worry about the tires on the ground, as I just put 4 Michelins on it.

Thought I would check the spare. I have an extra tire that is only 3 years old with 10/32 tread that I saved just for this purpose. I believe this is the original spare. I could not find the date code, as it is so nasty dirty from sitting up under the vehicle for 19 years. Once I saw this crack, I didn't even worry about finding a date code.

That bad part? The spare is a 16 inch instead of 17 like the rest of the vehicle. Given the price of tires, I just made an offer on a single 17 inch wheel that matches my other ones.

[dustinm]

Well, a relative came over yesterday to see a couple Chevelles I picked up. I moved my tool box to show the 70(barnfind hadnt moved from its spot in 30 years) and behind it was a blown out tire. Now when I drug that car out of its resting spot of 30+ years, that particular tire was the only one that still had air in it... Really its not surprising, just ironic how this thread is started and then I find one....

BTW it was an old Firestone... I think were seeing a lot of BFGs in this thread because they are the most popular tire.

[black69]

I wonder if this applies anymore. I try to keep the tire rotation on one side, and now wonder if the new tires support the x rotation pattern, or maybe do people not keep track of how this is done at the repair shop if they dont do it themselves. Maybe this keep on the same side rule not longer applies that I use, and if it does, maybe certain vendors designs are not as good as they claim to be. All the tires that have failed for me were on cars I bought and were just old (blew out from long term sitting), but who knows how they were managed before I got them.

[Andy]

I've had two BFG's do this on my 67 Camaro. When it comes time for new tires for my other rides, I think I'm going with a different brand. They should be replaced after they reach a certain age, but with all of the old cars/tire brands I've had, BFG is the only one I've ever had to do this. When it happened to me it felt like I was driving with a concrete block for a tire.

[Pro Stock John]

Seems like tires dry rot faster than they did in the past, anyone else think that? Or am I being anecdotal. :)

My local friend is very brave, just pumped this old spare to 35 psi. lol

[danachevroletfor1967]

I asked a guy that I know who works at a local tire dealership about tires wearing out now due to age. He said that one reason is because the tire manufacturers don't use as much real rubber in modern tires anymore. To get better mileage and wear and to make the tires stronger they use more "other" ingredients instead of the good, old fashioned rubber from rubber trees. Sounds reasonable to me.

[njsteve]

This was my old post from the 70 hemicharger thread back in 2008: https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthread.php?t=77085&page=8

Remember: Tires Expire!

I was cleaning out the Charger to get ready for a show today and found these photos from a few years back, in the console. This tire was one of a set of BFG radials that were 14 years old with only about 500 miles on them.

I was driving to a cruise night one afternoon when all of a sudden the steering wheel ripped out of my hands and spun to the right. It would repeat this every 10 feet or so. I pulled over and found nothing. So I rolled along and it started doing it again. I stopped again and couldn't find anything wrong.

Thinking I was either hallucinating, or the poltergeists/gremlins in the car were trying to persuade me to go home, I ignored them and slowed down but kept heading to the cruise night.

Seeing that I ignored the two previous hints from the Almighty, He decides to use a more direct approach: As I kept rolling along slowly, out of nowhere a Minister, dressed in his black "going to church" suit drives up alongside my car and says: "Son, pull over there is something wrong with your left front tire."

So I pull over and he gets out of his car and says to keep rolling until he says stop. He yells out "STOP" and I stop right there. We both look under the car and the enormous bubble in the sidewall is wedged against the tie-rod end, at the bottom of the tire's travel.

It seemed that the internal failure of the tire would let air out into the sidewall when the flawed spot would hit the pavement. When the tire rotated, the air would suck back into the tire. (Kind of like the old Little Rascals episode with the cake that has the rubber glove in it that goes WEEE-WAAAH )

The bubble was so big it was hitting the suspension and forcing the wheel to turn right.

Here's the tire:

And the bubble:

When we dismounted the tire, the bubble stayed in the sidewall for about two weeks, slowly deflating back to its original shape. I drilled a hole in each tire's sidewall and threw them away (so no-one would try to reuse them).

So let that be a lesson. Don't ignore the hint when God sends you one (or three).

I think I read somewhere that the lifespan of a tire is 7 years and any tire older than that should be thrown away. That's pretty good advice.

[carnut4life]

I can't believe it's been 10 years since you sold the Hemi Charger Steve, seems like it was only a couple years ago to me.

[njsteve]

I can't believe it's been 10 years since you sold the Hemi Charger Steve, seems like it was only a couple years ago to me.

Crazy how times flies eh? I think it's still in Bob Marvin of Marvin Windows, collection https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDDKjosabxI&ab_channel=JimMatthewman
https://visitwarroad.com/visit-the-shed/

Both sad and glad I sold it: it did pay for the majority of my two kid's college educations. And a little left over to start on the next car(s). ;-)

[tjs44]

Pay attention to valve stems also.I was getting on the freeway with my 63 421 Lemans and blew out a RT front stem,was lucky I had room to get over and not hit anything.FWIW,Tom

[Big Block Bill]

Pay attention to valve stems also.I was getting on the freeway with my 63 421 Lemans and blew out a RT front stem,was lucky I had room to get over and not hit anything.FWIW,Tom

As we say "The tire is not new unless the valve stem is too" We've been practicing that motto for 50 years, even with tire pressure monitoring valve stems, which CAN get very pricey, especially on German cars. Bill

[Steve Shauger]

I mentioned tire failures to a buddy a few months ago. Well I must of jinxed him! Not really his tires were 25 years old. He installed a new set of tires!!!

[MosportGreen66]

i mentioned tire failures to a buddy a few months ago. Well i must of jinxed him! No reallyhis tires were 25 years old. He installed a new set of tires!!!

yikes!

[SS427]

What I find so interesting is, back in the 70's and 80's I never bought new tires for my street machines. When I got bored with the mags I was running I simply went to the local swap meets and bought wheels/tires as a set which were obviously used with no idea of date or age, then put them on and proceeded to drive the snot out of them and never had a blowout nor a concern for one. Like everything else these days, few things are made the way they used to be.

[396 SS/RS]

Agree with SS427! Back in the day, people would buy junkyard tires all of the time.
I have only experienced one blowout. Back in '77 when the wife and I were dating we were in my '70 Camaro on the interstate and she was driving running about 65 mph when the right front blew out on us. The tire was only about 6 months old at the time and the car steered straight and she was able to safely pull over.

[Formula455SD]

Bias tires seem to hold together better than radials.

[1967 4K]

Awhile back I removed a set of BF Goodrich Radial TA’s from a set of 69 XT wheels because one started a bulge out place on the sidewall. They were old but perfect thread. The tread is what most people pay attention to not the condition of the sidewalls.

[GotGrunt]

Bias tires seem to hold together better than radials.

The steel belts start to rust internally after a certain amount of time on the radials.

[Formula455SD]

The steel belts start to rust internally after a certain amount of time on the radials.

Radials delaminate.

[GotGrunt]

Radials delaminate.

That can happen with bias ply tires as well.