ble2011

I just received my new tires from Tirerack. The date code on the rear tires are 5111. Which I determined is the 51st week of 2011. That would make them about 1 year old already. Should I return them for a newer set?

JimPA

How many years did it take to wear out the previous set of rear tires?

ble2011

One.

nile13

No, a year is OK. Although if you call TireRack and bitch at them for a while you might get a small refund or a future use certificate for a few bucks.

A year, though, is no big deal. They've sent me tires that were between 2 years and 5 years old.

Here's a litmus test. Let's see if TireRack's Rennlist representative wishes to actually intervene and be useful here for a change (yeah, right, don't hold your breath on this, of course).

pp000830

Anecdotal info; I found the original ten plus year old new spare tire in the trunk of my 2001 Jetta last year. I purchased a matching tire and mounted both on the rear of my car. 15K miles later with regular close inspection no-problemo.
The word on the street I seem to recall is six years on the car is a good service life. Don’t know if this is based on facts, testing or the desire of the industry to sell new tires.
Andy

badabing

5 - 7 years is usually about the time the natural oils in the rubber dries out and the tire starts to develop signs of weather checking on the sidewalls, cracks between the tread blocks, and general "dry rot."

Tires for our vehicles are highly specialized and relatively low volume. They are made in batches every so often. As a result it is very difficult if not impossible to have them in stock right when you need them AND have a super "fresh" set.

At less than 12 months old they are still considered very fresh and you really shouldn't have cause for concern or complaint.

Just my .02.

matt777

IIRC Tire Rack doesn't recommend installing tires that are 3 years old or older and recommends that tires should be discarded at 6 years. Sure

nile13

The issue here is sun, as in exposure to ultraviolet rays. They dry up rubber and cause small but visible cracking, usually between thread blocks. Of course a spare would be spared from this effect

Generally, I look at the condition of a particular tire and the intended use. TireRack, as I've mentioned, sold me 5 years old R-compound Kumho V710s. They assured me of proper storage, blah, blah, blah. The tires cracked across thread after 2-3 autocross events. Not a catastrophic failure, but looked pretty scary to an uninitiated eye.

PS. Damon? Oh, Damon? Where are you, Damon? Nothing to sell to anyone here, right?

Martin S.

Neal@tirerack.com He seems pretty competent.

As for Kumho 710 tires, we have seen lots of 710 failures in the West. I had one go on me about 2 years ago, Turn 2 at AutoClub Speedway, 135 mph at the apex, wham, right rear gone. It was properly inflated and on its 2nd heat cycle.

It couldn't be the tire said I, so a few months later, a pal gave me two (2) rears. I mounted them up...towed up to Thunder Hill, had one fail Saturday, and the other fail Sunday....I threw the remaining tire away.

Another pal of mine had a RR fail in Turn 6, in a 996, same corner...supposedly the 710 tire does not work well on a 3,200 Lb car.

Then I had a bunch of pals with 2500 Lb cars, they were experiencing failures...

One of our more technical guys in our Club went to Kumho...they gave him some "improved" tires to test, they wern't much better. I am done with the 710.

For me its Hoosier R6 Hankook Z214 (C50) for 40 rated DOT, and Nitto NT-01 for 100 rated tires. The Nitto tires....I put 21 heat cycles on them, probably had 5+ more on the rears and 10+ more on the fronts.

nile13

I'm lucky in that any failure on autocross course in the middle of an old airfield is not catastrophic. But still.

I've been on A6s for the last 3-4 years. Faster tire, albeit at $12 a run... a bit expensive. 710s tended to last about twice as long as Ho's.

morsini

How in gawds name did you figure out it cost you $12/run?

nile13

Do you autocross? A6s last about 80 runs. Cost of my 13s is $1000+ a set. Cost of 15s I'd probably have to go to next year is $1,200 a set. Do you own an abacus? I do:

badabing

I disagree somewhat. Yes exposure to the sun does speed up and/or exacerbate the problem. But do not think for a second that an "old" new tire (6+ years old) whether stored inside the car as a spare or indoors in a climate controlled environment has not deteriorated in such a way as where it will not affect the performance and safety of it.

Totally disagree with the VW example above pairing a 10+ year old tire with a matching "fresh" one.

nile13

I agree that it will deteriorate somewhat. It will just not show micro-cracks without UV help, something that originally made this a concern several years ago. If I'm not mistaken, 15-20 years back nobody ever mentioned tire longevity.

philstireservice

Kumho's had a tread splice issue a few years back. That is a crack ( looks more like a slice) across the tread face. This can be prevented by mounting the tires in the proper direction. The rotational forces applied to a tire can actually separate the tire where the tread is joined. It is different sometimes for rear wheel cars and front wheel drive cars. Most race tires have a specific procedure for the initial mounting process. It does make a difference to follow this initial mounting procedure.