Quote:
Originally Posted by twilightTA
I literally just had this happen to me a couple of weeks back. I hadn’t been wearing my barely used dress shoes since COVID. I started wondering if the floor was giving away on me and then found that my sole had fallen off.
Rubber doesn’t last long. On our old cars you have to assume that anything that’s original rubber is shot and needs replacement.
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Funny how 'rubber doesn't last long' is only a recent thing....the past 15 years or so. I have a pair of dress boots that were last re-soled in 1977 and the rubber is still fine. in 2011, restoring a '67 GTO, we installed repro rubber on the front end....dust boots and bushings. While waiting for the engine, 6 months later walking around the car, we saw a bunch of stuff under the car, thinking 'dead mice?" Nope. All the new rubber had rotted and was now on the ground. We ended up taking the 45 year old stuff out of the trash, washing it in kerosene, and re-installing it. It's still on the car today.
In 2016, I ordered a set of Coker inner tubes for my Model T. I removed the 45 year old Firestone tubes and installed the new Cokers. Within a year, the valve stems had rotted off the new tubes. I re-installed the 45 year old Firestone tubes and they are still on the car 9 years later.
New tires and new rubber are pretty much junk due to the false agenda being pushed about 'the global warming crisis'. Key chemicals have been removed from the equation. That's why even your rubber bands are turning hard and rotting in a few months, where before, they lasted YEARS. I have and do run old bias ply tires with no worries if visibly good. They don't explode and destroy fenders like steel belted radials do!