How old is too old for tyres?

[PranK]

I'm replacing the front tyres on the E39 tomorrow because one of them has a few gouges out of it. There is so much tread still on them but they're also 9 years old and the rubber is super hard. 

This falls within the guidelines of 10 years old that I've read which surprises me given their condition. 

I'm curious about whether you guys care about tyre age or just judge the tyre based on condition? How old would you consider too old?

[Shoota_77]

Personally I wouldn't put tyres over 4 or 5 years old on any of my own cars. Once they go hard the grip characteristics completely change. As per most things it only matters in an accident and that's when you most want them to do their job!

[GTSBoy]

Yeah - 4 or 5 years is the limit for decent tyres.

Pedestrian grade tyres with 400 TW ratings start out hard and don't start to suffer until they are somewhat older again. But the stickier decent stuff? Nup. My current ADO9s are < 2 yrs old, 17000km in, only have about the minimum 2mm of tread depth left, and they are.....not what they used to be. They are clearly much harder now than when new. Whether that is heat cycles (unlikely, for a road tyre), different compound between top and bottom of tread, or actually aging out (in less than 2 years!!!) is not really able to be discerned. But I'd credit actual aging as being at least part of the cause.

I've got an old pair of ~50% worn AD08Rs in the shed that I really need to get rid of. They started feeling waaaay too hard to put back on the car after a couple of years sitting there.

[The Bogan]

Also, a tip for young players 

Check the dates on new tyres before they fit them, I always ask this question at the tyre shop, as they have tried to put "new" tyres on one of my cars a few years ago, but the build date was about 3 years old

[Murray_Calavera]

If the tyres were fitted when new, I wouldn't expect much over 5 years of use. Especially if the car lives outside full time. 

If the tyres had been stored under ideal conditions and are being purchased new, I'd fit a set of already 5 year old tyres if I only expected to get 1 to 2 years of use out of them. 

I've purchased many a set of new (but quite old) tyres from St George Tyres when I just needed some decent rear tyres to drift on. 

Here is a pretty crazy example, can't say I've ever bought 11 year old tyres from them before though lol. 

https://www.stgeorgetyres.com.au/momo-tyres-245-45-17-outrun-m3-official-product-by-momo-italy.html

[MBS206]

When they're so hard you can't leave a black mark or make any smoke...

[joshuaho96]

21 hours ago, PranK said:

I'm replacing the front tyres on the E39 tomorrow because one of them has a few gouges out of it. There is so much tread still on them but they're also 9 years old and the rubber is super hard. 

This falls within the guidelines of 10 years old that I've read which surprises me given their condition. 

I'm curious about whether you guys care about tyre age or just judge the tyre based on condition? How old would you consider too old?

10 years is really pushing it. At 7-8 years you need to inspect frequently for signs of dry rot.

[MBS206]

1 hour ago, joshuaho96 said:

10 years is really pushing it. At 7-8 years you need to inspect frequently for signs of dry rot.

I've got 15 year old tyres on a car in my garage, holding air (holding it better than the daily driver does!) and no signs of rotting/cracking/drying out. Oh, and they've only been garaged the last 3. Before that they sat in a couple of different paddocks/yards, and even spent about a week underwater too.

However, weather and other environmental factors can really change how quickly they start to dry out and crack.

[niZmO_Man]

My brother's old Pulsar had approx 10 year old tyres (crappy Zeix). The sidewalls split on all four tyres in the space of a week. I'd be paranoid on 10 year old tyres.

[blind_elk]

My understanding is that UV tends to accelerate the aging process. If the car has been garaged, then you could probably get away with extending beyond 10 years.

FWIW, in 2015, I had tyres on my 180B SSS that had a 3-digit code (2 for week, 1 for decade), ending in 0, so could have been more than 30 years old, but still worked fine. I did replaced them very quickly, though, once I discovered what the code meant!

[Ozdavroz]

Ok got some old tyres for you guys...my car has been sitting around un-driven for about 6 years now.

I had it on the original rims with the shitty compliance tyres it got it with back in 2006, which were manufactured in 2004...

Sidewalls eventually rotted and split open, obviously no air in them and the rims were holding the car up.

Just swapped them with some 17" Work rims and tyres which are probably 10+ years old too but at least holding air

[MBS206]

1 hour ago, Ozdavroz said:

Ok got some old tyres for you guys...my car has been sitting around un-driven for about 6 years now.

I had it on the original rims with the shitty compliance tyres it got it with back in 2006, which were manufactured in 2004...

Sidewalls eventually rotted and split open, obviously no air in them and the rims were holding the car up.

Just swapped them with some 17" Work rims and tyres which are probably 10+ years old too but at least holding air

I am now intrigued to go check the dates on the tyres on my Skyline...

We need a game of who has the oldest tyre still holding a car up, and successfully holding air (for longer than a 2 weeks I feel is successful air holding).

 

I feel your tyres may be beating mine

[MBS206]

2 hours ago, Ozdavroz said:

Ok got some old tyres for you guys...my car has been sitting around un-driven for about 6 years now.

I had it on the original rims with the shitty compliance tyres it got it with back in 2006, which were manufactured in 2004...

Sidewalls eventually rotted and split open, obviously no air in them and the rims were holding the car up.

Just swapped them with some 17" Work rims and tyres which are probably 10+ years old too but at least holding air

Went looking at mine, reading off the tyre, presumably these are 1st week of 2003. Still hold air (I haven't had to pump them up in over 12 months!)

 

 

I couldn't quickly find the date on the front tyres, they were fitted around 2008 to the rims, so probably not quite as old, but they have a lot more dry rot cracks in them. Still hold air.

[Ozdavroz]

Good to see your rotors appear as rusty as mine 🤪