[The Champ]

Originally Posted by scott70

Guess its time to get rid of my 235/70/14's BFG radials on my GTO. Installed 1989.

About 25 years late, but better now than waiting for a very unpleasant ending.

Been there, did that, done that, got the tshirt and the hat too....

[scott70]

They look like new as far as deteriorating so I wasn't really thinking about failure. Couple of years ago I zipped it up to 125 mph. I'm glad nothing happened. Planning on some new g70 wide oval radials soon.

[The Champ]

Scott

My tires looked like new when the steel belts started separating due to age. Car was always stored inside and the radial redlines only had about 15,000 miles on them.

From experience, you don't want to know what it feels like to have a belt start to separate at 70 MPH. Luckily I got the car stopped before it blew.

[Firedup6975]

I wish there were a way to actually have them tested for defects, flaws, and deterioration, the tires on the TA seriously look like brand new no visual of any wear or dry rubber.

[Chief of the 60's]

Originally Posted by Firedup6975

I wish there were a way to actually have them tested for defects, flaws, and deterioration, the tires on the TA seriously look like brand new no visual of any wear or dry rubber.

Original Goodyear Eagle GT+4's installed in 1991 and driven with the cruise set at 76mph for 2hrs20min (one way) last year going to a car show. No problems or concerns

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by Firedup6975

I wish there were a way to actually have them tested for defects, flaws, and deterioration, the tires on the TA seriously look like brand new no visual of any wear or dry rubber.

You could cut them open and inspect, but I don't know how you'd put them back together and have them hold air safely.

The cost of new tires is not an extreme expense for those of us with toy cars. If you can't afford the tires, sell the car. I understand that you like the Indy 500's which appear to be in extremely short supply, but...

[694.1]

"Goodyear Speedway redlines dated 1972 that I bought NOS in the late 80's and still going strong. "
I too have been on 20 & 30+ year old tires but newer tires, like Gas & wiper blades ain't what they once were.
You have to admit, pretty diabolical of the tire companies...

[694.1]

"From experience, you don't want to know what it feels like to have a belt start to separate at 70 MPH. Luckily I got the car stopped before it blew. "

Stunning that Robby Gordan cheated death at 220+MPH in 1994. This one will make you pucker up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxkf8aiWtbo

[Chief of the 60's]

Originally Posted by 694.1

"Goodyear Speedway redlines dated 1972 that I bought NOS in the late 80's and still going strong. "
I too have been on 20 & 30+ year old tires but newer tires, like Gas & wiper blades ain't what they once were.
You have to admit, pretty diabolical of the tire companies...

Point well taken. As good as Michelins are, their tread usually outlasts their sidewalls.

[Firedup6975]

Originally Posted by The Champ

You could cut them open and inspect, but I don't know how you'd put them back together and have them hold air safely.

The cost of new tires is not an extreme expense for those of us with toy cars. If you can't afford the tires, sell the car. I understand that you like the Indy 500's which appear to be in extremely short supply, but...

Cut them open? yeah I know gorilla glue is good but not that good lol. I have the money in the budget for new tires, just a shame to spend it if the tires are still good seeing I already have them, that’s why I wish someone would create a solid way to test them. Guess it’s a good thing I don’t race, can’t afford to change tires that often.

But as you said before, safety is priority.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by 694.1

I too have been on 20 & 30+ year old tires but newer tires, like Gas & wiper blades ain't what they once were.

The tires that I had the failure with were dated coded in 1990 - 30 years old. Initially it was just one tire that failed on the highway at 70 MPH in the early 2000's. I thought it was a freak situation.

I had a brand "new" 30 year old spare tire that I put on and thought I was good to go with the other 3 that had been on the car. Within 500 miles, I felt a vibration.

I took all 4 tires off trying to find the offending tire. After thorough inspection, I discovered that the other 3 tires that had 15,000 miles of usage all had a small belt separation that only was detectable by rolling the tire (at the point of the belt separation, the tire would deflect towards the side that had a small bulge).

I parked the car until I had new tires (current date codes) mounted.

This isn't just a recent change to tires manufactured today - as my 4 tires that all failed (despite looking like new on the outside) were built 30 years ago.

Promoting the usage of aged tires is reckless.

Food for thought, from Edmunds.com:

Old tires are dangerous, regardless of tread depth. While there's no federally sanctioned safety guidance on when a tire is too old to be safe, many carmakers recommend replacement at six years from the date of manufacture.

