[Dadspackard]

I purchased my 1969 GTO back in November of '19. Stored at my nephews for the winter months.

Went yesterday to pick it up to drive it back home here to Illinois.

Had a few mishaps on the way home. On 80/94 I was looking into the left side view mirror I see this round chrome thing rolling down the expressway. I am like dang it one of my trim ring blew off. No chance I was going to stop and try to recover it. 80/94 at this stretch is not the best place to pull over.

Later on my joureny getting close to home the front end started to shake vigorously. I pull over to check to see if I had a flat but all tires had air. Figured it was just the road and the suspension on this old GTO needs some attention when I get it back home. Get back on expressway and the shaking got worse. I got off at teh next exit since i was only about 15 mile out from home pulled over again to look at tire and look what I found.





Cooper Tire date code
Does it read to you all 4th week of 2003?


There was a nice guy that saw me pulled over also since he notice the tire shacking. He followed me to a parking lot so we could change the tire. I don't trust the bumper jacks so he looked in his truck for a bottle jack he thought he had but he didn't. So he went to his buddies to pick up a floor jack. While he went to do that I pulled out the spare tire and lug nut/jack wrench and low an behold the lug nut wrench doesn't fit the lugs on the car. Luckily the guy that helped me had an Milwaukee Impact gun and sockets.

Put on the spare and took side the side main roads back home.

Once I got back home and settle in I texted the guy I bought the car from and mention to him my joureny home, He told me when he had the interior the shop put new 14" Rallies on and tire. Said he had only put on about 50 miles on these set of tires before selling the car to me. He said he is going to call the interior shop on Monday to see what he spent over 15,000 on and will let me know what this shop says to him.

So warning check your tires even if you are told they are new.

[67drake]

Wow. Luckily it didn’t blow out altogether, and while driving on the interstate. I’ve seen a few crushed quarter panels from that, and of coarse injuries.
How long ago did he have the tires done?
Tires can have very low mileage but dangerous to drive on if they are 17 years old.

[The Champ]

Yup, those tires are over 17 years old.

Back before I understood things about old tires, I had Uniroyal redline radials that I put on in 1995. I knew when I bought them that they hadn't been made since about 1990, but i found some at a Uniroyal dealer and bought them. This is before you could buy "reproduction" redline radials - and I didn't want bias ply tires.

So fast forward several years - tires have about 15,000 miles on them, still look like new, and I'm driving home from the HUGE Back to the 50's car show at the state fairgrounds in MN. About 2 miles from home on the Interstate, I start to feel a slight vibration from the rear of the car. I slow down a little and am trying to figure out what the heck. It starts getting worse, so I pull over thinking maybe I've got a flat. All four tires look fully inflated. I'm about 1 mile from my exit, so I drive slowly on the shoulder and pull off into a motel parking lot.

Jack the car up and check if I've got a lose wheel. Everything is tight. Then my wife asks "What's that?" I look at where's she's pointing and I've got steel cords sticking out through the tread.

Where the steel belts let go, their is a bulge in the tread surface. I'm lucky I got slowed down and got off the highway before that tire really let go.

There are members on the board that brag about running 20 year old tires, claiming that old tires are perfectly safe...

After my experience with old tires, I change tires by they time they are 7 years old, regardless of how "new" they look.

[Dadspackard]

67Drake,

He is going to find out on Monday and let me know.

From my read of the date code these the tires seem to be 17 YEARS OLD.

If he just had the interior done a few years ago the tires then would of been 15 years old. So he had got taken on these tires then.
Maybe I will get a new set from this shop if he finds that ripped him off. Will see.

Correct it sure could of been worse for the car and what ever else may of happened if the tire blew out all the way.

P.S. This was the drivers left front tire

[JLMounce]

Glad nothing but the tire was damaged. Could have been a lot worse.

Tire manufacturers typically recommend 6 years for replacement if the tire doesn't need replacement due to wear. I had a steel belt let go on an old set of tires on an SUV in Arizona years back. Same situation, the tires weren't worn but were about 12 years old.

["QUICK-SILVER"]

Looking at the size and location of the weights on the wheel... I'd have to say that tire was a blem/defect from the get-go. It was heavy right where it came apart.

Clay

[1965gp]

Very lucky- it could have been a lot worse!

I agree with updating tires ever since I had one come apart on my 71 GTO.

My 65 Grand Prix still has the tires we put on it my senior year in high school (1994) and they look new. The car gets very little use and is stored at my dads. Gets driven around the block once or twice a year- if he ever decides to actually drive it we will for sure put new tires on it.

It will be interesting to see what the shop says about these tires- especially when they were installed

[Bluesugar]

Is the code "C280...." the tire date ?, or the "F12...?" is the tire date ?

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by Bluesugar

Is the code "C280...." the tire date ?, or the "F12...?" is the tire date ?

It's the last 4 digits of C2800403 - which translates to the 4th week of 2003.



You need to find the "DOT" on the sidewall, then look at the last 4 numbers following the "DOT".

For the tire above, it's the 51st week of 2007.

Prior to 2000, the codes are only 3 digits only told you which the week and number of the year in a decade - but not which decade.



Tire above was made in the 40th week of 1998, or 1988, or 1977.... Bottom line don't even consider driving a car with a 3 digit code.

[Sirrotica]

I had bought a K3500 dually in 2011 that had old tires on it, I never even looked at the dates after the first one blew out. I had just repaired the rust on the rocker panel and welded new metal in.

Didn't that front tire delaminate just like the one in the picture did, except a much longer piece of the tread separated. It peeled off of the cords, and totally crushed the new metal rocker panel I had just completed repairing before I could pull over on the berm................

I had a little bit of warning as it started wobbling just before the rubber separated. As has been already said it can pound and shred metal in seconds.

I've seen some campers that had tire separations, the damage can easily go into the thousands of dollars in a hurry. Usually in the long run the tire replacement is going to be cheaper than repairing the body damage, which will be twofold of the tire bill.

I knew better, but was pushing my luck, I pushed it too far that time.

[DOC]

These are picks of a blow out I had from tires that were 6 years old but in still good shape or so I thought. I thought I was sideswiped on the interstate when it let go. Agree with all the above, Much cheaper to buy new tires than to have the side of a vehicle replaced.

[ZeGermanHam]

You see this kind of thing fairly often in the classic car world. Classic cars hardly get used except for going to cruises and shows, and people hardly ever change their tires because they have lots of tread left despite being very old. Very glad things worked out relatively okay in this instance.