Brian C in Az

Not necessarily, they can be heat cycled out. After 16 to 20 heat cycles, many tires can become brittle. It is a bigger problem here because our track surface temps are the highest in the country. Another issue is a car parked in the sun with high performance tires will suffer heat damage. Our asphault get hot enough to melt, that will compromise a tire. A car sitting in a non air conditioned garage will also suffer heat related damage. Many garages reach 140˚here in the summer.

I have seen numerous tire failures on tires that looked ok just prior.

mark kibort

is possible, but not likey. street tires dont have the same vulnerability as race tires in this respect. however, under extreme conditions, as you mention, some chunking of the edges and tread blocks could be expected for a tire that has suffered serous exposure. most street tires take 100s of heat cycles no problem. going to LA i took the pyrometer and got 140 on the tread. thats a day to day thing in LA or driving on the hyway. again, the point of my message was to NOT worrry about a low tread depth street tire, for failure concerns, as its more of a grip concern because by the time they are worn that far, they have gone through near 1000s of heat cycles and are hard as rocks, and there for, with not much tread showing , nor grip, almost indisputable with no tread really to "chunk" off

Brian C in Az

Paul Walker died in a crash that was the result of old tires.
Your advice is irresponsible and it contradicts Porsche's recommendation as well as every tire manufacturers' recommendation regarding tire life.

The official report on Paul Walker's death stated no mechanical problems or broken parts prior to the crash.
There are many instances of people dying in car crashes on tires over 7 years old.
Stop perpetuating the myth that old tires are safe when the facts and the deaths prove otherwise.

911ted

I try to buy "gently" used slicks when I can find them and then store them in big garbage bags in my tire cellar. When I'm ready to use them I treat them with Formula Vee to wake the polymers up in the rubber, they then work almost like new slicks.

mark kibort

Sorry, i have a little more experience that both of those drivers. paul walker was killed because Rodas didnt know how to control a car at the limit. he crashed a car at sears point for the same reason. sorry to say, he is not a good driver. you cant blame a stupid crash like that on bald tires
ive driven on 8 year old tires many time. just spend last weekend racing on a set.. they were not as sticky as i liked but that was about it. you going to blame the rain for crashes? what about when folks go from a race slick to a DOT tire, or back down to a street tire? you don't think the difference in grip is 2x that of an old tire vs a new street tire?
bottom line is what i state. a tire with low tread depth , on a street car is going to be older than on a race car with DOTs or even street tires, because of how long it takes a street car to wear it down. hence it will not have the "stick" as a new tire or certainly a race tire. if you drive under the limits of the tire, you will not crash and kill yourself and passenger.

mark kibort

Ive been doing that for many many years with no issues. by the way, wrap them in saran wrap, it works better for some reason.