[/b]Old tires have been the culprit in fatal accidents.[/b] Here are just two examples:

In 2008, the owner of a 1998 Ford Explorer in Georgia needed a new tire for his SUV and bought a used one. When he was driving two weeks later, the tread suddenly separated from the tire. The Explorer went out of control and hit a motorcycle, killing its rider. An analysis of the used tire revealed that it was nearly 10 years old.

In a more recent and high-profile example, the investigation into the cause of the 2013 accident that killed the actor Paul Walker revealed that the Porsche Carrera GT in which he was riding had 9-year-old tires.

It's not just your life your risking. That motorcyclist was an innocent victim of a 10 year old tire on someone else's vehicle.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by Firedup6975

Cut them open? yeah I know gorilla glue is good but not that good lol. I have the money in the budget for new tires, just a shame to spend it if the tires are still good seeing I already have them, that’s why I wish someone would create a solid way to test them. Guess it’s a good thing I don’t race, can’t afford to change tires that often.

But as you said before, safety is priority.

You can do a visual inspection that will detect weather checking issues and lack of tread depth. That's your initial inspection.

But when the problem is inside the tire, external inspection won't detect any problems. My last of 3 cancer related operations was really "exploratory surgery". I had 1 dye injected scan and a pair of MRI's done over a period of 6 weeks back in 2017.

None of the three (at a cost of about $3500 each) were conclusive, but the last one gave my doctor's enough concern that something wasn't right.

Surgery discovered that the scar tissue from my initial partial nephrectomy of my right kidney back in 2006 had started to run amok. It took 4 surgeons 8 hours to remove the rest of my right kidney, resect my liver and then carve out most of my core muscles on my right side to remove this scar tissue.

Luckily, as a human being, after 8 hours of hacking away at my innards, they were able to sew me back together.

I can't remember how much that surgery cost, but suffice it to say that it was a little more than the cost of a new set of tires.

Finding a way to thoroughly inspect the innards of a tire may be possible. But is the cost worth the benefit?

As a fellow member that has gone through some serious and scary health situations - I just want to keep you safe.

Old tires just aren't a risk I'm willing to take on in my life.

[Firedup6975]

Originally Posted by The Champ

You can do a visual inspection that will detect weather checking issues and lack of tread depth. That's your initial inspection.

But when the problem is inside the tire, external inspection won't detect any problems. My last of 3 cancer related operations was really "exploratory surgery". I had 1 dye injected scan and a pair of MRI's done over a period of 6 weeks back in 2017.

None of the three (at a cost of about $3500 each) were conclusive, but the last one gave my doctor's enough concern that something wasn't right.

Surgery discovered that the scar tissue from my initial partial nephrectomy of my right kidney back in 2006 had started to run amok. It took 4 surgeons 8 hours to remove the rest of my right kidney, resect my liver and then carve out most of my core muscles on my right side to remove this scar tissue.

Luckily, as a human being, after 8 hours of hacking away at my innards, they were able to sew me back together.

I can't remember how much that surgery cost, but suffice it to say that it was a little more than the cost of a new set of tires.

Finding a way to thoroughly inspect the innards of a tire may be possible. But is the cost worth the benefit?

As a fellow member that has gone through some serious and scary health situations - I just want to keep you safe.

Old tires just aren't a risk I'm willing to take on in my life.

So sorry you’ve been through all that I survived AML Leukemia, when I wasn’t expected to leave the hospital alive. I was stage 3. And now have what I refer to as hiccups, that being kidney issues, partial loss of sight in my left eye, constant muscle, joint, and bone pain loss of taste, and very thin skin.

My health is always first and foremost n everything I do, so it makes sense to want to be safe in my classic cars. I guess my thought with these old tires is, the car is rarely driven, they appear hardly worn, plus my cars are always inside away from the elements, that’s why my thought on being able to go to a mechanic that had a way to test the tires dependability, might be a better way then just guessing when they visually appear perfectly fine.

Most likely will just get a new set as I don’t know the history of the ones on the car.

[Old Goat Racer]

Wheels polished (2 hours), mounted, balanced ,on the car. Just took a test drive saw 100 +, no vibration.
Felt good to slam 4 gears !

[Firedup6975]

Originally Posted by Dens71TA

Fifteen inch Firestone Indy 500 Firehawk tires were discontinued towards the end of 2011 so at best they are already around 7 years old.

I’ll find something, but it won’t be the typical BF Goodrich tires.